Ski to Sea 2013

The Ski to Sea race is a seven event race run in Bellingham, Washington between 500 teams consisting of one each of cross country skiers, downhill skiers, runners, road cyclists, mountain bikers and kayakers along with two canoe paddlers over 93 miles of water, roads and trails.  I paddled the 18.5 mile canoe leg in 2002 with Vern.  This year (Sunday, May 26, 2013) we paddled together again.

I agreed to join the team in March(?), but Vern said his entry was on hold until after the first of April.  I felt a bit unbalanced by this announcement, but ultimately he came on board with us.

I made my motel reservation Monday before the race, thinking I'd have to sleep in the car if the town was booked. The Comfort Inn, where our captain Jeff L had reserved a block of rooms, was sold out, so I snagged a room at the Econolodge for $40 less.  Later Jeff L. said one room had opened up at the Comfort, but I elected to stay at the Econolodge and spend the rate difference on a new seat for Keith's canoe.

Saturday, my stern paddler, Vern and his wife Janet drove us to Bellingham.

We met with all the team members and their families, except Will H., for pizza at Rudy's Pizza in B'ham.  Jeff gave us our S2S sweatshirts.  I tried on the Small size I'd ordered, found it too small & traded with Ki S--I don't know how the small fit on Ki.  Jeff also gave us breakfast patties.  I went into my room, showered and prepared for bed.  Still hungry, I ate a breakfast patty.  At 2 a.m., I awoke, hungry again and ate my other patty.  At 6:15 a.m. I awoke, went to the lobby for a breakfast of a pancake, special K with cherries, three hard-boiled eggs and 4 oz of coffee.  I wrapped three more eggs in a napkin, took two bananas and checked out & waited for Vern/Jan to pick me up.

We drove to Riverside Park in Everson, had the canoe inspected & began applying the spray cover in the constant rain.  We towel dried the canoe and the plastic tarp spray cover and taped them.  Jan was quite sore from umbrella duty.  Um, a tarp and some line between two trees would have helped so much.  Or, maybe a spray cover with snaps to match those on the canoe hull.  Some canoes had kevlar/fiberglass patches on the inside near the gunwales to unstress small cord loops penetrating the hull for spray cover attachment.  A few others had Velcro on the canoe and on the cover.

I called Marty Sitton, hoping to get an update on when Jeff L got on his bike to start the leg before ours.  He didn't have his phone, but John M's iPhone app said that Jeff had taken off at 9:50.  At about 10:45, I ate the remaining three hardboiled eggs and one banana, changed to my paddling clothes and walked to the outhouse line.

Vern kept saying it's probably 80 degrees in Redding, referring to the California 100 race down the Sacramento River.  I knew where he wanted to be.

I went to the link point between the road bikers and our canoe leg.  Finally race officials called out our race number, meaning Jeff L was two miles out from linking with me.  soon after, the sun tried to part the clouds, warming me enough to remove my rain jacket and my pants.  Jeff L arrived and passed  the timing chip.  I ran to the canoe launch site.  Getting there, I didn't see our canoe on the grass ready to launch.  I ran to our canoe 10 yards to the right.  Neither Vern nor Janet had heard our race number announced, so they were looking quite relaxed.  I picked up the canoe with Vern and off we went.  Vern said we might have to get out right after getting in and run the canoe over shallow water--we did.  I was out of the canoe and running with the canoe's bow handle, but looking back, I saw Vern was 3-5 yards behind the canoe.  Once back in the canoe, we began to paddle while Vern struggled to get his feet into the foot straps.  We ultimately passed ~26 boats.  

I don't know rivers well enough to figure out where the boat needs to be, right middle or left, but the inside curves seemed to be the slowest from my meager river knowledge.  The water at the edge, though, at the outside of each bend looked to be faster, more active water.  The river edges also were more hazardous with overhanging branches.  Vern kept us mostly just to the outside of the midpoint between the inside curves and the outside curves of the river bends.  Once or twice, I saw logs in the river that might have capsized us--we avoided them.  Vern shifted off and on throughout the race, making the boat seem as if it had shaking chills.  My feet in the bow didn't quite fit, with maybe an inch of overlap, so I had to shift to keep my feet from cramping--the boat would tilt a bit each time I did that.

I had sewn a bag to hold my Platypus hydration system with its tube and mouthpiece.  A flexible wire held the tube close enough for my lips to grab it for drinks while paddling on the right.  I noted that the single 1.8 liter bag in the back pulled the front of my personal flotation device up almost to my neck.  Next year I need to secure the bag to the floor or to the seat.

After passing a few boats, we saw, maybe 50 yards ahead, a blue canoe with a GoPro camera attached to its stern--we decided that we wanted to be on that camera's memory chip and chased it, finally catching it about 1.8 miles before the finish.  We fought hard to pass and stay ahead and I even said to Vern, "If they take the lead back, we'll still have a better time, because they started ahead of us."  At the end, we did finish just ahead of them.  Seeing the results on the internet, I saw that our time on the canoe leg was only 2 seconds better.  You just never really know who's ahead of whom.  I only now recall that another paddler (of the Well Hung Jury team) passed his chip by the sensor when I did.  I just don't know how they'd gotten so far ahead of us at the start of our leg.

Last year, getting out of the canoe, I didn't wait for Vern to get out first and he fell into the water.  A photographer for the Bellingham Herald took his picture and put it on the front page. The photo also appeared in the Ski to Sea pamphlet placed in every motel in town.  I was tempted to dump him again this year, but didn't want to risk injury.

Captions:  It's a water sport!  or,

Say, Vern, could you please get up & help haul the canoe to the finish line?  or,

Yes, the water is warmer where it's shallow--so what?

Both Vern & I know he owes me a dunk.  When?  Where?  

PS John M returned my kayak, which he'd used for the final leg of the race.  He said his legs fell asleep in the boat and he fell into the water after exiting the boat--the Bellingham Herald paparazzi nailed him and posted his photo to their webpage.  John could be hooked on the adrenaline rush from racing--is there a surfski in his future?  hmm.