Wild Weather No Match For Marin Brewing Company Paddle Racers
The 2015/16 101 Surf Sports Race season wrapped up with a bang! With 30 mph winds and rainy skies it was only the heartiest of paddlers that were up for the challenge. (The boat name says it all! Photo by Ron Steinau)
First off we do appreciate all the racers patience as we struggled to make sense of the weather and find a safe, fun, course. A Thursday forecast of benign weather was upended by a Friday forecast that called for brimstone and fire. For the record the Friday forecast was spot on.
With the weather gods calling the shots we decided to roll out a new format – pursuit racing. We set a course that centered on the canal but also sent paddlers in to the teeth of the beast; if even for a short while. Check out the below video of the 12'6 Stand Up Paddleboard fleet getting off the starting line.
Utilizing our normal starting line, and setting some limiting buoys up the middle, we set a 2 lap course that had the turning mark about a ¼ mile out in to the San Francisco Bay. That meant that all the racers had to perform a buoy turn right in front of the entire on looking crowd – now that’s pressure.
The pursuit part came in that we inverted our normal starting order and sent the slower fleets first. Check out the Alexiou/Fuller rounding its a clinic on how to do it. Guest appearance by Baden/Green.
We then set offsets to those starting times with our best guess at a gap that will have all the leaders converging at the turn buoy about the same time. Regardless of what the racers thought the spectators loved it!
We have to say we were totally impressed by the go getter mentality of our local paddling fleet. Prone Paddleboards, Stand Up Paddleboards, Kayaks, Surfskis, and Outrigger Canoes all took part in the action. The action however was at the outside mark where 25mph winds greeted the racers as they tried to make the turn for home and they did so knowing they had to do it again on the second lap.
With this year’s season behind us we can’t thank enough our partners for all the support. With Whole Foods Market serving up the best catering Marin has to offer we know we’ve spoiled our fleet with such great eats. But they deserve it. In fact they deserve more and that is where Mamie’s Pies, Three Twins Ice Cream, Kind Bar, and Hint Water step in. With Marin Brew Co providing the libations we had one contented, if a bit chilled, group of paddlers.
An extra special thanks has to go to the team at O’Neill Wetsuits. They make the best wetsuits and the best partners we could ask for. Also thanks to Tradepaddleboards.com who spiced up our prize rack with a SWAGtastic amount of hoodies, shirts and other goodies. Simplicity Longboards did their part by donating one sick skateboard that was won by paddler Jim Robison.
The racing simply could not happen without the help of our volunteers. An extra big atta boy has to go to San Francisco Stand Up Paddleboard Tour Operator the Barbary Ghost captained by Drew Testwuide. And of course we have to thank event photographer extraordinaire Ron Steinau for all his help with photography all season long. Last but not least a great big thanks to our staff here at 101 Surf Sports whose focus is keeping everyone happy and safe.
We will be releasing our 2016/17 season calendar soon but you can count on the first race in October with action once again wrapping up in March.
Thanks to all our paddlers who raced with us this season. We hope you had half as much fun as we did!
Remember our SWAP Meet, which is free to buyers and sellers is Saturday March 26th. More Information.
