catalina classic results ?

[Worthless]

 Any word on how the Catalina  to Dana Point race finished up ?

[longboarder1973]

Overall SUP winners...Team of Rojas, Shahinian, and ghallager.
  1st place 2 person team of Doeber and Doeber.
  2nd place 2 man team of Byron Kurt and Colin McPhillips.

[venice mace]

longboarder, you have 1st and 2nd 2 man backwards. Byron and Collin won

[capobeachboy]

Results posted here: http://web.mac.com/chrisok/Ocean_Ohana/2010.html
Congrats to all - that's a long paddle.

[greatdane]

longboarder, you have 1st and 2nd 2 man backwards. Byron and Collin won

Not that it matters... but the results do show it the way Longboarder states... looks like a close race, less than 5 minutes separate them.  But according to the world of Face Book posts, Byron & Collin did win the 2 man team.

[Ocean Ohana]

The results are correct as posted on www.oceanohana.com,  After having some time to reflect on the race as well as take a closer look at the categories.  I made a few corrections from what was announced at Hennessey's.  Originally The Unlimited class was made up of 5 teams,  2 had two paddlers 3 had 3 paddlers.  As SUP racing develops for the Catalina Challenge we need to adjust what we are doing.   Originally in order to make competitive classes we grouped 2,3,and 4 person teams together.  As I look towards inevitable growth I want to get the classes set with records and times with appropriate paddlers/ team. Several of the teams showing up morning of the race and I did not think to make the corrections at that time.  As a race director I will make mistakes and not make everyone happy.  I hope that I learn from them and can adjust for future races.
There was some confusion as to the course allowed through the channel.  It is my fault that I did not have a map indicating the correct route through the harbor.  Most if not all the paddlers in the race have raced in Dana before and we have always run up the outside channel rounding the rocks and a straight shot to the finish.  We all know the about the phrase for "Assume"
In an age of facebook, tweeter, personal blogs, and a plethora of other web sites.  It is easy to name call and be monday morning quarterback.  I hope that we can all step back a moment and remember that unless you are willing to make a statement to or about someone that it is something you would say to them face to face,  Please be respectful.
I have had a long talk to Byron and HE has asked to be DQ's.  He is being called a cheater which is flat out wrong.  He did not cheat,  he took a line through the channel that he and others thought was a legal route.  Many of the individuals that are making negative remarks were not at the race meeting,  and did not hear what Byron heard me say.  I screwed up and was not clear,  to call Byron a cheater is not fair and I hope that those statements will be retracted by their posters.
At the end of the day I hope that we can all remember why we paddle and that we are a growing sport,  It will have ups and downs.  Lets focus on the positives, and learn from the negatives and not dwell on them.

Cheers,
Chris O'Kieffe
Ocean Ohana Catalina Race Director.

[venice mace]

Thanks for that post, Chris.  There were many positives in this event with very few negatives.  You did as good a job as possible IMO with the resources you had.  Everyone was stoked, everyone that I saw had a great time.. even the Facebook whiners 

I look forward to doing it again next year!

[sanch10]

I see in Chris's post some one referenced Byron Kurt as a "Cheater". I have known Byron for many years and that is one word I would never associate with Byron. Byron is one of the nicest humans I have met and I am proud to call my business partner. He is a fierce competitor master strategist and the first guy to cheer you on at the finish of a race.

It is unfortunate that after we all paddled 40 miles, we could not just celebrate all of our accomplishments for crossing the channel on whatever craft you chose. The results are great, but second in a two-person category? Does this really mean anything? I believe what is important here is the path traveled. The results are secondary. My partner and I were first in our group, a group of one.

Spread the Aloha,

SS

[venice mace]

Well said, Scott!

[PonoBill]

Not too much question about who won overall. Danny Ching and Wil Reichenstein were obviously cheating--they must have had a Hemi in that sucker. 4:54 -- holy buckets! That's about an 8 MPH average!!

[Matt]

Just wanted to say a big thank you to Chris O'keefe and all that helped out with the Catalina Crossing.  Chris, you have your hands full with running this event and adding SUP, while challenging, will only help grow the event and will have the ability to be as big as you want it.  All in all, I think there was a great vibe in and out of the water and everyone seemed to have a great time.  We received nothing but great stoke and smiles the whole time, and we were stoked to get some newbies into the sport on Catalina.  Thanks again Chris, and if there is anything we can do to help with next years event, please let me know and we will be right there.

Aloha   

[greatdane]

Huge props go out to Naish Team Rider Karen Wrenn for actually being the fastest solo female paddler at Catalina.  She was not allowed to enter the race as a solo paddler because they did not want to take attention away from the other solo female who was paddling for Breast Cancer awareness.  FYI; Karen's mom is a breast cancer survivor...

So Karen had to register as a two person team with her husband John.  She paddled the entire 39.8 miles SOLO and beat the other gals time by 11 seconds.  The results show her as a part of a coed team.  Karen is super humble, so I'll be the one who says "great job" girl!

http://kaenon.com/blog/2010/04/karen-wrenn-paddles-solo-40-miles-from-catalina-to-dana-point/

[venice mace]

i don't think you have your facts straight, greatdane

[greatdane]

Sorry... that's how it was explained to me... what actually happened?  Karen did do it solo right?

[greatdane]

For the two women to be separated by only 11 seconds after 40 miles is pretty cool.