Dan Gavere of Werner Paddles posts here about the Fall Classic Race on Lake Tahoe hosted by Tahoe Paddle and Oar ...
Wow what a beautiful day. I never thought that paddling 22 miles could be so fun. The color of the water in the middle of that lake is just so mesmerizing it induces daydreams. Paddling while staring deep into the water is like being in a trance. A few times my trance like state caused me to veer severely off course and/or almost fall in.
The course was straight across the lake, 22miles from the South Shore to the North Shore. We got going about 7:30 am and the air temp was a chilly 53 degrees, but the sky was clear and the sun just moments away from clearing the ridge. About 20 paddlers got their equipment together with men and women preparing for what would be the longest paddle that any of them had ever tried (me included).
Fist of all I am stoked about my new board an Infinity 12'6" that Steve B. made for me to race in the Battle of the Paddle. It’s a pintail version of his lake racer. I was a bit leary about 22 miles on such short board. At the start, as I looked out to the water most of the boys were on 14-18 ft unlimited style boards and there was certainly no lack of fitness in these competitors. I thought that there was no way I was going to win, but if I can keep up or be close with these guys I will be stoked. We got off to a medium paced start, but after about 1 mile a few of us picked it up a notch to break a good sweat. I paddled hard with 2 guys from Bark Boards (Todd and Dan) these guys were both on 17ft prone boards and wreaked of fitness and excellent technique so I spent a bit of time watching how they moved and paddled with their hands. Their boards looked fast.
Before the race started, I decided that my pace would be tempo driven to whatever song was playing on the mp3 player (i.e. if its was reggae or medium paced music I would dig deep and hard but with a medium pace, if it was hard core or death metal I would sprint.) Since I had it on shuffle 4 heavy songs in a row came on and I found myself sprinting away from Todd and Dan. I had 2 SUP guys in front of me and one of them was within reach so I put my head down and dug hard. I felt great and now 7-8 miles into the race I had reached a pace I knew I could maintain for another 2 hrs.
As I approached the next paddler I noticed how long his paddle was and it looked as if he was moving in slow motion compared to my frenzied pace. I decided to use the Carve paddle from Werner in a 78-inch setting. The Carve has a 7-inch wide blade and is only 101 sq inches. (Most paddles are in the 105-110 sq inche range.) I was stoked on the high cadence/light pull of the paddle throughout the stroke and how my body felt. It was about the half way point and we (Rand and I) paddled together for a bit talked about how the wind could come up and he helped direct me to where the finish was located. I tossed the headphones back on and started back into my death metal pace :) There was no way I was going to catch the guy in front (Dave) but I thought I would try. As soon as I could see the finish buoys, I started paddling harder thinking I would be finished in about 30 minutes. Not a chance! Over an hour later I finally hit the beach after a huge finish sprint that took all I had left.
4 hours 7 minutes was my time as I crossed between the buoys - AWESOME- STOKED - and not bad at all for 22 miles on 12'6" board. Check out the reults here. The board worked great the paddle was unbelievable and the conditions were perfect. We all cheered as each person and every person successfully finished. We all had lunch together and then Phil gave many of us a ride back to the start to fetch our vehicles. One of the paddlers on the bus had excellent old school stories of being a hippy and living around Tahoe. He was so funny we laughed the whole way back. That’s what its all about is having fun laughing and making friends.
Phil Segal from Tahoe Paddle and Oar deserves a huge THANK YOU for organizing the event. If anyone out there has a chance to come on out for the next Tahoe event I would recommend it-beautiful, fun, and something that can be enjoyed by anyone who paddles.
aloha dan...thanks for coming out to the event...i finished so quick because i knew you were right on my ass...much aloha from the sierras...really dug your prototype paddle,would love to get one for the so cal ocean series...drop me a line anytime @ bigwavedavetahoe@yahoo.com mahalo nui loa,dave defoe
Posted by: dave defoe | October 28, 2008 at 08:08 PM