US Surfski Champs – Race Report ** Full Results **

 

San Francisco, California 22 August 2009: "The coldest winter I ever spent was summer in San Francisco" - attributed (incorrectly!) to Mark Twain.

Pic: Roger Dunn

Fog, Wind, Waves andCurrent

The tops of the Golden Gate Bridge were lost in cloud and a cold, damp wind whistled over Fort Baker where the stalwart Wavechaser volunteers had set up for the 2009 US Surfski Championships. 

Classic San Francisco conditions: a brisk 20kt wind blowing in from the sea and a forecast 4kt current to challenge the paddlers on the outbound leg.  The paddlers' lines would be critical - both on the way out and when riding the wind swells down the long downwind leg to the finish at Berkeley Marina.

Short Course

The short course was sent off first on a 7.25mi/11.6km lap into San Francisco Bay.  Mark Heutter won, followed by Peter Marcus, Jeff Schwing, Dan Coupland, Ben Sarrezan and the first woman home, Eva Mauck.  

Main Event - the Start

At over 100 competitors, this was the biggest (and most competitive) field ever at the US Champs. Two escort boats formed the start line, engines motoring slowly as they maintained their positions in the current.

"We had a clean start," said race favourite Dawid Mocke.  Mocke headed out fast, accompanied by Aussies Jeremy Cotter and Caine Eckstein and fellow Capetonian (and youngest paddler on the course) Sean "The Prawn" Rice.

The stream of skis shot under the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge, almost scraping the rocks as the paddlers tried to stay out of the flood current.

US Surfski Champs 09 Start (Pic: Eric Nguyen)

The lead group edges past the north end of the Golden Gate bridge (Pic: Eric Nguyen)

And into the current (Pic: Lesley Brown)

The raging current shows clearly in this view, taken from the bridge (Pic: Lesley Brown)

Wide Line

"Tony Schumaker is staying out in the current, this is bizarre!" said our lead spotter, Brent Reitz. 

Conventional wisdom has it that in order to avoid the current, you have to go at least some way into each of the bays on the way out to Pt Bonnita - but Schumaker was flouting this rule, and seemed to be getting away with it.  Some 300m out in the stream, he was keeping up with the lead group.

The leaders pass Pt. Diablo (Pic: Eric Nguyen)

Dawid Mocke, Caine Eckstein and Jeremy Cotter working upwind and upcurrent together (Pic: Eric Nguyen)

Homework pays off

After the race, Sean Rice revealed that he and Schumaker had not only tripped the route a number of times, but had also visited the San Francisco Bay Model a few days before the race.  They'd told the tour guide about the race, and she'd obligingly simulated the race day conditions -injecting dye into the model to show the exact currents.  Rice and Schumaker knew that it wasn't necessary to take the longer conventional route into the bays.  "But I had such a sweet slip on the lead group that I decided to stick with them anyway," laughed an elated Rice after the race.

A little further back, the venerable Dean Gardiner was battling. "My forearms blew up on the way out," he said.  "But that actually paid off after the turn because I was fresh and could push it a bit harder."

Pt. Bonnita

By the time they reached the turning buoy off Pt. Bonnita, Mocke and Cotter had dropped Caine Eckstein (who'd left his boat and bib numbers in his hotel room and the race spotters baffled) and Sean Rice.  Turning downwind, they started back towards the bridge.

"Jeremy put in an interval and got ahead of me," said Mocke.  "I knew that the final leg from Angel Island would be critical so I decided not to chase but to conserve energy.  Turns out I conserved a little too much!"

Dean Gardiner

Gardiner said his painful forearms turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  "On the way out I was watching the guys in front," he said, "so I could see - and avoid - their mistakes."

Dean Gardiner - forearms seizing up as he battles upwind (Pic: Eric Nguyen)

With the wind behind him, his arms "freed up a bit" and he took off to make up the places that he'd lost. He took a line to the right of the leaders, further out into the stream.

"It seemed obvious to go out into the middle," he said.

