WaveChaser Race #2, Pt. Richmond, November 12, 2005:

Richmond was a new location for a WaveChaser event. We have so much water in the Bay Area, why not get around some?

The conditions were flat. Real flat.

The day started with the 2 mile novice race. Amongst the surfskis, OC1s, and OC2s, there were ten women and 6 men. Just as I mentioned in the Half Moon Bay race recap, it's nice to see a race with just as many (or in this case, more) women entered as men. At the end of the out and back race, four of the first five finishers were women. We had the required number of entries (three) to give out awards in both the womens surfski class and the womens OC1 class.

Next off was the six mile short course race...a loop around Brooks Island plus a little more. Eleven out of the first twelve boats across the finish line - lead by Chris Heath - were surfskis. The lone OC1 in the top twelve was Cary Acord in 8th overall and first OC1 man. Elaine Baden was 15th overall and the first woman surfski. Stephanie Siaris and Judy Barker finished one-two, respectively, in the OC1 woman long course race at WaveChaser race #1 in Half Moon Bay. They both elected to race short course in Richmond. The two reversed their previous finishing order and led the field of eleven OC1 woman entrants. The OC2 class was led by avid WaveChaser volunteers: Shaka and Thelma Madali and then Claire Biron and Betsie Spann.

After a short wait to let a big freighter turn into Richmond harbor, the 10+ mile long course race was off. The course would take us up to Red Rock (just south of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge), back around the south side of Brooks Island, and then to the finish line. With a strong ebb tide during race time, there were many strategies as to the best route to take out to Red Rock. Some took the shortest line. Others took the longer route near shore to stay away from the current. Surfski paddle Zsolt Szadovszki rounded Red Rock with the double surfski team of Carter Johnson and Sally Mason. Next was Steve Kaspar and then a group of skis that included Alan Clark, Jim Micheaels, and Tony Van Buuren. After several years of doing all the races on a surfski, I decided to give an OC1 a try again. Justin Banfield and I took very different routes to Red Rock, but our OC1s ended up side-by-side just after we did the turn to head back home. At the finish, Zsolt out sprinted Carter and Sally to be the first across the line. After a bit of a gap, Alan, Steve, and Tony all finished within 45 seconds of each other. Justin put a minute on me on the way back from Red Rock and was the first OC1 across the line.

The Scott Kelly sponsored "do a favor for a friend" contest brought in 27 new racers. Contest winners Susan Starbird and Dana Miyake were each responsible for bringing seven new WaveChaser racers. Susan and Dana split the $200 prize. Scott has since announced his "butts in boats" contest for the Redwood City WaveChaser race in February. Scott will award $300 to the person who can recruit the most new WaveChaser racers to the Redwood City race.

After taking a break for the months of December and January, WaveChaser will start up again in February with our doubleheader weekend of races in Redwood City on Saturday, February 18 and on Treasure Island on Sunday, February 19. In the past we've had the most competitive races of the season at these races...with many out of town paddlers making the trip to the Bay Area. Hope to see you there.

Dave Jensen

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