Another birthday in Tahoe

With a birthday generally around the labor day holiday, I've been blessed to spend a good many weekends in Tahoe with friends celebrating over the years. Mostly in Donner Lake, a few in South Lake in the Tahoe Keys and this year, in Carnelian Bay on the east shore.

With my usual suspects, Andrea and John, in Paris this year I turned to Jessica and her consummate planning for a paddling-centric weekend built around the outrigger races we had scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. It seemed safer to stay separate from a full-on paddling immersion by getting our own place with non-paddlers to keep things balanced. While we went out on the water, the rest of the house biked, hiked, shopped, ate and brought different stories back to the house to share. In the end, it turned out to be a fairly prescient decision since a plague of drama descended on our club over the weekend. But I digress...

(Mike, Enav, Ben, Pablo waiting before coed races. Lots of waiting in outrigger.)

I met my newest friend Johnny at 5:30am in Fruitvale Friday and we headed up to the mountains to set up "office" at the cabin in time to "work from home." Jessica, Jeff, Peter and Catherine were already up. The house was perfect, minutes away from the race site with views of the lake and bedrooms for all. We worked 1/2 a day, sat by the pool while the boys biked and then Jess and I were off to help rig the boats. Lots of food, wine and pictures later - and 43 birthday wishes from Jessica - we crashed hard and were out the door early the next day to race coed in what we dubbed the INCREDIBLES boat. Me, Jess, Mike, Sheila, Dean and Gary - 4 novices and 2 open. A good, fun, positive crew of paddlers - no drama, no expectations.

(The Incredibles!)

The water was a little rough - not unsimilar to the bay but more wave-like instead of washing machine-like. Dean was phenomenal and steered us out on course with no close calls in the choppy water, freeing us to feel confident and dig hard with our strokes. The lead boats were fairly far ahead and so we set our sights on the 2 closest boats within striking distance and nipped them just before the turn. Heading back we had the wind and waves at our backs while Dean called on us to push hard with each wave to take advantage of the bumps. The 2 boats we passed remained close until the very end, forcing 120% out of us as we were starting to fatigue. Shouts from the boat, Dean's ceaseless energy and singing of the Rocky theme kept us focused and pushing to our limits. We sailed into the finish just ahead of the host club. Exhausted. Good enough for 3rd overall in the open. A 1-2-3 sweep for SFOCC!

(Dean and me. He is an AWESOME steersman and a great guy. "My dick, been there done that...." Boo ya!)

It was a test of endurance and will, that race. I think I pushed harder than any race I can recall. Or maybe I'm forgetting Oyster Point. Hmm. Jessica was spent and had intestinal issues the rest of the day until she rallied for a game of Wizard later that night over a glass of wine. I was somewhat listless and after lunch on the lake at Jason's with Johnny, Gary and Carol, and Mike, I followed Johnny back to his cabin where I sacked out on the couch as he bounced around doing chores. We regrouped back at our condo for homemade pizza around dinnertime and shared the stories of the day with the rest of the group. A great start to 43!

(Enav, Shanti and the CUTEST shirts ever.)

Day 2 of the races brought the drama full front. One of the open women had quit in a fury the day before and now the rest of them were having a somber meeting on the beach. We could only speculate what was going on as we tried not to look. It was decided that the open women wouldn't compete as intended and so one of them joined our Catalina 2 Live Crew boat while 2 more joined a 2nd boat. The rest wouldn't race at all. I still don't know the complete story but there were hushed conversations going on the rest of the day between paddlers. I just wanted to remain neutral.

(Jessica and Auntie Bird)

We had a great crew again - me, Jess, Tammy, Enav, Jessica B and Christy. The boat felt good as we powered out in similar situations as the day before although less wavy. We slipped into 3rd place early on and held tight to the closest boat as best we could. They increased the gap coming out of the turn - same course as the day before - but we called Power 4's almost every 10 strokes and slowly closed the gap until the nose of our boat was almost even with their tail. Alas, it came in the last 10 yards of the race, but still, we were excited with our efforts and steely determination to push through despite fatigue. Competitive? Hell, yes. Turns out the first 2 boats were Masters anyway, so we took first in Open. Gold and bronze to round out the weekend! Catalina 2 Live Crew is looking tight!

The men's boats had some issues with arguments during the race - never a good sign. Bad juju to feel the negative energy on a boat. I know. We had it in Monterey and it was awful. Our 2 boats finished and none of the men looked happy. We quickly derigged, got the boats loaded and went our separate ways. Jessica and I were thankful for the 2 positive races we'd had. No drama. I felt a little bad that not everyone had the same experience.

(Finish of men's race.)

Jess and I went back to hot-tub at the condo, basking in the quiet of an empty house, watching Bad Boys II, wearing our medals, before everyone started filtering in. More vino, more food, a great dinner outdoors at a mexican place and we were back home in bed by 10. Tired, sated, spent.

(Back at the condo late night.)

Reading this you might surmise that getting a medal in outrigger racing is like being a Special Olympic athlete - you're practically guaranteed one. And yes, there's some validity to that. We've been big fish in a little pond. A little pond of novice racing and some open racing with a mix of novice/open and some good coed mixes. We've been very fortunate to have the success we've had in our first year and sure, we're eating it up. Granted, I still don't know what to do with all my triathlon/running medals but you know, you don't forget your first and that's what this season has been.

My favorite medal was the first one I got in Sacramento and it was a medal leftover from 2008 when the races were cancelled due to fires. Go figure. Maybe it's just how we like to spin it - making it to the medal round, beating the closest boat next to you, or defending your title. Each success is a success regardless of medals and wins. Third place, if we're racing our hearts out, is as rewarding as a 5th place finish where we outsprint the closest boat in a long distance race at the very end. It just feels good to know you gave everything you had and that's why each race sounds like a victory when I spin it. Maybe too, I'm just that good. Lol.