SSPO in a one two sweep!

Wahoo! We kicked some serious butt today! Our crew was Albert, Lise, Jason, me, Jen, and John steering. There was a little confusion at the start, the starter insisted all the boats had to be lined up between the two bouys. Our boat had lined up just outside, there was no room at the near end so we had to paddle down the entire length of the start line so we could line up at the other end. We got set and the horn went off, we leapt off the start line and never looked back. We opened the gap between us and all the other boats. Our nearest competition was the SSPO women's crew made up of Minnie, Meilee, Lianne, Nancy, Chantelle, and Kristen steering. I was surprised how close the were at the turn, we turned on the juice after the turn and extended the gap between us.

There was never any threat of any boat catching us! I've never been in that position before, it was kinda cool. Our SSPO women seemed closer during the turns but there was never any chance for them to actually catch us. Although the last 25-30% of the race everyone had slowed down and was feeling tired. It was a challenge to convert what energy we had left into moving the boat faster. Keep paddling until you hear the horn, keep paddling. We heard the toot of the air horn and we made it! A few moments later we hear another toot and see the SSPO women crossing the line! We'd taken first in open mixed at 1:20:35 and first in open women at 1:21:00. Way to go!

We fielded three men's crews. The open blue crew was Kevin, Tom, Clem, Than, Ryan, and Alan steering. The open green crew was Frank, Claude, Todd, Patrick, Michael, Koko from Kai Ikaika steering. The master's white crew was Brady, Ernie, Ed, Ken, Karri, and Troy steering. With our Mirage out of commission since the race at Jericho the first open men's crew used a boat borrowed from Seattle Outrigger Canoe Club (SOCC). Even paddling an unfamiliar boat the blue crew was able to turn in a strong performance, they were second in open men at 1:05:14 and were second across the line. The white crew took first in master's at 1:10:06 and were sixth across the line. The green crew took seventh in open men at 1:16:46, still nearly four full minutes ahead of our mixed crew time, and were thirteenth across the line.

We'd hoped the men would sweep their race as well. But I think it was a good day racing all around. The weather was decent if a bit cool and there was no rain. Next year Da Grind should be back at it's regular August weekend and the weather should be a more like summertime. Thanks SOCC for hosting a great race.