It turned out to be a beautiful day for a canoe race. The weather was perfect. A mixture of sunshine and cloud with only one short shower thrown in to cool us down.
The organizers of the race this year made significant improvements over last year's race resulting in a well executed race to the finish. We actually paddled the whole of the race without experiencing any equipment malfunctions. This was definitely a first. We paddled our little hearts out for 2 hrs 13 mins and 22 secs covering a total distance of 19.8 kms. We fell into fourth position immediately at the start and maintained that position for about half the race until the organizer (Guy Rouleau) overtook us and managed to stay ahead of us for the remainder of the race.
We experienced a few nasty crosswinds from the south along the way which caused us some grief but otherwise were able to maintain over a 9 kmph average speed from start to finish. We finished in fifth place trailing only 3 minutes behind Guy. The first three finisher's were Beaumier's which don't qualify by Ontario standards as they don't meet the OMCRA specifications namely:
Stock Racing (Open17’)
Any canoe, 17 feet long or less with a minimum width of 32 inches at the 4-inch waterline is acceptable. Typically Stock Racing / Open 17’ class is a Clipper or Wenonah Jensen 17’ canoe.
Recreational
Any non-racing canoe, at the discretion of the race organizer, 17 feet long or less with a minimum width of 32 inches at the 3-inch water line is acceptable.
The Beaumier's are extremely narrow and have a very low water line which makes them very tippy and likely to take on water. Having said that, they do go like a bat out of hell.
Our arrival was overshadowed by the pro boats which were making their appearance just as we were crossing the finish line. We were very proud of our accomplishment as the only practice Mike and I are ever able to put in is when we actually participate in a race. Our main rival Guy and his partner for example pointed out that had put in 45 hours worth of practice prior to the race and it really showed as they finished quite a bit behind us in last year's race. All in all, a really good time was had by all and we're really looking forward to doing it again next year.
