Author Topic: Redbull Paddle Cross Race - My Experience  (Read 5694 times)

Bob from Brazil

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Redbull Paddle Cross Race - My Experience
« on: February 26, 2010, 09:37:57 AM »
Aloha guys,

I'd like to share with you my experience in the Redbull Paddle Cross race that took place in 20/fev, Garopaba Beach in the State of Santa Catarina - Brazil. The event was the first of its kind in Brazil (sports is growing but we’re SUPing in Brazil for nearly over 2 years by now). It was a 11 miles race along 7 of the most beautiful beaches of Santa Catarina’s shore.

First things first, it’s good to classify my experience as a long distance paddler: zero, none, null. Ok, I practice the Stand Up Surf almost every day, but paddling 11 miles had never crossed my mind till that date.

The first challenge I faced was flying a board from Rio de Janeiro to Santa Catarina. Our domestic flights allows the shipment of boards up to 9' only. So, bringing my 11’ Laird along with me was out of the question.

A week before the event I was surfing at my local break when I met Surftech's representative in Brazil. I commented to him about the event and he said a touring board that day was coming in that day. And then, to my surprise, he offer me to test ride it in the race. I could not believe my luck…

The board.

I received the board, a 14’ Bark Expedition from Surftech, a day before the race. It was getting dark but I couldn’t resist to try it on the water. I paddled hard as I could because it was really getting dark. 10 min. later, I was so far from the shore that only I could see the dim lights far away. The reprimand I took from my wife for paddling in the dark was only softened because of the smiles in my face. That was my first time on such a huge board and I was stoked.

As a newbie I have no reference to compare it to a dedicated distance board (displacement hull type) but I found it to be very stable and with an impressive acceleration. This Joe Bark guy seems to know what he is doing… hehe…

The race.

The event was great, very pro, but I have to confess one thing: can’t understand why they limited the size of the boards up to 13’. Yeah, mine was 14’ and I did not care if I would be disqualified, my intention was to paddle the 11 miles.  As a growing sport here in Brazil, with a number of athletes and equipment not so expressive, I think that kind of limitation discourages the development of the sport, but that's just my humble opinion.

That said, after the start in Garopaba’s beach I managed to get fast in the water and climbed soon on board. Waves were head high and white water was a little bit heavy. I fell off the board after the 4th wave which broke right in front of me… It took me some time to get back in board and surpass the shore break. I wasn’t the last one to leave the beach but surely not in the first platoon…

The conditions of Garopaba’s beach  were not easy: onshore wind & swell. I was not discouraged and I paddled hard. But the time we faced the first buoy (1 mile) I was among the top five paddlers. Yup, I felt proud of myself…

Following the elite squad, I decided not to stress so much, after all, did not know my limits for that race and I was afraid of losing the "gas" and not complete the 11 miles distance. At this point we were in open ocean with side to back wind but very chopped by the swells hitting coastal rocks and reverberating back. The contestants paddled away from the rocks but I decided take the shortest route which was closer to the cliffs. That strategy cost me some positions... Despite being the shortest route I was bouncing so bad that the board couldn’t get a good glide. Worst than that, I ended up getting sort of seasick and fell about four times because of that.


At this point I was behind the leaders but still among the top 10 paddlers...

Then we reached a point where conditions were good for downwinding and so I decided to stay away from the cliff and try to catch some bumps. The board was now gliding fast but I have to blame my lack of experience in downwind to get me even faster.

2/3 of the race were completed and I had plenty of endurance left, I paddled hard again. In that faster pace the board really shined and I recovered at least 4 positions. I left behind some experienced paddlers that were clearly in better shape than me. The 14’ Exp Bark made all the difference. With the Hawaiian stroke (harder and longer) it was gliding better and making better use of the swell.

By the time I was hitting the end of the race, I took a massive wave (+head high), made the drop, but could not hold the whitewash behind me when the wave broke at the shore. I had a big wipe out, lost my cap, shades, and took some beating of the following waves. That wipe out cost me a position.


The Veredict.
.

The structure of the event was amazing. Good support with boats, jet skis and a helicopter.

It is said there that the top finishers missed the route and did not pass into the check points. In my opinion this does not invalidate the fact that they all paddled very strong and would maintain those positions whatever route it should be. In fact, due to the conditions (chop & windy) I myself couldn’t locate as well the check points. To invalidate the result because of that is to reverse the growth of the sport here in Brazil. I think the organization of the race is better off if they learn from mistakes like that.

So, congrats to our waterman Kauli Seadi, representing Brazil in the highest place of the podium timed at 1h59min. Congrats to Thomas Maximus (USA – 2nd place at 2h04min) and to Remy Lavie (FRA - 3rd place at 2h07min).

Of the 75 competitors that took off, 60 completed the race. I think I finished in 7th place and took just me under 2h20min to complete the 11 miles. I found not fair to ask officially for my position as my board was "outside the rules" of the competition. But I do not regret having gone with the 14’ Bark because it’s a fantastic board and a had a blast. All in all, I heard my wife saying that, for her, I placed first and I strongly believe in her  ;D.


Mahalos do Brazil,
Bob

PonoBill

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Re: Redbull Paddle Cross Race - My Experience
« Reply #1 on: February 26, 2010, 11:22:42 AM »
Great story Bob.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

H2Oman

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Re: Redbull Paddle Cross Race - My Experience
« Reply #2 on: February 26, 2010, 11:38:13 AM »
Way to go Bob.  Looking forward to entering my first race for fun soon as well.  Great that Surftech hooked you up.  There's not many people who get a "sponsorship" BEFORE their first race  :D
« Last Edit: February 26, 2010, 11:39:44 AM by H2Oman »

Bob from Brazil

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Re: Redbull Paddle Cross Race - My Experience
« Reply #3 on: February 26, 2010, 12:23:58 PM »
Great story Bob.

