First Outrigger Race

Last Saturday marked my first outrigger race with the SFOCC. All my anxieties over what if I go too hard too early and barely hold on? What if I can't keep the pace set? What if I lose my paddle? No matter what I've accomplished, there are always the pre-race anxieties to anything. But here they were dashed in something under 40 minutes which was the time it took my boat - the novice women - to complete our 4 mile or so race. Actually, it was all dispelled in the first 3 minutes when the siren sounded, the adrenalin kicked in and we were off. Heart rate up, fast start, settle in, push, push, push.

(start of men's open race, berkeley marina)

It was a gorgeous morning, big sun, no wind, flat waters, and a cool breeze out at the Berkeley pier. A paddling first for me - shorts and a tee, nothing more. No such luck for the cold Tuesday/Thursday night practices we generally have in the wind and fog. We met at 7am to check in, unload the boats, rig them, weigh them and linger around waiting for the first race to start. Aloha. I observed mostly, trying to remember names, snapping pics, taking note of the routine. We had 2 boats - 2 for novice races, 2 for open women and 2 for open men. That was the order of the day. About 2 1/2 hours later it was time for my race and the team all headed down to the water to see us off.

(weighing the boats)

(rigging the boats)

(carrying the boats)

Enav was steering for the first time, I sat 4th in between Jessica B and Robin. Nothing to do but paddle hard. No counting, no stroking - just "meat in the seat" as they call it. The engine room. We paddled around to loosen up for 15 minutes or so and started to pull in line with the other boats when the race director shouted "Go!" We were maybe 5 strokes behind at that point but we got out hard and fast, trying to remember timing, downstroke, extend, twist with the lats, quick snap, feather the return, pull, pull, pull. The men's boats quickly maneuvered ahead and I could see 2-3 women's boats just in front of us. I focused on the closest one, Kilohana, Sheila's old club out of Redwood City. We rounded a point and could hear the cheers from some of the SFOCC peeps calling out our names. It felt awesome. I was in my element now, focused with all the competitive pistons firing. Enav called out powers to keep us focused and driving, reminding us to stay in sync. My instincts were to paddle faster, pull deeper, but you lose everything when you're not hitting the water at the same time as your stroker.

(novice women - jessica b, nickie, jennifer, robin, enav and me)

We stayed within striking distance as we neared the turn. Slowly, steadily we caught up to Kilohana. It could have been the battle for 1st and 2nd or 5th and 6th - it didn't matter. Our sites were on that one boat just ahead of us from the start and we'd finally caught them. Jessica B and I were shouting out encouragement, trying to will the boat to push harder, speed the pace. We edged just slightly ahead, paddling parallel to Kilohana, and could hear them psyching themselves up to answer back. And just like that, within maybe 60 seconds, they pushed ahead a good 10-15 yards and were off. We were maybe 10 minutes from the finish and though I shouted out "powers to the finish, power 10, power on!" we couldn't respond.

(open women, A team, heading back to finish line)

We paddled back to shore to change places with the open women crews racing next and were met with many high fives and hugs. I'm not even sure where we placed - maybe 4 of 5? 3 of 4? 4 of 6? I think we were all just happy be out on such a beautiful day, in perfect weather, and for me - doing my first race. Big day, your first race. Val told me it would be over too quickly and I'd want more almost immediately. I did. It's an interesting thing to be back on a team again, having done so many individual pursuits over the last 10-15 years. There's the anxiety over expectations from others but so too, there's the easy fingerpointing to the weak links, the frustration with things beyond your control. I think it will be a valuable experience, having such a self-centric life as I do. Teamwork. Been a long time.

(open men, A team)

At the end of the day both the Men's novice crew and a Women's open crew won their races while the Men's open crews took 2nd and 4th. (Yes, the SFOCC is a fairly stacked club.) It was a long day but a fun one. I thought i'd be back home by noon but it was almost a 13 hour day. There are many references to the "aloha spirit" in outrigger and what I increasingly understand about it is acceptance. This will be good for me.

(omar)

At the end of the day as I went to unlock my car, a buff and tattoed guy in the truck next to me (with an OC1 on the top) said hello and offered me a beer. He turned out to be Joe - "Uncle Joe" - president of the Ho'okahi Pu'uwai club out of Foster City. My club was hauling down one of his boats with ours to the next race in Santa Barbara. He introduced me to "Nacho" and a couple of other guys I can't remember now. They each knew SFOCC, knew Stephanie and Phil. Joe knew Hep and Mary. They were all friendly and welcoming. I could've stayed for awhile listening to their stories and drinking beer, enjoying the warmth and kindness from strangers. Aloha spirit rules.

(open men, B team)

(2nd place men's open crew - hep, omar, jason, pablo)