Next up is our Annual Spring Sale. Our biggest of the year - Saturday April 2nd. More Information
PHOTO GALLERY (thanks Ron Steinau)
COMPLETE RESULTS at the bottom of this article
Results
Time Offsets (12’6 SUP , Prone, Womens 14 SUP = accurate as is. Men’s 14ft SUP =- 4 minutes, Outrigger Canoes =-7minutes, Surfski’s -10 minutes)
Name(s) Craft Age Group Gender Time Rank Div Rank
Elaine Baden, John Green Surfski Double Sr. Masters 50+ mixed 00:59:44.67 1 1
Cory Lancaster Surfski Single 18-49 male 01:01:52.37 2 1
Paul Macintyre Surfski Single Sr. Masters 50+ male 01:02:25.17 3 1
Frank Peronetto, Heidi Scoble Surfski Double Sr. Masters 50+ mixed 01:03:54.49 4 2
Chuck Watanabe OC-1 18-49 male 01:05:09.50 5 1
Keith Mcconnaughay SUP 14' 18-49 male 01:07:26.77 6 1
John Hadley SUP 14' 18-49 male 01:08:21.49 7 2
Grant Mcfadyen SUP 14' 18-49 male 01:09:41.73 8 3
Kalia Alexiou SUP 12'6" U18 female 01:10:45.21 9 1
Jen Fuller SUP 12'6" Sr. Masters 50+ female 01:11:01.06 10 1
Phil Tresenrider SUP 14' Sr. Masters 50+ male 01:11:27.24 11 1
Michael O'donnell Surfski Single Sr. Masters 50+ male 01:12:24.01 12 2
Linda Banfield OC-1 Sr. Masters 50+ female 01:12:27.23 13 1
John Alexiou SUP 14' Sr. Masters 50+ male 01:13:13.57 14 2
Julie Stevens SUP 14' 18-49 female 01:13:28.80 15 1
Rune Hoyer Nielsen SUP 12'6" 18-49 male 01:13:51.24 16 1
Justin Banfield SUP 14' 18-49 male 01:14:02.01 17 4
Jay Wild Prone Stock 18-49 male 01:15:22.89 18 1
John Walsh SUP 12'6" 18-49 male 01:15:51.05 19 2
Priscilla Mckenney OC-1 Sr. Masters 50+ female 01:16:15.52 20 2
Geoff James OC-1 Sr. Masters 50+ male 01:16:26.73 21 1
Barbara Leites, Rita Melamed OC-2 Sr. Masters 50+ female 01:16:43.80 22 1
Charlie Banfield Prone 14' Sr. Masters 50+ male 01:17:24.03 23 1
Daniel Alvarez SUP 14' 18-49 male 01:17:44.71 24 5
Jamie Willin SUP 14' Sr. Masters 50+ male 01:18:22.43 25 3
Brian Thomas Prone 14' Sr. Masters 50+ male 01:18:43.37 26 2
Chad Raugewitz SUP 12'6" 18-49 male 01:19:18.41 27 3
Helen Gallagher OC-1 Sr. Masters 50+ female 01:19:22.47 28 3
Tom Sher OC-1 Sr. Masters 50+ male 01:19:32.20 29 2
David Waynar SUP 14' 18-49 male 01:19:34.47 30 6
Shawn Callahan SUP 14' 18-49 male 01:20:31.65 31 7
Michael Melville SUP 12'6" Sr. Masters 50+ male 01:20:54.11 32 1
Bill Allred SUP 14' 18-49 male 01:23:08.68 33 8
Burleigh Cooper SUP 14' 18-49 male 01:23:38.03 34 9
Toby Cooper Surfski Single Sr. Masters 50+ male 01:23:59.69 35 3
Griff Helfrich Prone Stock 18-49 male 01:24:28.98 36 2
James Robison SUP 14' Sr. Masters 50+ male 01:25:09.05 37 4
Bruce Walters SUP 12'6" Sr. Masters 50+ male 01:25:32.02 38 2
Teresa Rogerson SUP 12'6" 18-49 female 01:26:48.88 39 1
John Clark SUP 14' 18-49 male 01:26:58.86 40 10
Andi Traynor SUP 12'6" 18-49 female 01:27:42.94 41 2
Geoff Schwarten SUP 12'6" 18-49 male 01:30:40.53 42 4
Jenn Biestman SUP 12'6" 18-49 female 01:30:58.48 43 3
Alex Groswird SUP 14' Sr. Masters 50+ male 01:31:07.32 44 5
Max La Riviere-hedrick SUP 14' 18-49 male 01:31:34.19 45 11
Rod De La Rosa SUP 14' 18-49 male 01:33:00.37 46 12
Rob Sinclaire SUP 14' Sr. Masters 50+ male 01:34:07.22 47 6
Alice Jessup Sea Kayak 18-49 female 01:34:15.33 48 1
Carey Peabody SUP 12'6" Sr. Masters 50+ female 01:35:06.16 49 2
Kim Charlesworth SUP 12'6" 18-49 female 01:36:35.68 50 4
John Dye SUP 14' Sr. Masters 50+ male 01:36:43.53 51 7
Cary Fergus OC-1 Sr. Masters 50+ male 01:36:46.98 52 3