The 2014 Surftech SUP Shootout featured the Duel SUP Race. I had
work to do. Conditions were not looking good. Rain and slop were on tap. I had barely started training this year. I'm 60, I don't need this s**t. I had
sold my fourteen-foot paddleboard. The 17 ½-foot board wasn’t right for the
conditions. The race is a SUP-fest. What
do they want with prone paddlers, anyway? Are they even allowing anything
besides stock boards?
But then I called Joe Bark about a new board. Joe brought up the race. Joe said go. I
went.
Blessed rain had been falling on California, and it wasn’t
going to miss Santa Cruz on race day. I decided it was high time to become
better friends with a little rain and wind. Time to get serious about paddling
in whatever the conditions might be. It was windy from early morning on, only
with no real promise of a downwinder. It was gray. It was chop from several
directions. Oh, and just to make it interesting (read: to piss us off), they included
a quarter-mile beach run at the end of each of the course’s two laps. Under the
pier. Watch your head. I’m 6’ 3”. Damn right, watch your head.
It was a blast.
Standing in line to check in, I found myself right next to
John Alexiou, and Kali’a Alexiou, already a formidable competitor in her
father’s footseps at such a young age. Signing in was pure friendly banter.
Note for prone paddlers: when the jersey is designed for SUP, take the next
size (or two) down. Otherwise, you’re going to hate all that material. Normally
a large, I took a small. It was perfect.
Down the beach was that affable and striking young streak of
lightning, Jack Bark. Jack was fresh off the Date with the Straight, about a
120-mile paddle from Australia through the Bass Straight to Tasmania Jack
shared with fellow Moloka‘i -2-O‘ahu champions Zeb Walsh and Brad Gaul. But
perhaps “fresh” isn’t exactly the right word. “Seasoned” or even “steeled”
might be better choices.
Familiar faces helped warm me to the race. Thanks, Paul Ban,
just for showing up.
Here's the course map:
Here's what conditions looked like (taken from the wharf):
Paddling out to the end of the wharf, two things impressed
me. The first was just how sloppy it really was. The second was how fast Jack
went out. He was out in front of the SUPs, at least for a while (he finished
first prone, third overall).
The challenging parts of the race were the paddle from the
beach, out to the pier’s end, out to the buoy beyond the pier, and back to the
pier. The best parts of the race were the trip into the beach along the Muni
pier and the second lap's leg from Steamer Lane to the bouy beyond the pier.
There were bumps to be caught.
The runs were just fine. I had no big ambitions here, so I
went easy on that. Until the end. Paul Ban was not too far ahead of me. I
picked up the pace, but never got close to him.
After I finished, I looked around for Joe Bark. He was
standing at the shoreline, caddying boards and cheering on finishers.
One of my fellow paddlers asked if I was that guy who has
the blog. That stoked me out, too. I’ve gotten that question at a few races
now. It’s a good feeling to know that anyone benefits from my
stories. I love blogging because it makes it easy to relive so many great moments.
After nearly all the boards and their paddlers cleared off
the beach, I grabbed my Bark 17-6 and headed for my parking spot on the wharf near the
lifeguard headquarters. From there, I could see all of the temporary
structures on the beach being taken down and the race organizers and volunteers
leaving. In light rain, I packed and left with great memories and a little more
willingness to go on the tough days.
Where I drove next was up to the setup for the surfing
competition, where I visited some other friends before driving back to Carmel.
