Flordia OC6 series race 1

Photos
Video attached

Good day all,

Sunday 8th saw ten OC6 teams preparing on the beach at Fort De Soto, St Pete, Florida for the 15 mile Egmont Challenge. Weather and currents for this race can be very challenging and this years race was no exception. Offering a variety of conditions from flat water to choppy conditions and of course navigating over the shoals and the crossing of the deep water shipping channel and around picturesque Egmont Cay. We were very fortunate to have a team from Toronto join us and Outrigger Outreach loaned them an OC6 officially making our Florida Ocean Paddling Series into an International event !

Exciting to see was the brand new red Bradley Lightning from Miami, making the fleet of OC6's still predominantly Force Five with one Mirage, one Lightning and one Striker. The Force Fives are still very competitive in flat and shallow water which is often encountered in Florida.

The race started off with John Edwards steering his Outrigger Outreach team marginally ahead of Jean Raas and his Kai Aniani team through the pass and over the shoals. Followed by the Toronto team and then a group of teams all trading places from time to time. The mixed boats were closely matched with Mike Batell's and Tim Streeters team each going 5 up and one team going 4 up. We had one ladies team that settled into a strong rhythm.

Once out into the open water Kai Aniani slowly pulled ahead and managed to stretch out a lead of just over 3 mins over Outrigger Outreach Mens team. The visiting team of Toronto managed a comfortable third, fourth and most impressive was Kana LuiMiami with only 5 folks on their new Lightning, a team certainly to watch in the future ! The following two teams finished hot on the heels of Miami. John Kees from Fort Lauderdale managed to hold off Mike Batell of St Pete also paddling 5 up.

Kathy Edwards did a great job of steering her Outrigger Outreach mixed team to a win with a strong time of 2 h 19m. Beans and his team on the Miami mixed boat looked in great form crossing the line second in the mixed class. Following behind the mixed teams came in a strong team of Outrigger Outreach paddlers with 4 folks on an OC6, way to go guys !

Finally, the ladies team from Outrigger Outreach thought everyone were wimps and they decided to add another 5 miles to their course by missing Bunces Pass and going in through Passe a Grille, they wanted to show who the real paddlers and we all admit, they stole the show !. Way to go ladies !!!

A nice lunch and awards were organized by Mike Batell. Thanks Mike, a great event ! Thank you to Leslie Sides for taking times and Terri-Lyn Bezuidenhout for the great video and pics. An awesome weekend of paddling in Florida.

Check out

Next race in Miami on Saturday 28th April

Kind Regards,

LEX

        Florida OC6 Ocean Paddling Series 2007 Race 1
        Egmont Challenge, St Pete.
PositionTeam              Club                  Time    Class place  Class
   1    Clearwater        Kai Aniani          1:54:37   First        Men
   2    St Pete           Outrigger Outreach  1:58:01   Second       Men
   3    Toronto           Team Toronto        2:10:19   Third        Men
   4    Miami             Kana LuiMiami       2:13:13   Fourth       Men
   5    Fort Lauderdale   Lanakili Iki        2:14:10   Fifth        Men
   6    St Pete           Team Mike           2:14:39   Sixth        Men
   7    St Pete           Outrigger Outreach  2:19:09   First        Mixed
   8    Miami             Kana LuiMiami       2:29:45   Second       Mixed
   9    St Pete           Outrigger Outreach  2:54:35   First        4 person
   10   St Pete           Outrigger Outreach  3:23:31   First        Women

Posted by keizo on Sat, 04/14/2007 - 7:43am