Hobie Treasure Island Ocean Paddling Series Race 2 - Florida
[Photos] courtesy Lex Raas
July 4th dawned with heavy rain, however, registration started at 8am and the sun was out. Another great day emerged on the Gulf of Mexico. The question for the organizers was whether the warnings of red tide would seriously effect the participation. It was a great turnout, we had 44 entries turn up. For those not familiar with red tide, this is not toxic to humans, however the sea and beach are full of floating dead fish. The odor is quite something. We all take our hats off to the Paddleboard folks for racing in these conditions !
The race course was the traditional 4th of July around Treasure Island, providing some ocean paddling as well as Intercoarstal which had a good current in sections to work with. The short course was set with a one mile leg North, returning to the start mark and doing a second round. The finish line was between the Hobie flags on the beach.
The start was an all in affair, there was a small bump to work and the chase was on. Reid Hyle was chased around the course by Alan Poulton, Andy Gerber and Rob Mirlenbrink had a good tussle both on skis. The best tussle was between John Edwards and Harry Mountain with only a few seconds separating them at the finish in the OC-1 class. Separate tussles occurred throughout the long course. Other noteworthy performances on this race course were Paul Mehring on his Seakayak, Wyatt Payne on a Sit-on-Top. However the stars of the of the event were undoubtedly the Paddleboarders of JP, Daryn and Mike.
On the short course, the competition was strong. Karen Mirlenbrink showed a clean wake to the rest of the field on her surfski. Nigel Hood was out paddling an OC-1 for the first time and he took honors in this class. Jon Paul won the Sea Kayaks, Ed Malinik won the Sit-on-Tops while Sheila Mitchell was fantastic on her Paddleboard.
In the relay division, Tonya Streinz and Rea Sieber took the honors. Liz Hogrebe won the womens Long Course Seakayak, Tara Miller won the OC-1 womens Short Course, Jeanne Schaffer won the womens Short Course Seakayak.
Most impressive were the performances turned in by our Veterans, Bob Terbush, Stan Holoquist, Mike Sieber, Peter Ercheinberger and Mike Holland. We all want to be like you guys when we grow up !
A special thank you to Kathy Edwards for handling the timing. Gulf Beaches Rotary for arranging the logistics, Harry Mountain for the administration details, David Rohr for the great photos.
John Edwards sang the National Anthem, not only is he an incredible paddler, but an excellent singer as well. Thank you John, made this a special day for all of us.
Leaders for the series so far are:
Surfskis == Reid Hyle
OC-1 == John Edwards
Paddleboard == JP Atherholt
Final race of the Hobie Treasure Isle Ocean Paddling Series to be held on 21st August, see you there !
Long Course - 8 miles
Overall Name Gender Class Pos Division Hrs Min Sec
1 Reid Hyle Men Open 1 Surfski 1 4 27
2 Alan Poulton Men Open 2 Surfski 1 6 35
3 Rob Mirlenbrink Men Open 3 Surfski 1 8 10
4 Andy Gerber Men Seniors 1 Surfski 1 9 13
5 John Edwards Men Open 1 OC-1 1 9 51
6 Harry Mountain Men Masters 1 OC-1 1 10 3
7 Cortland Reilly Men Masters 2 OC-1 1 13 28
8 Lex Raas Men Seniors 1 OC-1 1 14 16
9 Lonn Benson Men Masters 1 Surfski 1 14 17
10 Jonathon Moore Men Open 4 Surfski 1 16 35
11 David Robertshaw Men Masters 2 Surfski 1 19 3
12 Mike Owens Men Open 2 OC-1 1 19 22
13 Ben Stillman Men Open 3 OC-1 1 19 42
14 Karl Vogel Men Seniors 2 OC-1 1 21 23
15 Paul Mehring Men Seniors 1 Seakayak 1 22 19
16 Mike Hughes Men Open 5 Surfski 1 23 17
17 Stanley Holoquist Men Veteran 1 Seakayak 1 23 38
18 Mike Z Batel Men Seniors 3 OC-1 1 24 10
19 Mike Sieber Men Veteran 1 OC-1 1 24 39
20 Peter Ercheinberger Men Veteran 2 Seakayak 1 25 19
21 Ed Francavilla Men Masters 1 Seakayak 1 30 5
22 Joe Lipka Men Open 4 OC-1 1 30 29
23 Mike Holland Men Veteran 2 OC-1 1 31 8
24 Tonya Streinz and Rea SieberWomen Relay 1 OC-1 1 39 0
25 Wyatt Payne Men Masters 1 Sit-on-Top 1 41 45
26 JP Atherholt Men Open 1 Paddleboard 1 41 54
27 Daryn Smith Men Open 2 Paddleboard 1 49 25
28 Mike Hoffstetter Men Open 3 Paddleboard 1 50 12
29 James Livingston Men Masters 2 Sit-on-Top 1 51 0
30 Sean Hayley Men Seniors 1 Sit-on-Top 1 56 52
31 Liz Hogrebe Women Seniors 1 Seakayak 2 2 37
32 Stan Stoudemire Men Seniors DNF
Short Course - 4 miles
Overall Name Gender Class Pos Division Hrs Min Sec
1 Karen Mirlenbrink Women Open 1 Surfski 0 42 42
2 Nigel Hood Men Masters 1 OC-1 0 44 49
3 Bob Terbush Men Veteran 1 OC-1 0 48 50
4 Mike Moran Men Open 1 Surfski 0 49 19
5 Kevin Kemp Men Open 1 OC-1 0 52 42
6 John Paul Men Masters 1 Seakayak 0 53 57
7 Tara Miller Women Open 1 OC-1 0 56 1
8 Lewis Bayers Men Seniors 1 OC-1 0 58 42
9 Jeanne Schaffer Women Open 1 Seakayak 0 59 14
10 Ed Malanik Men Seniors 1 Sit-on-Top 0 59 16
11 Pat Bayers Women Seniors 1 OC-1 1 4 0
12 Sheila Mitchell Women Open 1 Paddleboard 1 25 30
Posted by keizo on Thu, 07/07/2005 - 11:58pm