Really great paddling moments always seem to start with a plane trip. There’s something about flying in over the stretch of water you’re about to cross that adds to the excitement (and perhaps nervousness) of what’s coming. I guess it’s like a movie trailer! Just enough to give you a taste of what’s to come. I think it’s also a bit of a reminder that you’ve stepped out of your (mostly) comfortable Sydney world, and into another place.
So it was with growing excitement that Mandy and I touched down in Hamilton Island. We flew in over the channel, where the OC1's were out racing, from the air looking like pencils scattered from a pencil box.
I thought the best stories of the day would come from those who were out there racing, so below are some thoughts from Nic and Gav, two of my roomies for the next 4 days.
Hopefully I'll be able to compile a few more stories to share with you over the rest of the event!
OC1 chicks 8km race, choosing your lines - from Nic
After a bit of a weird night’s sleep (involving crazy Cockatoos screaming and running over the roof at 2am), we got up early for the 7am OC1 short course race. With canoes rigged Lisa, Rachel and I went to the briefing. The race course was what we had been expecting – out to Fitzalan Island, around North Head, around Plum Pudding Island, around a buoy and then back around North Head to the finish.
We had 15 mins to get ready and start. For some reason I wasn’t very nervous, I was just tout there to have some fun and see what happened. But, I had already thought about what lines I was going to take for the race, so felt like I kind of knew what was going on.
The OC2’s were the first wave of canoes to start, it all happened quite quickly – we watched the different lines that were chosen and then saw all of the canoes get pushed very quickly away from the island we were heading to with the incoming tide, so I slightly adjusted my line to account for that. In fact, the whole race was based on looking at what was happening to the canoes up ahead and deciding what line to take based on what was happening to them – in some areas we hugged the coast, in others we took it wide and all were based on the strong flowing tide.
The water was beautiful and very blue, the scenery was lovely and the sun was out – fantastic paddling weather. With an awesome run into back in towards Cateye Beach and one of Billy’s ‘smart bombs’ at the finish line (sorry Lisa) the race was over in just over 47 mins and a surprising 3rd place for me in the Masters Women category! A very happy end to a great race. Lisa saw a turtle, we had a helicopter following us for a bit as well so hopefully some race pics to come.
I then happily watched Lisa, Gav and Rachel do the OC1 250m sprints, straight into a head wind… glad I decided to sit those ones out, they looked like they hurt a lot!
OC1 16km and 250m Sprints from Gav:
It was a perfect morning. I slept in and had a leisurely breakfast. Then I watched the girls race the 8km from the vantage point of the balcony which is not something you get to do everyday. A great view with the added interest of some great racing on show. As the day went on, I found that I was growing quite nervous, more nervous than I had expected to be. Then I tried not to be so nervous, which did not work which made me more nervous. So now I was nervous about being nervous. Nested nervousness. A Russian doll type situation. But I think this race really mattered to me and for the first time in years I had done some level of specific training and I wanted to prove to myself that I could still put a good OC1 race on the water.
The race itself was hard work where I started to get tired before I usually do. Maybe the sprints 1.5 hours before hand may have been a bad idea. But none the less, after the top guns had left us, I was duelling with 4 other guys, who I eventually managed to get the better of. One guy came right up on me with 4km to go and he stayed on my tail for some time. Not being able to keep track on him, I grinded and worked as hard as I could, at the same time being aware I was losing power and concentration fast.
I passed a ski paddler (not in the race) and asked him how far the guy behind me was and he replied (15 meters). My heart sank, I was hoping he would have faded so I could have an easy last 2kms but not to be. So I kept grinding and managed to keep him at bay until the finish line. Not sure where I came in the end, but definitely not in the league of the top guys. Perhaps some more consistent OC1 and OC6 training will help bridge the gap a bit. But over all I was happy with my race as I could not have worked harder and I managed to beat some good paddlers.
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