Florida 2007 series final race
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Good day from Florida,
While everyone on the East Coast North of Florida dipped into a freezing Easter Weekend, St Pete, Florida delivered some spectacular weather for a great weekend of paddling. Saturday 7th April was the 5th and final race for the 2007 season. Mike Batell had the honors of organizing the event and he did an outstanding job of providing a great launch site, race course, lunch and most importantly great conditions.
All of us paddlers in Florida were treated to a visit of some great folks from Toronto who were here to race OC1 Saturday and OC6 on Sunday. Thanks folks for joining us, we hope you are back next year.
The course started inside Bunces Pass North of Fort DeSoto and headed West and then NW to the Passe a Grille marker. This was a total of 8 miles back to the finish. The course offered a mix of paddling flat water with an incoming tide which made working current lines important, out through Bunces Pass a really choppy and short steep seas occasionally breaking challenged paddlers boat handling skills and courage as there were a few sandbars to cross that really stacked up the seas (and bent some rudders causing unscheduled portages). The return trip was fast with constant surfing and spectacular runs. GPS max speeds were recorded at 13 mph. The final 2 miles were with the current and flat water making some interesting dices to the finish.
In the Surfski division and true to form Derick Bezuidenhout and Reid Hyle took off in the front with Derick and Reid neck and neck at the turn mark. Derick picked a wave and took off with Reid taking a quick dip which dropped him off the pace with Derick. Slightly further back the tandem ski with Mike Jordan and James Bryant had a fast run. At the head of the OC1 division Harry Mountain had a strong challenge from Jonathan Hollins of Toronto with Jonothan leading Harry comfortably at the turn mark. Harry managed to pull back the lead on the return leg catching some good bumps and picking a good line. Jonathan pushed Harry all the way to the finish. Various other tight tussles developed but the closest was with the OC1 women, Jacqui Albano and Karen Mirlenbrink actually bumped into each other on the fast ride home and they drag raced to the finish with Jacqui pipping Karen by 16 seconds. Way to go ladies !
Special thanks to Mike Batell for organizing this fabulous event.
Position Competitor Time Class Division Class
place
1 Derick Bezuidenhout 1:07:18 First SurfSki Masters
2 Reid Hyle 1:08:46 First SurfSki Open
3 Mike Jordan & James 1:18:50 First SurfSki Masters
Bryant 2pers
4 Harry Mountain 1:22:05 First OC1 Open
5 Jonathan Hollins 1:22:22 First OC1 Open
6 Lex Raas 1:24:05 First OC1 Seniors
7 Jack Hunsucker 1:26:08 First OC1 Open
8 Jean Raas 1:27:36 Third OC1 Open
9 Rob Mirlenbrink 1:29:19 Second Surfski Open
10 Dylan Bezuidenhout 1:39:18 Second Surfski Open
11 Steve Quar 1:39:30 Fourth OC1 Open
12 Michael Hoffman 1:44:00 First Surfski Masters
13 Mike Batell 1:44:16 Second OC1 Seniors
14 Jacqui Albano 1:54:13 First OC1 Women
15 Dan Hayes 1:54:16 Third OC1 Seniors
16 Scott Woodburn 1:54:19 First OC1 Veteran
17 Karen Mirlenbrink 1:54:29 Second OC1 Women
18 Mike Holland 2:07:29 First OC1 Second
19 Mike Sieber 2:27:30 Third OC1 Veteran
DNF Lee Barker OC1 Veteran
DNF Ed Francavilla Surfski Masters
DNF Jennifer Harris OC1 Women
This final race saw final positions for the Florida Ocean Paddling Series 2007 decided:
Overall Surfski Champion (all divisions) - Derick Bezuidenhout (Dunedin)
Overall OC1Champion - (all divisions) Harry Mountain (Clearwater Beach)
Overall Paddleboard - JP Atherholt (Clearwater)
OC1 Ladies - Jacqui Albano (Fort Lauderdale)
OC1 Open - Jean Raas (Clearwater)
OC1 Masters - Harry Mountain (Clearwater Beach)
OC1 Seniors - Lex Raas (Belleair Beach)
OC1 Veteran - Scott Woodburn (Fort Lauderdale)
Surfski Open - Reid Hyle (Florida)
Surfski Masters - Derick Bezuidenhout (Dunedin)
Tandem Surfski - Mike Jordan and James Bryant (Fort Lauderdale)
This concludes the series for 2007, the OC6 season has started while some of us are going to Hawaii to paddle in a few races. Any other suggestions for a format change or improvement are welcome, please let me know. I have some ideas I will be sharing later this year.
Thank you to Bill Brannum, John Kees, Bruce Gipson, Harry Mountain, Tim Streeter and Mike Batell for their hard work in making this race series happen.
Attached is an html of results and some pictures courtesy of Terri-Lyn Bezuidenhout, thanks Terri!
Kind Regards
LEX
Posted by keizo on Sat, 04/14/2007 - 7:25am