Saturday SCORA held their second OC6 race of the season.Hosted by Kanaia Canoe Club in Santa Barbara, the 12-mile race went out to several oilrigs located in the channel.The ocean was unusually calm and launching through the surf was a breeze, unlike some years when the canoes would come crashing through the surf often causing a ripple of panic through the crowd.But this day it was, “…so easy, even a caveman could do it.Fifteen minutes could save you a…” well you go the idea.
Novices
This was the novice’s initial open ocean race and they did well.There was some banging, but not like last week, where they were herded in a small area with turns.The final sprint to the finish was fun to watch as the first two leaders Imua and Kai Elua went head to head across the length of the crowd, with Imua taking it by a nose, followed by Santa Barbara in third.
Open Women
In the open women’s race Lanakila and NAC continued their rivalry as they raced to the rig trailed by Hanohano.It was anybody’s race up to that point.With coach Jill Schooler shore steering Lanakila in a rearranged line up, they rounded the turn and broke into the lead.Finishing ahead of NAC, Lanakila won by about 30 yards.First Masters went to NAC, first Bradley-Kai Elua, first Coed-SFOCC, first Seniors-Ocean side and first Master Coed-Kai Elua.
Finish line
Kanaia Canoe Club set up the finish so that it was perfect for crowd participation.The canoes came straight in from the ocean turned left on a buoy 50 yards off shore.Running parallel to the sand, they passed left to right across the entire length of the beach.One could hear the noise building for a quarter mile as the competitors raced past each campground.It was like doing the wave as each camp stood up, cheered and sat down.
Open Men
In the Open men’s race, again it was Team California taking the victory from Lanakila as they went at it again for the second week in a row.Actually both teams were not open, but Masters. This time there was no water filling up Lanakila and Team California just out-paddled their competitor.The ocean was so flat that the biggest swells came off the paddle blades. Congratulations Team California.You guys are rocking now.Oh and thanks Tim Dougherty for helping us when we needed a spare tire. Winning the Open men were Imua 1st, Dana 2ndand NAC 3rd.Kahakai won the Bradley division.Dana took the Sr. Masters and Pale Kai won the Golden masters.
The seniors again had a full plate. Senior citizens were all over the place. My senior team did the cardiac attack.The old fly and die trick. We flew out of the hole, held good position for most of the race and died somewhere around the three quarter mark.On the way back the other seniors with longer lasting batteries in their tickers walked by us like a parade.But we redeemed ourselves as we became embattled with one of our highly respected nemesis Hokuloa.It was nip and tuck for five miles, with occasional friendly wise cracks yelled across the water. Finally in the heat of battle I retorted, “Okay.I’m going to start paddling now,” which caused both crews to crack up.
But there was no lack of effort as we all strained our guts to the end, separated by a few seconds.Check the SCORA site for official results.
Mahalo Kanaia Canoe Club for hosting the race.Thanks to all officials.Next week we take a bye followed by Marina’s race (June 2nd).Good job everyone.Hope to see you all at Marina Del Rey.
Remember we are all in this for the love of the sport, not the money, not the commercialism, nor the perfection of reporting races.
Live well, see you on the water.
MahaloAL
Need a good photo to go with the story. If you have a great photo you'd like to share with us. Please email it to acelocc@aol.com Since I can't shoot pictures while I''m paddling, you'll notice most of the photos are on land.
Your water shots would be wonderfu to share. Again, Please email it to acelocc@aol.com