Blog

This section will post some of our training for various [...]

On race day the wind was calm and the sea was flat.....perfect California day....only we were in Southern Africa and place called Komikie on the Atlantic side of South Africa at the tip of the continent. Batches of paddlers started leaving the beach at 5am with groups every 5 minutes. We were in the last bunch of paddlers leaving the start at 6:15. The sun had just risen and the day was beautiful. This race is notorious for the viscous sea. The last Cape Point the swell was so huge the course had to be changed. Pat and I opted to race it double, just in case it was monstrous...I honestly was afraid of the conditions and would be able to do it in a double...but most likely not in a single if it was crazy. As it turned out, it was very mild and I would have been fine in a single....oh well you just never know. Dawid and Nikki Mocke picked us up from our bed and breakfast earlier and my Mom and Dad-in-law were set to watch the 2 boys and our baby girl for the day. As a mom, this was tough to leave my baby as it would be the first morning in her life that I would not be there when she awoke. Patrick and I try to race at a high level, but getting older with kids makes that tough. In the days prior to the race, we were surfing with Hayden (age 10), buying many ice creams for Reece (age 8) and pushing Danica (9 months) around in the stroller from shade to shade at the beach....other paddlers were doing last minute adjustments to skis, having a cruise paddle or a hard session...we were carrying paddleboards and diaper bags back and forth, finding restaurants with high chairs and kids menus with crayons. The race was cool. Our batch had the competitive doubles and we had to chase a slower group of doubles sent off 5 minutes sooner. The line quickly spread out with about 7-8 doubles all riding wake. Pat and I were in the front 3 so we had to share the pull to the point. The 2 fastest men's crews broke away earlier and we never saw them again. The race for us was with the mixed and we lead most of the way to the Point....again we pulled with 2 other crews. The pace seemed very slow. There was time to look around and see the landscape and on the horizon the sea scape. The ocean had lots of thick kelp that bobbed up and down. All of it looked like it was Jaws coming to eat us. The reefs off the point were breaking, but not huge and not scary. Not problems there. It got a little exciting the 3km around the Point. The water gets washing machine like and bouncy. This is where the all doubles split up. When we actually were in line with Cape Point, Pat and I stopped paddling and did a little yahoo cheer and looked around at the lighthouse and everything. I noticed a single wallowing in the bumps, going what looked like backwards. I'm pretty sure this guy didn't finish the race. He had started 1 our and 15 minutes ahead of us. Long day for him. Once around the point another 5 km to Buffels Bay and the 10 minute mandatory stop. This is where the other mixed double we were racing made a move and passed us on almost invisible runs. We paddled hard to match them and came to the beach about 30 seconds behind. 32 km into it and now the fun downwind part, except it was totally flat and hot. At the stop we ate and drank, changed liquid, and removed long pants and booties. Nikki had our stuff and the camera and a big smile....she would have loved to be racing, but she is sprint training for the Olympics. The end isn't pretty...we tried everything to catch the other mixed crew, but at about 45 km into it, that was it for me. Patrick still felt strong and he tried to coax me into more power and less moaning. He was sure they were tiring and we could catch them .I was sure I was tiring and that we couldn't catch them and that jaws was lurking and weed was on the rudder and my blisters were bleeding, my back side bleeding and I kept thinking I can't go hard cause I didn't train enough (true, but you shouldn't be thinking that in a race) I came up with every excuse in my mind not to catch them...see this is what not doing the distance in training does to you. Hummm I guess I should have figured that. We ended up about 30 seconds behind, the same as at the stop...I was just happy to stand up. Pat was disappointed that we didn't win...but in the end we were stoked to have been there and done it...... The best part, Hayden came running up and asked me if I saw him surf that last wave and Reece wanted to know if I had any money for another ice cream cause he had been waiting for us for soooo long and Danica, she was asleep thank goodness, cause my arms were like jelly and I don't think I could have held her just then.