Big Things in the Planning

This is going to be a very exciting year. I'm really enjoying my new outrigger club, practices are awesome and we have a lot of races planned for this year. There are three big outrigger races in the northern hemisphere. The biggest is the Moloka'i Crossing, a 42 mile change out race. Then there is Kona or more properly named Queen Lili'uokalani Long Distance Canoe Race, an 18 mile iron race. Iron means not change out, you race the entire distance without a break. And finally, there is the Catalina US Championships, crossing from Newport Beach Harbor across to Catalina Island. It's a 28 mile change out race. Last summer I set a personal goal for myself to do Catalina in 2009, Queen Lili'uo in 2010, and Moloka'i in 2011.

Tonight I had a meeting with Jasen and Sabine to discuss some logistics for doing Catalina this year. Jasen is heading up coordination of our team, Sabine is offering the voice of experience. And what do I bring? Loads of commitment and enthusiasm and willingness to help out where ever help is needed. It's looking exciting, we have a good group that seem interested in participating, we just need to have them commit and get on board with training.

I have lots more I want to share about my race schedule for this year, but the meeting went a while longer than I anticipated (it was over dinner so at least we didn't starve!) and I'm really tired. Practice was kinda tough and I was having trouble breathing, still getting over a cold/sinus infection and I felt like I was gasping the whole practice. Bleh and that was even after a few hits of the albuterol.

Communication

Have you ever said something, thought you were perfectly clear as to your intent and then the other person totally misunderstood what you were saying, misunderstood your intent? It's rather frustrating when it happens and really frustrating when it happens over and over again, regardless of how much care you may take. I have two bosses at work and I communicate very well with one of them and with the other it's kind of hit or miss. I can tell when my meaning is not being fully understood pretty quickly, her upper lip puckers up and begins to quiver ever so slightly, she gives the appearance of gotten a whiff of some really powerful stink. At that point I try to back peddle as best I can.

My situation at work isn't one I can just cut loose from. I really, really like my job and my bosses. I realize I need to work on my communication and just try to minimize the mis-communications as best I can. I found I was having similar difficulty with some of the folks over at SSP. One of the tasks I had taken on for the club was the dissemination of information from the folks running the club to the members of the club. It's something that groups can have difficulty with. I found myself venting to a couple of friends with more regularity than I liked about how communication was challenging in general and that I had felt the backlash of misunderstandings and mis-communications with greater and greater frequency. I kept saying, I'll give it one more year and see if things change if they don't I'm going to leave this club. Well, two instances of miscommunication occurred at the end of October/beginning of November and my patience snapped. I found a place to store my OC1 and contacted another club to see if I could join them and then quit SSP.

I have joined the Seattle Outrigger Canoe Club (SOCC) and have been very happy with my decision. I have no responsibilities other than to show up and paddle, help move the canoe into and out of the water, and maybe bail the canoe, but nothing else. It's nice and refreshing, relaxing even. I was surprised at how much tension I had locked up in my neck that immediately dissipated once I switched clubs. I really miss many of the SSP club members, but they are friends and we keep in touch, we'll have a nice little rivalry at the races this year.

Of course, I am unable to keep from helping out where I see a need. I don't have many other things occupying time in my life, why not throw myself into the outrigger world. Can you imagine my surprise to see my name put forth for the SOCC board position of secretary? I mean I knew that I offered to help out in any way the club could use me, but I was still tickled to see my name on the ballot. As I have seen no other names put forth I think chances are pretty darn high that I will be the new secretary of SOCC. So there you have it, I'm still paddling, just with a different group now.

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.

Da Grind 2007

We had a really great practice tonight. I have that good, tired, been exercised feeling. In my undying yet unsuccessful efforts to try and get to bed early I'm only posting a very short message tonight.

I was looking for outrigger videos yesterday and this morning and I found this one of Da Grind sponsored by Seattle Outrigger Canoe Club (SOCC). If you pay very close attention at time stamp 1:22 you will see me! I'm wearing a dark blue long sleeved shirt and have a neon green fanny/hydration pack on. Also at time 5:12 you can see our crew. I am in seat 4, remember seat 1 is the front and you count back.



I'm hoping to be less tired tomorrow night and plan to actually write something!

muscle memory is a good thing

I went paddling tonight for the first time since I tweaked my back at the Lake Sammamish race on March 22. And looking at the calendar I have only paddled three times since March 15, between my back and slicing my hand open, dreaming about paddling is as close as I've gotten. My back seems to be doing much better and my hand is completely healed.

We had a good crew tonight, Lianne, Nancy, me, Kyle, Matt, and Neil steering. This was Kyle's second time paddling and Matt's first time, combined with my lack of paddling the last few weeks, I was hoping for a gentle workout. We headed out past the dog park and then south towards the 520 Bridge. It was a good workout, not too hard, and at our turn around point we saw a boat from Seattle Outrigger Canoe Club so we paused to say our hellos and talk about upcoming races.

Enough chatting, time to get head back to SSP. Neil did an excellent job giving tips to Matt and Kyle and guiding our workout. He was able to get us to step up our efforts in a positive manner that encouraged us (me anyway) to work harder. I was a little worried that I'd be so out of shape and have forgotten quite how to paddle. It seems muscle memory is stronger than my memory and it's, as they say, like riding a bike.

It was great to be back on the water after such a long time away, especially since the last winter series race is this Saturday. I plan to race, but I think I would best off cruising the race and trying to keep my back fit and healthy. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to be a slacker, I just don't want a repeat of what happened on Lake Sammamish.