flat water distance race strategy

[lazymodo]

mike you have the strangest taste in paddling conditions.   paddling at night ? not so great. i got caught out late recently , hit a rock coming in, poked the fin through the bottom of my f16,and faceplanted into more rocks, fun fun fun.
your welcome cheeky. great product so far.

[mikelefty]

mike you have the strangest taste in paddling conditions.  paddling at night ? not so great. i got caught out late recently , hit a rock coming in, poked the fin through the bottom of my f16,and faceplanted into more rocks, fun fun fun.

night-time is great, tuck in the kiddies (too many in my case) and the wife (she thinks I'm crazed), pick a route, load up the fuel, gps, strap on some lights and go. Does it mean I'm even crazier hooking up the H20/Ipod for max tune-age...nah...only have to worry about the occasional obstacles and hammered boater. Darkness truely opens the SUP experience. In reality it is very peacefull. better than the shit as freezing cold and 34 degree water in January.

[stoneaxe]

mike you have the strangest taste in paddling conditions.  paddling at night ? not so great. i got caught out late recently , hit a rock coming in, poked the fin through the bottom of my f16,and faceplanted into more rocks, fun fun fun.

night-time is great, tuck in the kiddies (too many in my case) and the wife (she thinks I'm crazed), pick a route, load up the fuel, gps, strap on some lights and go. Does it mean I'm even crazier hooking up the H20/Ipod for max tune-age...nah...only have to worry about the occasional obstacles and hammered boater. Darkness truely opens the SUP experience. In reality it is very peacefull. better than the shit as freezing cold and 34 degree water in January.

I love night paddles....I usually hug the beach though...a little spooky to hear a big splash and think WTF was that?

[PonoBill]

I love paddling at night. Here in the Hood it's no big deal--lots of light around. You WILL slip in goose shit getting out of the water, but that's life. I surfed at the break right out from Duke's statue in Waikiki one night until well past midnight. What a great night. One of my most memorable experiences.

[DavidJohn]

I often paddle through the city at night.. It's nice.

This was from a couple of weeks ago.. You just have to make sure you don't fall in.. or get hit by a cyclist..  

DJ

[Shano]

DJ, what is your board selection?

Shano

[redfour]

Hey cheekymonkey - how was the race? I'm guessing it was the Paddle Round the Pier, Brighton?

[cheekymonkey]

Hi Redfour,

Yeah it was paddle round the pier Brighton.  It was a great race.  Have been meaning to bring in my camera to work to bung some pics up!

Amazing race.  Very, very hard.  We have a NW cross/head wind for the first 10 miles.  It dropped as we turned the marker buoy for 5 miles, then wind picked back up & swung round to cross  SW for the last 5 miles & got pretty choppy.

I managed 10th in stock class & i think 14th overall with a time of 4hr 01min.  I was really, really pleased with the result having never paddled this sort of distance before.  The winning time was 3.24 & some 36 entrants which is amazing for the UK scene.  We even had a couple of French champs enter, taking 1st & 2nd in the stock class.

I took onboard the advice here & fueled up for the day before & the morning of the race (8am start so up early for food).  All i could think of was Ponobills advice to 'reach' before anything else... so that's what i did... i just kept saying it in my head for mile after mile... 'reach, reach, reach' ha ha.  I took 3l of electrolyte drink & a coupe of cereal bars for race fuel.

I noticed a lot of the guys are using the energy gels in little tubes.  they all swear the work wonders so i might try a few in training & see if they help. 

overall i felt really good, pushed extra hard from about 8-12m to take 2 places.  hit a wall about 13m & then peaked & toughed all the way back to the finish.  the last few miles being a real, real hard slog with the wind & side chop, trying to keep concentration & rhythm!

When i finished i swore to my girlfriend i'd never do it again, but about an hour later i was gagging to go again hah

A few pics courtosy of Steve & Mandy West (i'll put up some more when i remember my camera)












Name Class Time

Bobby Thatcher    Unlimited    3:24:15
Mike Ellicock    Unlimited    3:24:35
Ryan James    Unlimited    3:28:25
Jock Patterson    Unlimited    3:47:20
Jon Ellman Brown   Unlimited    3:55:35
Zac Wharton    Unlimited    4:05:26
Steve Carter    Unlimited    4:07:35
Nick Watt    Unlimited    4:11:15
Adam England    Unlimited    4:13:35
Jan Sleigh    Unlimited    4:18:30
Tom Cooper    Unlimited    DNF

Eric Terrien Stock    3:28:45
Renaud Noyelle    Stock    3:45:30
Rich Morton    Stock    3:46:20
Mark Slater    Stock    3:47:40
Steve West    Stock    3:49:00
Elliot Dudley    Stock    3:52:25
John Hibbard    Stock    3:54:30
Charlie Grey    Stock    3:56:00
Chris Barnes    Stock    3:57:40
Pete Holliday    Stock    4:01:20
Nick Healey    Stock    4:06:00
David Bales    Stock    4:07:00
Annabell Anderson Stock    4:07:50
Tony Peters    Stock    4:08:05
Marie Buchanan Unlimited    4:08:25
Carl Reynolds    Stock    4:11:20
James Hardy    Stock    4:15:00
Guts Griffiths Stock    4:17:45
Andy Harmer    Stock    4:26:35
Richard Rice    Stock    4:27:00
Dave Robinson    Stock    4:32:35
Robin Willaims    Stock    4:32:45
Susan Reynolds    Stock    5:17:30
Jay Manning    Stock    DNF

Stefan Little    prone    3:55:50

[cheekymonkey]

Some more pics here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=242584&id=628196334&l=0f8734836f