urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:botbygger botbygger botbygger 2006-09-11T12:42:01Z urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:botbygger:1028 2006-09-11T00:16:32Z 2006-09-11T12:42:01Z Well, had the big race today at noon . . . in the worst conditions imaginable. 20-25 knots of wind from the NW and a nasty chop in Rockland harbor. Even still it was a hell of a lot of fun. To explain, it was the annual 'Small Ships Regatta' put on by the Atlantic Challenge Foundation. <br /><br />But as far as the race is concerned, the first leg, from the dock to the lighthouse at the end of the breakwater was the worst of the three. Major chop coming in against everyone's beam and a few of the folks in rowing craft just gave up (the pussies! What do you want to do? Live forever?) But I thought even with the chop, which was tossing me all over the place initially (I actually had water on deck which is a rarity in my boat) I was doing pretty good. Got tucked behind a few people in rowboats at the start and was a good minute behind the starting horn, but still passed almost all of the rest of the rowers/paddlers within 10 minutes. So it was just me, 2 racing wherries and another kayaker in a racing kayak ahead of me. <br /><br />Did I say racing kayak? What do you say? Oh, you meant a racing kayak? Ahh, I see, a racing kayak. Yes indeedy, a FOUR THOUSAND DOLLAR racing kayak. Just to beat it into your head. Mind you, I have a west greenland kayak built of plywood, pretty slippery, but still no contest when it comes down to it against a carbon fiber machine such as that. <br /><br />But rounded the first can and was in the lee of the breakwater heading right into the wind and the swells too. You may think that isn't a good thing, but that's the beauty of the greenland model. They are so low and suffer from windage so little, that they really excel in heading into the wind. That was definitely the best of the three legs for me. Unaffected by the wind much at all I actually surfed down some of the 2 foot swells a few times. Felt like there was someone actually pushing me a few times. Very 'effin cool! Passed the 1 person rowing wherry and the 2 person one during this leg. The 2 person ones tend to by very quick since they have a lot of human horsepower involved. As I got to the 2nd can, one of the 2 rowing gigs in the race came right up behind me and I actually had to stop paddling while these idiots (from Belfast, go figure) passed inside of me while I was starting my turn around the can marker. Totally discourteous behaviour anywhere, especially when a boat of another class is ahead of you. Would have thought they were from (M)Assachusetts. <br /><br />On the the third and final leg. Not quite as bad as the first, but close. Affected again by the chop, and by this time, my arms were really beginning to feel like noodles. 2 of the gigs passed me by, on this leg, which really is not at all suprising. They are 30 feet long powered by 6 strong rowers after all. In boats, waterline length really means something. Coefficient of drag . . . wetted suface, but I'll spare you the boat science diatribe for for the moment. In any case, it was just a long ass slog through the mooring field to the finish line by this point. <br /><br />But hey! I came in 4th overall and 2nd of the kayaks, so I'm feeling pretty damn fine at the moment. Even still, I'm definitely gonna be building a new yak over the winter (maybe 2 if she's nice). Red cedar strip planked, an inch narrower (to 19.5 inches) and a foot longer (to 19.5 feet) with plumber ends too - waterline length is a good thing after all!