"There were some weird little anomalies out there though,"he added, "water going in and out.

"Caine was alongside me," he added, "so I had someone to race.

"It was a great race. Really interesting, lots of stuff going on.  The closeness at the end shows how competitive it was.  Without swell underneath the wind waves, all the good paddlers were catching their runs so you really had to concentrate - you couldn't afford to miss one."

Having rounded the Bonnita Pt. Buoy in about 8th place,Gardiner ended up third overall.

Sean Rice

"Oh man, what a race! It's the first time in a long time that things have really worked out - I just had a smile on my face the whole way. I was having so much fun on the runs that I had to keep telling myself to focus on the race!"

 An elated Sean Rice heads downwind towards the finish (Pic: Eric Nguyen)

The twenty year old from Cape Town, South Africa was on a high after his excellent sixth place.

"I got beaten by five other guys, but they were the better paddlers," he said.

"Tony [Schumaker] and I had done our homework and had a great line - but Deano had an even better line," he grinned.

Pt Bonnita Rocks

The homework included scouting the rocks at Pt.Bonnita.  "I went straight through," he said, "and gained about 150m on the leaders.

"I was careful," he added. "I watched the rocks for about 3min before committing and I wouldn't have done it if we hadn't practised it."

Greg Barton heads downwind (Pic: Eric Nguyen)

Murray Stewart

Aussie (and ex-South African) Murray Stewart pipped Rice for 5th place.  He too was happy with his result.  "It's not exactly 200m sprints," he grinned.  (He's just come back from K1 sprint world championships in Nova Scotia.) 

"It was torturous going out, but great coming back," he added.  Stewart starts his surfski training now for the Hong Kong and Dubai races at the end of the year, before switching back to K1.  "Ski paddling is great cross-training," he said.  Stewart is on the Australian Olympic team preparing for the London Games.

And in the end...

Mocke had left himself too much work to do to catch Cotter on the final stretch of downwind from Angel Island to the finish. "Jeremy had a fantastic race," he said, "definitely deserves the win. I messed it up a little bit, but hey, that's racing!"

Cotter was well pleased with the result - especially after his disastrous tour to Spain where a 24 hour stomach bug knocked him out of contention.  

"Going out in the current was horrible," he said. "You had to watch the current constantly.  Coming back was great though!"

He confirmed that he'd put the hammer down after passing under the bridge on the way back.  "From Angel Island, it was great," he said. "It's nice finally to win one of these things!"

Dawid Mocke battles to catch Jeremy Cotter on the final stretch to the finish (Pic: Lesley Brown)

Jeremy Cotter - 2009 US Surfski Champion (Pic: Lesley Brown)

Dawid Mocke paddles to second place (Pic: Eric Nguyen)

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Pics by Barbara Kossy

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Pics by Eric Nguyen

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Pics by Lesley Brown

{gallery}2009/08/USSSC/race/LBlitebox{/gallery}  

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Results - US Surfski Championships 2009

