Saturday, April 2, 2011

Seaside Slide Results 2011: Such a fun race- do this one next year!

Wow- had a great time at the Seaside Slide Race here in San Diego. The conditions were tough. As predicted we had gray skies with a southerly breeze that built throughout the race. There was substantial swell in the water making balancing on narrow race boards difficult. The first 3.5 mile leg was a semi-downwinder which made for a relatively quick run to the mark. The return leg was straight into the teeth of it the whole way. Seven miles is a new length for me- I'm used to the 4 - 6 mile races, throw in open water chop and wind in your face and what you've got is a gnarly little race.

The chop was pretty substantial. I fell exactly as the start horn went off- which seemed like an omen of things to come for me (I fell twice more on the way back- others fell as many as twenty times during the race!). The big decision was to either head outside to the kelp free water or take a straighter line through the inside. I eavesdropped on some of the fast prone paddlers and followed their line outside downwind and inside upwind. I think I made the right decision- I ended up winning my first ever race trophy- fourth place in the Men's Open Stock Division (there were no age divisions- and, check this out, every Men's Stock winner was over 40- take that youngsters!). In first place Men's Open Stock was Kevin Coffman who was closely followed by Mark Field in second, Karl Ring was ahead of me in third. 

Thanks to Mark Kappa and the Stay Covered crew- this was a super fun, competitive race. I'll definitely do this one next year. 

Men's Open Stand Up Stock, Left to Right: John Ashley (4th), Karl Ring (3rd), Mark Field (2nd) and Kevin Coffman (1st)

Here's a snapshot of the overall results:

That's me in 19th place overall (Jay A means John Ashley)- I finished in approximately 1:23, my goal was to come in under 1:45... stoked!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

that was way fun a race...great group of people...nice to see the sup and prone groups come together......my biggest challenge was getting out ......wrong timing...ouch.......definitely do it again next year....eric t.

John Ashley said...

Hey Eric-

I thought about paddling out over there but when I went to check it out, it seemed kind of sketchy. I was the first one out to the boat- I didn't want to be in the middle of the carnage once everyone started paddling out- I timed it and got lucky.

I agree with you- it was really cool to see the prone guys and the stando racers come together. The prone guys are SO gnarly... and they have such a wealth of information- I always go to one of those guys to get good info on the course.

See you at Newport/Hovie Race?

Unknown said...

John be at lake Havasu that weekend.....need sun....but hopefully the next race....congrats on your placing....that wasn't easy.....good advice checking in with the prone paddlers for their take on what course to take.....no matter what though it was a tough one again congrats.....eric

John Ashley said...

Havasu for spring break???? I LIKE your style my man.