Outrigger Recapping

So there's been a whole outrigger season nearly come and gone. I used to write about these things on a weekly basis but time has tempered me - aka, I got lazy.

I think it's about my 6th year of paddling - all with SFOCC. I'll admit I started off feeling pretty good about myself back in the day. Jessica and I were encouraged to join by a long-time paddler and friend from our Ironman days who had visions of adding to an already stalwart women's crew. I felt like we were being scouted on draft day.

Me and Yariv

I soaked up whatever anyone said to me, got told a dozen different ways how to feel the stroke, extend my arms, twist my torso and pull the boat along. I was part of a novice crew that made an epic run from worst to first over the course of our inaugural year. After that I got bumped up to the open crew - sort of like varsity - and continued to learn, listen and do my best. I was fortunate to be on a crew that seemed to win almost every race we entered and I'll admit, I got used to it. By year 3 or 4 we were down a handful of our strongest girls and we didn't dominate the races like we used to. My competitive spirit got the best of me and my attitude took a nosedive. Jessica left for another team and after some outbursts of frustration, and sadness at missing my friend, I eased my way back into a comfortable truce with myself to work my hardest, enjoy the time on the water with my paddling family, and accept racing, results and competition as just different dimensions of the whole experience.

NCOCA flags at Chrissy Field

So here it is year 6. I'm practically an elder statesman now although other girls have certainly been with the club longer than me. I come out to practice consistently, I have an authoritative, project manager-like tone (shocking, right?) and I'm still hanging on to my seat in the A boat for open women. I still want to win and be competitive and have a killer crew to do it with but I'm more accepting of reality and circumstances and more aware of my ability to impact the tenor of the boat, for better or worse. Age has shown me wisdom. Deep, I know.

Barely hanging on, Santa Barbara (photo Cody Sylvester)

So about this season. My first race was Santa Barbara Rig Run. A great, SoCal race with many clubs and much bigger than anything we see in NorCal. Jessica and I drove down, we wine tasted, we visited my brother and his new twin girls, we had dinner and then I got sick. And that was pretty much that weekend. I either had food poisoning or some 24 hour flu bug. I woke up and got sick. I went to the beach and laid in the shade willing myself to feel better until our race. I paddled, I laid back on the beach, I got sick again. And then we drove home the next day. Yeay. I have no idea how we did.

Trying not to be sick, Santa Barbara (photo Liz Grechi)

Then there was a sprint day in Alameda. That's a day of about 55 races, nothing more than 2000 yards and most of them either 250, 500 or 1000. It's balls out racing on flat water, turning on buoys every 250 yards and going anaerobic. It's a loooong day, but since it was my only one I was happy to be out there with the team doing the high intensity stuff. We did really well overall but got edged out of 1st in the 2000 (7 turns) by a killer crew with a SoCal ringer (or so I was told). 2000 is one of my favorites and always a great, lung-busting effort. I'm pretty sure my form goes out the window at that point and I'm relying on endurance training and brute strength. My favorites.

"A" Boat, Open Ladies

Then there was Tahoe or maybe I'm forgetting a few. The Tahoe race was just last month in a new location. Women raced from South Lake to Meek's Bay and men raced back. The views for the women were spectacular - the water was Blue Lagoon-type blue changing from clear to turquoise to aquamarine and back again. It was at altitude of course, so I started breathing hard immediately but I know from the past that once you settle in it's sustainable - your heart rate just gets where it's going much faster. We had a bit of a back-and-forth with a strong SoCal crew but in the end they were better conditioned and pulled away from us ever so slowly until they were out of reach. So we tried to stay focused on our position and avoid letting anyone else pass us from behind but we'd already had a great start and didn't have anyone contending to make it interesting. I could hardly get out of the boat at the end - my glutes were cramped up from pushing off with my legs. It took a big diet coke and some time in the water until I could walk normally again. Mmmm, diet coke.

"A" Boat, Open Ladies, Tahoe

Day 2 in Tahoe was a "fun day" - OC1 and OC2 races and a SUP/Outrigger Challenge to start the day. No one in SFOCC came to race so I jumped in with a Lokahi crew - "we're just doing it to have fun" - and we bombed out on the course, fully racing to our best ability, cheering like our lives depended on it and came home with the win in the "Novice" division - aka, none of us owned or had SUP'd more than a handful of times. You'd think we'd won Molokai the way high fives, hugs and fist pumps were going around. It was awesome.

Not being competitive at all, Tahoe "Fun Day" with Lokahi

Which brings us to Alcatraz - last weekend's race. After 2 years of America's Cup stuff, the race was back on and the course was changed up. Rather than going almost bridge to bridge around Alcatraz the organizers had us start on the beach and beeline to Alcatraz directly, point east towards the Bay Bridge without going all the way to it, turn south on a buoy heading towards the piers, turn west on a buoy heading up the shoreline all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge and just outside to a last buoy turn before heading straight back down to the start. It was an AWESOME race.

Photo from men's race, courtesy David Bell

First, size. There were 34 boats lined up - women and coed racing together per the usual. Second, competition. We decided to race our "Unlimited" boats - these are boats much lighter than the standard canoes we usually race and as they grow in popularity more clubs are buying them. Normally to race Unlimited is like racing Athena in a running race - you're taking yourself out of the general competition to put yourself in the running with the handful of girls who are willing to say - or even are - 145 lbs or more. So having 5 canoes gave it at least the semblance of competition. Third, the course. It was a steersman's race - knowing the water, keeping the boat running with the currents as best possible, finding the inside line against the winds for that extra 5% of glide and lastly, going under the GG Bridge and out was crazy. The water was coming from both sides like a washing machine and the current was pushing boats more north than they wanted to be so you had to know the line. I think our coach, Steph, said we were moving maybe 2mph at that point and it was all hands on, powering as hard as we could to get through the turn. It was gnarly but we nailed it and got home in 2nd place Unlimited, 4th overall. It was a big athletic effort to keep ahead of our closest and most-notable rival, to keep ahead of the coed crews chasing us and to get around that last buoy. A great, great race for so many reasons.

Heading out to race start, Alcatraz (photo Andres Grechi)

And that brings us up today. Santa Cruz is next, then Catalina which it looks like I'll be doing with another crew this year since my team isn't racing (free agency, baby), then Monterey Crossing and then it's done. All that back muscle just waiting to go to pudge. Blah. But 6 years later I'm still in love with it, enjoying the community, enjoying the work on my stroke, enjoying the new people that come in/out of the club each year. I have so much to figure out with my paddling still and there are races across the country I'd love to do if I could get a crew interested - talking about you Liberty Challenge (hello New York!).

Mahalo outrigger. I have no idea what I'd be doing with all this extra time on my hands if it wasn't for you. Dating? Meh. Eating? Probably. Writing? Would I have any inspiration? You complete me. For now.

Outrigger love (photo Sabri Zidan)