Rank	Bib#	Name		Time	Boat Make
1	2	Jeremy	Cotter	01:53:23	Fenn Elite
2	1	Dawid	Mocke	01:54:01	Fenn Elite
3	5	Dean	Gardiner	01:54:42	Fenn Elite
4	4	Caine	Eckstein	01:55:00	Fenn Elite
5	3	Murray	Stewart	01:56:08	Fenn Elite
6	9	Sean	Rice	01:56:19	Think Uno
7	6	Barry	Lewin	01:57:13	Synergy
8	17	Tony	Shumaker	01:57:55	Think Uno
9	27	Michael	Locke	01:59:32	Fenn Elite
10	7	Reece	Baker	02:01:04	Fenn Elite
11	38	Ian	Timbrell	02:04:47	Fenn Elite
12	12	Adam	McKane	02:05:21	Fenn Elite
13	21	Noah	Hawke	02:05:44	Fenn Elite
14	8	Greg	Barton	02:05:47	Epic V12
15	13	Patrick	Hemmens	02:06:03	Fenn Elite
16	14	Carter	Johnson	02:06:46	Huki Special
17	41	Darren	Lee	02:07:26	Huki Special
18	99	Philippe	Baccora	02:08:21	Huki Special
19	10	Rami	Zur	02:08:44	Fenn Elite
20	16	Gareth	Tudor-Jones	02:09:00	Epic V10
21	20	Mark	Sandvold	02:09:07	Epic V12
22	42	Naomi	Flood	02:09:36	Fenn Mako 6
23	18	Donald	Kiesling	02:09:58	Epic
24	31	Stewart	O'Regan	02:12:01	Think Uno
25	33	Robin	Graham	02:12:17	Fenn Mako 6
26	85	Sean	Morley	02:14:03	Huki S1X
27	30	Gary	David	02:14:23	Fenn Mako 6
28	104	Justin	Banfield	02:14:50
29	11	Ian	MacKenzie	02:15:01	Epic V12
30	15	Erik	Borgnes	02:15:05	Think Uno
31	79	Dion	Maxwell	02:15:36	Think Uon
32	28	Tony	Calderon	02:15:50	Huki Special
33	103	Mike	Litter	02:16:07	Fenn Elite
34	91	Jeff	Smoke	02:16:13	Fenn
35	92	Richard	Sprout	02:16:17	Synergy
36	83	Cliff	Meidl	02:16:29	Fenn Elite
37	48	Barry	Borm	02:16:37	Fenn Elite
38	72	Brian	Kummer	02:16:51	Fenn
39	98	Tommy	Yonley	02:16:59	Huki Special
40	32	Corry	Fitzgibbons	02:17:06	Fenn Elite
41	39	Bernadette	Wallace	02:17:38	Fenn Mako 6
42	45	Morris	Arthur	02:18:22	Huki Special
43	29	Mike	McNulty	02:18:32	Huki Special
44	24	Kenny	Howell	02:18:33	Epic V12
45	19	Joe	Glickman	02:19:27	Epic V10
46	67	David	Jacobson	02:20:32	Fenn Elite
47	77	Jerry	Merayo	02:20:48	Fenn Elite
48	88	Daryl	Remmler	02:21:17	Think Evo
49	78	Paul	Martin	02:21:34	Fenn Mako 6
50	102	Tyler	Morgan	02:21:36	Synergy
51	87	Bob	Putnam	02:21:56	Epic V10
52	23	Craig	Tanner	02:22:20	Huki Special
53	40	Jo Bridgen	Jones	02:23:53	Fenn Mako 6
54	51	Kirk	Christensen	02:23:59	Huki
55	94	Dylan	Thomas	02:25:12	Red 7
56	47	Shane	Bell	02:25:37	Epic V10
57	73	Bob	Lambrose	02:25:43	Huki Special
58	81	Craig	McMannis	02:28:00	Huki Special
59	35	DeAnne	Hemmens	02:28:11	Fenn XT
60	68	Dean	Jordaan	02:28:38	Fenn Mako 6
61	56	John	Dye	02:28:44	Fenn Mako 5
62	24	John	Abrahams	02:31:31	Think Uno
63	36	Rusty	Sage	02:32:28	Epic V10
64	49	Vineet	Buch	02:32:48	Fenn Elite
65	43	Christina	Couch	02:33:01	Fenn Mako 6
66	74	Cory	Lancaster	02:34:05	Epic V10 L
67	60	Nick	Hanoian	02:34:37	Epic V10
68	75	Tracy	Landboe	02:35:17	Epic V10 L
69	50	Tim	Burke	02:35:19	Epic V10
70	37	Warren	Bruce	02:35:35	Epic V10 Sport
71	80	Alex	McLain	02:35:43	Huki Special
72	54	Chris	Dobrovolny	02:36:46	Think Evo
73	101	Olaf	Beckmann	02:39:26	Epic
74	69	Steve	Kaspar	02:39:29	Epic
75	46	Kirk	Atwater	02:40:08
76	90	Mike	Singleton	02:42:27	Think Evo
77	52	Kevin	Cullinan	02:42:46	Huki Special
78	57	Larry	Goolsby	02:43:46	Huki S1R
79	61	Jeff	Hegedus	02:45:18	Epic V10
80	105	Jay	Wild	02:47:26
81	64	Rod	Hope	02:48:59	Think
82	76	Deon	Lourens	02:50:22	Epic V10
83	55	Reivers	Dustin	02:50:33	Huki Special
84	100	Corky	Armstrong	02:50:43	Think
85	86	Kathleen	Petereit	02:54:28	Huki S1R
86	95	Tony	Van Buuren	02:54:59	Huki S1X
87	96	Ed	Visser	02:56:50	Fenn XT
88	93	Robbie	Stewart	02:57:35	Fenn XT
89	63	Jim	Hoffman	02:57:45	Fenn XT
90	70	Tom	Kerr	02:58:12	Fenn XT
91	26	Gordon	Burns	DNF
92	44	Krisztina	Fazekas	DNF
93	53	Steve	DelGaudia	DNF
94	58	Mike	Gregory	DNF	Huki
95	65	Andy	Howell	DNF
96	66	Paul	Jacob	DNF	Epic V10
97	82	Eric	McNett	DNF	Huki