Thanks, Bill... And I really mean it, thanks for encouraging me. You and some guys here in the Zone are my source of inspiration and I pay a lot of attention on what's being said. Thanks again for the great articles at Kenalu (I read them carefully). I'm not if I fully understand downwind principles but you may certainly have enlighten it on recent articles (maybe I need to pay a visit to Maui and learn it directly from experience).

Way to go Bob.  Looking forward to entering my first race for fun soon as well.  Great that Surftech hooked you up.  There's not many people who get a "sponsorship" BEFORE their first race  :D

Aloha H2Oman. ;D Surftech rep did not sponsored me but he indeed hooked me up by shipping the board at his expense (which wasn’t little as he spent over U$250,00 in shipping costs). But then again, if you consider I wrote him a true story about an average dude paddling with the elite paddlers here in Brazil and that was possible due to Bark's board, I think he'll have a good feedback from customers in here. Anyway, as I'm struggling to return the board back to him, he offered to take my 11' Takayama as a part of the deal on that 14' Bark Exp. I seriously think the Bark is going to be keeper… For sure my 2 year old daughter will love those nice straps when riding with daddy…

Mahalos do Brazil,
Bob.

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Re: Redbull Paddle Cross Race - My Experience
« Reply #4 on: February 26, 2010, 05:21:22 PM »
Fantastic story Bob! Thank you for sharing. You gave a great race description and I was hanging in there with you while reading it LoL, well done!

mik911

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Re: Redbull Paddle Cross Race - My Experience
« Reply #5 on: February 27, 2010, 12:19:23 AM »
Great story Bob! Glad you did well in the race (especially with so little distance experience).
I've been eyeing that exact same Bark Expedition board for some distance cruising.  From your testimony, it sounds like it's stable and fast.  I currently have a 10' sup that I surf, so a distance board like that Bark may be in my future.

I got my Surftech prone paddleboard after meeting Ty, the USA National Surftech sales rep here in SoCalif last year. He was really cool, and had some demo boards for use at a race here.

Nice pics too!


Mike

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stoneaxe

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Re: Redbull Paddle Cross Race - My Experience
« Reply #6 on: February 28, 2010, 05:06:17 AM »
Awesome Bob...great story. I can imagine the smiles..great pics too.
Bob

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Bob from Brazil

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Re: Redbull Paddle Cross Race - My Experience
« Reply #8 on: March 01, 2010, 05:45:55 AM »
Congratulations on your 1st race, Bob!

So, after the experience, how did it feel on the physical aspect? How tired you were after the race, how exhausting was that? Like you, I'm more of a wave guy than a long distance one, but recently I've been interested in exploring this other side of SUP. There's an island about 7 to 8 Km (5 to 6 miles) to the south of Serrambi beach and I'm planning to make this cross with some friends... Nice board and pics, by the way!!

Aloha,

RecSuppa


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Re: Redbull Paddle Cross Race - My Experience
« Reply #9 on: March 01, 2010, 05:56:39 AM »
Thanks for sharing, great story...all that time in the surf add's up, next year take it all the way.
Sweet stick! very kool rep.
Got any pic's of your quiver ?

Bob from Brazil

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Re: Redbull Paddle Cross Race - My Experience
« Reply #10 on: March 01, 2010, 07:34:55 AM »
Thanks for the support, guys...

Congratulations on your 1st race, Bob!

So, after the experience, how did it feel on the physical aspect? How tired you were after the race, how exhausting was that? Like you, I'm more of a wave guy than a long distance one, but recently I've been interested in exploring this other side of SUP. There's an island about 7 to 8 Km (5 to 6 miles) to the south of Serrambi beach and I'm planning to make this cross with some friends... Nice board and pics, by the way!!

Aloha,

RecSuppa



Aloha RecSuppa, I kept a fast pace from start to first 30 min. race. Then the elite squad kept that pace and I decided to back off a little in order to save some energy and complete the race. Maybe I saved too much… In the last 3 to 5 miles I paddled hard again (faster than everybody, including the top 3 paddlers) because I felt I had enough energy left, but that wasn’t enough to reach them…

In the video you can see me at 1:55 reaching the finish line right behind a guy with a grey board. Another lesson learned in here: couldn’t run properly because of the coiled leash. Next time I’ll loose it prior to running.

Thanks for sharing, great story...all that time in the surf add's up, next year take it all the way.
Sweet stick! very kool rep.
Got any pic's of your quiver ?

Aloha Pilon, the Bark Exp is the first of it’s kind in my quiver, although it’s my 9th board. I don’t have pics of my quiver all together but there are some of them posted here in the Zone. The other boards are: 4 custom shapes (8’6 round pin, 8’7 winged swallow, and two 8’8s rounded nose and round square tail); 3 Terry Chung boards (8’11 all arounder, 9’6 quad fish, & 9’8 semi gun); and a 11’ Laird wood finish.

Mahalos do Brazil,
Bob.

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Re: Redbull Paddle Cross Race - My Experience
« Reply #11 on: March 01, 2010, 11:13:57 AM »
Thanks for sharing the story and pics! For a newbie like myself, it serves as inspiration! Aloha!

PilonSUP

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Re: Redbull Paddle Cross Race - My Experience
« Reply #12 on: March 01, 2010, 06:03:29 PM »
Good luck on the new board,keep us posted how it goes.

Looking foward to my 1st race if there is ever one around here(hint hint)...

JustPaddle

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Re: Redbull Paddle Cross Race - My Experience
« Reply #13 on: March 01, 2010, 08:55:39 PM »

 


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