Florida's Hobie Treasure Island Series finishes with tussels to the end

[Photos] courtesy Lex Raas
[img:59632 n=40]HOBIE TREASURE ISLAND OCEAN PADDLING SERIES FINISHES WITH TUSSLES TO THE
END

July 4th saw a fabulous turnout of nearly 50 paddlers competing in the 8th
and final race of this Florida paddling series. Some divisions had been
wrapped up with this 8 race 5 to count event prior to this race but in
quite a few divisions this race would provide the overall winners.

In conjunction with this final race, the Gulf Beaches Rotary had joined
forces and a fund raising drive was included with all participants donating
$25- to this fabulous cause, T shirts Pizza and beer were provided in
return and most importantly a fabulous day with fabulous weather. PRICELESS
! The course for this final race for the Long Course was around Treasure
Island providing open water, back creek, John Pass and Blind Pass with the
current ripping giving everyone a few ways to test their skills. The Short
Course folks did 2 laps up and down in open water.

In the long course Reid Hyle continued to improve his form and managed to
do the 8.5 mile race in 1 hour and 1 minute which to my recollection is a
new record. The challenge for Reid remains to crack the 1 hour barrier.
Currents were quite favorable therefore we believe that this will be a
tough time to beat. Reid wrapped up the Ski division overall. Second round
was Andy Gerber and Rob Mirlenbrink on a 2 man ski in 1 hour 5 mins. Kip
Koelsch followed 1 minute later on his Huki S1-X ski and one minute later
by John Edward at 1 hour 7 mins. John keeps going faster and faster on his
OC1, this is an impressive time on an OC1 in flat water. John's win in this
race placed him at a dead tie for overall honors in the OC1 division for
the series with Harry Mountain who finished third in this race behind Jean
Raas. The only way to break the tie was to go back to discards, after
adding back two discards there was still a tie, therefore taking a total
recount of all 8 races Harry edged out John with 2 points, a formidable
performance by John and Harry. Competition rules !!!

Further down the pack in the OC1's there was battle royal going on between
Mike Sieber and Mike Holland to decide the overall veteran winner, once
again the points with 3 discards after this race provided a tie, counting
back the discards, Mike Holland managed to edge out Mike Sieber.
Congratulations Mike and Mike, you guys are inspirations to all of us.

Below follows the overall results for divisions where there were
participants that managed 5 races to post a result, congratulations to all
of you, also attached are the results for Race 8.

In closing we wold like to thank the sponsors for this series which in
total saw 13 races run in 13 months, in total there were 148 different
entries over the series which is a fabulous turnout and I know that
participants will support the sponsors wherever possible.

Note-- Anyone wanting a hi res copy of pic, please e mail me at
lex@mooringsnet.com

Thank you Hobie Cat Company (hobiecat.com) Hobie Kayaks, Hobie Sunglasses,
Hobie Apparel, Epic Kayaks (epickayaks.com), Hurricane Outrigger Canoes
(crazypaddlers.com), The Moorings (moorings.com), Grand Expeditions
International (grandex.com), Crazypaddlers (crazypaddlers.com), Kialoa
Paddles (crazypaddlers.com) Architectural Windows and Entries
(architecturalwindows.com), Jean Larroux of Caldwell Banker, Bill Brannum
and Daryn Smith.

OVERALL WINNERS
OC1 1-Harry Mountain, 2- John Edwards, 3-Jean Raas
Surf Ski 1- Reid Hyle, 2- Rob Mirlenbrink, 3-JP Atherholt
Sea Kayak 1-Michael Maddux, 2-Stan Holoquist, 3-Peter Eichenberger

OVERALL DIVISION WINNERS
OC1 Open-John Edwards
OC1 Masters-Harry Mountain
OC1 Seniors-Mike Zajac-Batell
OC1 Veterans-Mike Holland
OC1 Ladies-Tonya Streinz
Ski Open-Reid Hyle
Ski Masters-Lonn Benson
Sea Kayak Open-Michael Maddux
Sea Kayak Seniors-Paul Mehring
Sea Kayak Veteran-Stan Holoquist

SHORT COURSE OVERALL WINNERS
OC1 Bob Terbush
Sea Kayak Ladies-Jeannie Schaffer

SPECIAL LADIES AWARD FOR COMPETING IN OC1 and SKI in every race
Karen Mirlenbrink, Karen smoked the ladies OC1 in this 8th race

RACE 8 RESULTS

  Long                                                      
 Course                                                     

   1    Reid Hyle                1:01:00            L-SS-OM 
   2    Andy & Rob               1:05:00         L-SS-2open 
   3    Kip Koelsch              1:06:00            L-SS-MM 
   4    John Edwards             1:07:00          L-OC 1-OM 
   5    Jean Raas                1:09:00          L-OC 1-OM 
   6    Harry Mountain           1:09:30         L-OC 1- MM 
   7    Cortland Reilly          1:10:00         L-OC 1- MM 
   8    Chuck Conley             1:10:15            L-SS-OM 
   9    Karl Vogel               1:11:00            L-SK-SM 
   10   Jack Hunsucker           1:12:00          L-OC 1-OM 
   11   Lonn Benson              1:14:00            L-SS-MM 
   12   L&L Postma               1:15:00       L-OC 2- Open 
   13   Mike Zajac-Batell        1:15:05         L-OC 1- SM 
   14   Michael Maddux           1:17:00            L-SK-OM 
   15   Peter Eichenberger       1:18:00            L-SK-VM 
   16   Stanley Holoquist        1:18:01            L-SK-VM 
   17   Dennis Gobber            1:18:15        L-SK 2-Open 
   18   Michael Hoffman          1:18:25            L-SS-MM 
   19   Paul Mehring             1:19:00            L-SK-SM 
   20   Mike Holland             1:22:00         L-OC 1- VM 
   21   Mike Sieber              1:23:00         L-OC 1- VM 
   22   E S Francavilla          1:23:30        L-SK 2-Open 
   23   Pat/Lewis Bayers         1:25:00            L-RC-MX 
   24   Karen Mirlenbrink        1:25:15          L-OC 1-OF 
   25   Mike Moran               1:26:00            L-SK-VM 
   26   JP Atherholt             1:40:00            P-PB-OM 
   27   Walker Harrison          1:41:00            L-SK-OM 
   28   Rea Sieber               1:43:00          L-OC 1-SF 
   29   Dee Sawyers              1:45:00          L-OC 1-SF 
   30   Ed Malinik               1:50:00            L-ST-MM 
   31   Jeannie Schaffer         1:52:00            L-SK-OF 
   32   Franchie Medemous        2:00:00            L-SK-OM 
   33   Sean Manzey              2:04:00            L-ST-MM 

 Short                                                      
 Course                                                     

   1    Lex Raas                 0:48:00            S-SS-SM 
   2    Nigel Hood               0:51:43            S-SK-OM 
   3    Kurt Fisher              0:58:20            S-SS-OM 
   4    John Paul                0:58:50            S-SK-OM 
   5    Dan Hall                 1:07:00          S-OC 1-OM 
   6    Frank Muller             1:09:00            S-SK-OM 
   7    Randy Perkins            1:10:00         S-OC 1- SM 
   8    Enrique Mentes           1:11:00            S-SK-OM 
   9    Roland Polat             1:42:00            P-PB-SM 
   10   Wyatt Payne              1:46:00            P-PB-OM 

Posted by keizo on Sat, 07/15/2006 - 11:27pm