Summary - Women

1. Naomi Flood 2:09:36
2. Bernadette Wallace 2:17:38
3. Jo Bridgen Jones 2:23:53
4. DeAnne Hemmens 2:28:11

 

Results - US Surfski Championships 2009 Short Course

Rank	Bib#	Name		Location	Time
1	186	Mark	Huetter	Del Mar, California	00:58:38
2	178	Peter	Marcus	Bellingham, Washington	00:59:01
3	173	Jeff	Schwing	Oakland, California	01:00:07
4	155	Dan	Coupland	San Carlos, California	01:00:17
5	182	Benjamin	Serrazin	Sausalito, California	01:00:37
6	158	Eva	Mauck	Newport Beach, California	01:00:52
7	162	Bruce	Fincher	Ventura, California	01:01:21
8	71	Thadius	King	Montecito, California	01:01:51
9	172	Pete	Rudnick	Pleasanton, California	01:02:18
10	169	Jim	Nurse	Pleasanton, California	01:02:20
11	187	Keith	Keillor	San Diego, California	01:02:40
12	151	Jude	Turczynski	West Sacramento, California	01:03:20
13	153	Kyle	Tsuye	Elk Grove, California	01:04:21
14	156	Roger	Dun	Mountain View, California	01:04:25
15	157	Scott	Kelly	Hayward, California	01:05:22
16	171	Misha	Riszkiewicz	Sebastopol, California	01:05:42
17	160	Craig	Courtney	Fairfield, California	01:05:46
18	161	Beth	Dressel	Costa Mesa, California	01:05:59
19	181	John	Weed	Placerville, California	01:06:17
20	166	Andrew	Losli	Hillsboro, Oregon	01:06:37
21	184	Duncan	Burns	Tarzana, California	01:06:49
22	174	Mike	Staninec	Sausalito, California	01:07:25
23	175	Matt	Tager	Redwood City, California	01:08:07
24	170	Patrick	Pruitt	Santa Rosa, California	01:08:11
25	164	Danny	Hough	Huntington Beach, California	01:08:56
26	179	Sergey	Lipovetsky	Pacific Grove, California	01:09:14
27	177	Edgar	Butts	Vallejo, California	01:09:31
28	183	Tom	Kellerman	Morro Bay, California	01:10:09
29	176	Debbie	Arthur	Bellingham, Washington	01:10:47
30	167	Ariel	McNett	Topsham, Maine	01:11:38
31	159	Patrick	Campbell	Glen Ellen, California	01:14:05
32	168	Eric	Neumann	Belmont, California	01:20:44
33	163	John	Hofman	Folsom, California	01:25:44
34	185	Tom	Zappas	Rocklin, California	DNF