On home turf for the first time, due to the previous weeks weather conditions it had been decided the course will be a slightly shorter one with 2 laps of what we call the town circuit course.
Been looking forward to this race for a while as it was going to be the one race out of the series where I knew the river, and being local could even get a lie in.
Weather wise not to bad but still chilly, cant remember what summer is as this winter really feels like its dragging on,
Briefing finished with and it was down to the start line K2's of first followed by the senior K1's after they had to line up a second time after an attempted rolling start, then it was our groups turn,
determined I was going to have a fair crack at the start so I made sure I got on the start line first,
15 seconds before the start, didnt recognise everyone on the start line and I knew Dean was nearby, started to wish I had swapped our boat numbers over now!!!!!!!! lol
Focused and tried to remember what I had learnt with Stewart on our sprint practice's, knew what I should be doing, just needed some ummmppph, mmmmmm think I had the canoeing's version of wheel spin as the faster guys went of like rockets, but mmm I wasnt watching them on the start line and Im sure they went before the go :( one for the tactic list on the next race.
I knew who was in front but didnt know was behind, no chance of looking behind as it was starting to get choppy, looking at a photo taken of the start I had left some behind, hey result for me
The faster ones, well that was until we hit the channel just round the corner, with 2 class's having just already raced through the channel the water more resembled the north sea with a storm, the more wobbly boats suffered a lot for a few seconds, caught up behind Dean and the leaders being a stones throw just in front, then I got rocked by the wash and the waves bouncing off the concrete sides, like riding a bucking bronko and just couldnt do a thing with the steering, the nose had a mind of its own, then I got rocked by a larger wave and screwed the boat to the left whilst my body went right, nearly in the drink, thought I was a gonner,
by the time I recovered the others had sorted themselves and had got back on full steam, managed to pick a few wash's up that were more like surfing with the nose burying itself under half way up to the cockpit, then they would disappear as quick as they started and the back end would sit deep and it was all stop.
Getting away from the channel the water smoothed out and time to really start digging in and thinking about what I should be doing, two boats ahead of me, didnt know who they were but the blue boat was the first thing to aim for, I knew he had one of the faster boats but I was gaining ground slowly,
approaching the first turn point I could see a K2 had gone in on the turn, the K1 in front of the one I was chasing had just got to the turn point, mis-judging the strength of the current on the turn he got caught out and flipped over, by the turn I was right on the tail of the blue boat, but just couldnt turn anywhere as quick as he could and lost out on so much ground, heading back down towards the channel the K1 that had tipped at the first turn had gathered himself and went past me and quickly past the blue boat, think the cold dunk had really woken him up, mmmm not a method I was prepared to try out lol, after the turn I had got onto the back of a K2 and into his wash, mis-judged move as they were going to slow and the gap on the blue boat started to open out so time to pull out and make my own course
Fairly uneventful for the next half a lap, started to gain again on the blue boat and thankfully the channel had calmed down, up to the next turn point John and Stewart came thundering down in their K2 shouting encouragement,
not to long after that Dean and the leaders were returning from the second turn, some more encouragement from Dean, caught up with the blue boat again by the second turn, same thing lost so much ground on the turn, made a big effort to catch up with him as quickly as possible and get tucked in behind him on his wash, glad of that as it really allowed me a breather, the boat ahead of him was a long way ahead now,
what do I do now!!!!! sit here, try and go past, no hope of catching the boat ahead of us, unlike the Hasler series this race was more about personnel times and position rather than against the clock,
Hanging in his wash was easy going, around the back and 3rd turn point we pulled level and our pace had slowed down, turned out later the blue boat was a fellow club member called Barry, hadn't met before, so down the back straight it was more resembling a club practice days with introductions and conversations about training nights and the DW, lol I had to laugh, I was in a race, really!!!!
So this race had now turned into a 2 boat personnel race between us, with hind sight I should have kicked heal on the back straight, we sat together reserving some energy which was now looking to end in a sprint for the line,
got to the last turn and saw one of the boats behind had clawed in some ground on us, we had been slacking too much, time to up the pace a little, not long before the final bridge and the final 200 mt straight to the finish line, sprints on, neck and neck, Barry defiantly had the advantage with the faster boat and looked like his tactic of keeping a conversation going had given him the breather he had needed,
I was running to close to him and was being sucked into the side of him, rudder input wasn't doing much, missed one stroke as we come to close together and I was getting a full face-full of water from his paddle with each stroke, over the line and missed out by 1 to 2ft Bu***r lol
but we got a few shout and cheers from the club house
Really enjoyed this race, I usually end up with a solitary race after passing the slower boats so this race was nice to able to employ some tactics this time , not sure they were any benefit though lol, but hey live and learn by mistakes,
defiantly wont sprint so close to another boat and if I have to pass Barrie again Ill do it as soon as I catch him and on the opposite side and avoid any conversations with him until after the race lol, Till next time Barry
Next race tomorrow at Cheshunt, dont know much about it other than it has 8 portages and some of them are high banks, it'll suit my height and I defiantly prefer portages, been lucky enough to have put in some decent training with Stewart and a lot of time self coaching on technique and with some help from Roger, just got to remember to start paddling before the starter says go lol
