SUPer Heroes Race

SUPer heroes Race

After a day of work it was time to slip into my alter ego down at the crabshell and turn into the Highlander, although not strictly a super hero it seemed fitting to use my nicknames full potential and battle it out with superman! Still feeling a little fatigued from the surf to salt the day before and after a long day at work I got down to the start line to don my war paint. Thankfully I had a helping hand and the gorgeous Sarah Keskes was at hand to get me ready while I concentrated on the task at hand of beating some super heroes. Althought it was only a small local race the honours and bragging rights were at stake as well as the golden envelope with its 1^st place prize!

 

The course was from the Crabshell down to the end of the creek at Kingsbridge round the buoy and then down to the Saltstone down by widegates and then back to the pub, any route was permitted as long as the buoy turns were clockwise first then counter clockwise on the saltstone. We lined up in front of a busy pub audience and got ready for the off. Right from the start Ollie O’reilly, got an amazing start and pulled off ahead of everyone and left the rest of us wobbling in his wake.

Myself and Tom Stockwell both side by side and trying to not hit into each other as the boards took a mind of their own in the confused water. It took a few hundred metres before I could settle down and start pulling through the gears and think about catching Ollie, with James McGing side by side I tried to force him wide so I could get the inside line for the clockwise buoy turn at the end of the creek, I watched as Ollie seemed to be taking a bad line on the approach and wondered what he was doing and then spotted my chance to take charge of the race and set the tempo, Ollie started turning anti clockwise so I shouted your going the wrong way and he had to rectify his mistake and I snuck into the lead but Ollie was hot on my heels. As we headed back up the creek I was well aware that Ollie was determined to stay with me and I decided id have to use a few tricks to shake him off my tail but I wasn’t too bothered at that time as there was still plenty of time to lose him just grinding out the course.

As we got back within sight of the crabshell all that could be heard was the chanting from Ollie’s fan club dispersed by one mighty bellow from my dad completely drowning them out. We started to exit out of sight of the pub and the safety boat passed us by to try and get some photos of the pack heading out of the creek, there was just enough wash for me to use this as an advantage to break Ollie off my draft, the c14 swings around in the water and I managed to slow him down and then sprint off in order to get a slight gap, it was all I needed and despite him not being far off I knew that id pull away barring any unforeseen circumstances.

As we got closer to Gerston the wind was coming from my right hand side, instead of taking the direct line for saltstone I kept over to the right hoping that was I cleared the point id get a slight wind assist pushing me towards the mark, I glanced left and saw Dan Ashford and Ollie working together but taking the shortest route possible, I changed course slightly to limit quite how far extra I had to paddle but it did back fire slightly. As I cleared the shelter of Gerston the wind was pushing hard down blanksmill creek and meant I had a long and painful paddle on my left hand side for ages, to top it off I could feel the paddle handle slipping and making the whole situation very awkward. I managed to keep my lead down to saltstone and rounded a rather shallow mark through the seaweed, thankfully I still had my FCS carbon weed fin on the board. I could now fairly easily see the rest of the racers and could take stock of how hard to push for the last 1.5 miles back to the pub. As long as I could keep going through the chop and wind at a fair pace I knew that id speed up enough once I hit calmer waters to see it out. The last few hundred metres were really hurting my back, I think due to the paddle slippage and having to adjust my stroke but it was worthwhile as I crossed the line in 1^st place. I managed to catch my breath and then Dan and Ollie came round the corner, Ollie was still hanging on to dan’s draft but even with a sprint at the end couldn’t quite pip him and Dan took 2^nd.

 

It was a good little local race and by no means an easy one, but I took home the golden envelope with a pizza meal for 2! My thanks go to the crabshell for setting up the event, Simon Harrow on safety boat cover, Joe Bishop photograpgy. To my sponsors Starboard and Tushingham who have always been very helpful and supplied me with great equipment, Teapigs for that winning mental boost and Onit Pro for that superior glide. My next race, 2 days’ time on the Norfolk Broads, one hell of a busy week, Whoop Whoop!