Race Review: Moonlight Beach Paddle and Swim, Encinitas Sports Festival

First of all, I'd like to thank Dan Van Dyck and his whole crew for a well organized, smoothly run race. I really liked the use of the chip timing (you wear a velcro strap around your ankle that triggers a timing device on a mat at the finish line). As you know, I'm always the guy who has some type of problem with results- sometimes I'm there, sometimes I'm not.  The chip timers are pretty much fool proof which means I sleep better at night knowing I'll be able to check my time. Here's a couple shots and commentary- check it:

Here's a shot of one fired up competitor... and a whole bunch of stand up and prone paddlers getting ready to challenge the windy, slightly stormy conditions. This was a tough race, the chop and swell was a little more gnarly than it looked like from the beach. In addition, there was a solid south westerly wind that was in your face for the long southern leg. There were lots of guys falling, cursing and grumbling- I like races like that!

The tents were up, the coffee hot and brrrr... we were cold.

The boards and competitors kept coming- all told, I think there were close to a hundred competitors. Not a bad turnout at all.

Here I am at the finish. After chasing Brendan Light for six miles, I almost had him in the surf zone. Brendan was stuck in a big hole between waves and I could see the look on his face as I bellied a wave right up to him. I yelled at him, "Go! Paddle in!" as I frantically tried to beat him to the beach- he ended up beating me by 17 seconds for fifth place in Men's Open Stock.

Boga Race Board: light, stable and pretty darn fast (didn't some Nor-Cal kayak guy smoke a bunch of people at the Dana Paddle Race on a board just like this?). This one looked good- I'm going to have to paddle it sometime.

Best part of the race? Finishing! Check out the mats... you run across them and the chip on your ankle triggers the timer- no yelling out numbers, no missed numbers... sweet! Here I am, like a cow heading to the barn, wondering where the cold beer is.