Imua

The first regatta of the sprint season got off to a resounding start for SFOCC this past weekend at Lake Natoma in Sacramento. With gold medal finishes for everyone and an all-around small club award for most points on the day we celebrated into the early evening over BBQ and beers, our energy steadily draining in the waning heat until it was time to head home.

With a 5:30am start out of SF, it was a long day to get through with some 36 races scheduled. Mine didn't go off until #26 and #34 when we raced the 2000m and the 1000m. So the rest of the time was spent reading, talking about [INSERT VERB, NOUN or PERSON OF CHOICE], playing on the OC1s, snapping pictures, spreading sunscreen, cheering on the rest of the team, goofing around; and somehow this made the day pass relatively quickly.

Outrigger often feels like a hurry, hurry, wait, wait concept. You scramble at the crack of dawn to get to a race site to help unload and rig boats then sit around waiting for your race to start at which point your energy is so keyed up that your fingers twitch along your paddle waiting for the siren to sound or the flag to drop so you can bolt out of the start on that adrenaline rush. And then you return to wait some more.

While the races I did in Monterey and Alameda were long courses of 10 miles or so, a sprint course is a 250m long stretch that you navigate once, twice, four or eight times depending on the distance you're racing; 250m, 500m, 1000m or 2000m. It's generally on flat water with flags at either end of the 250m that you have to turn your boat around. This is where you can put some distance on other clubs - with a killer turn completely dialed in and flush against the flag. Steph steered our crew brilliantly in the 1000m as we headed into the first turn neck and neck with Lokahi and rounded the buoy to a tee.

In the 2000 we went unchallenged and raced alongside the only men's team to sign up for that distance. I'd like to think we kept them honest in their paddling since we were never more than 200m back, but regardless, we were racing individually. Still, it felt great to be dialed in with my teammates and we put together an impressive crew that stayed on point for most of the race, using the opportunity to find our sweet spot and gear up for the 1000m.

It was another brilliant day on the water with my peeps from the 415. I absolutely adore this sport and the community that comes with it. Props to JBay and her mom for hosting the soiree post-Natoma. It was great to have the chance to chill with everyone before fanning out back to our homes around the Bay. Each time I seem to learn something more about someone.

Mahalo.