Hong Kong and Dubai World Cups

By jim on Monday, May 3, 2010 - Related Tags:- dream, technique, tony

Hong Kong was an interesting experience for me. The place itself was quite good and alive with activity but my race was a shocker! Actually it was the worst ocean paddling race I have done since taking up the sport earlier this year.

The conditions were very technical with a 24 knot wind coming over the right shoulder at about 45 degrees with quite a large wind chop following. To be honest I didn't handle the conditions all that well and pretty much got blown out of the water by Shannon Eckstein, Jeremy Cotter and Tim Jacobs. The skill required to go fast in those conditions is something that I still don't have and is something I have to work on. I guess that is another great thing about this sport, there is always something to work and improve on.

Shortly after the Hong Kong race I travelled to Dubai to race in the Dubai Shamaal and although it was a much improved performance from me, I still was not completely happy with the result. After sitting in 5th/6th for the majority of the race, I ended up finishing 11th. The placing doesn't sound that good but there were some great paddlers in the race and it wasn't until I narrowly miss judged the finishing location (I had to paddle about 150m up a break wall before turning into the finish) that a few guys snuck in front of me costing some good cash!

In saying that, picking lines and having the ability to stay on your line is all part of being a good ocean paddler. There is never an excuse for taking the wrong line because it is always the paddler's choice to take whatever line they choose but that’s not to say that a bad line can't potentially cost you positions!

Overall I had a great trip away and learnt a lot of tricks about ocean racing and I think I will benefit from the experience.

20 Beaches

Most recently I was back racing in Sydney in the biggest (and most prestigious) race on Australia's East Coast, the '20 Beaches'. This year due to southerly wind conditions, the race was run from Manly to Palm Beach. Apart from Shannon Eckstein, every other top paddler in Australia was there including the likes Olympians Peter Scott, Dave Smith and David Rhodes and obviously the usuals Tim Jacobs, Jeremy Cotter and Murray Stewart.

I had a great race pressing the leaders the whole way before eventually finishing 3rd behind Jeremy and Murray. The result gave me 2nd place in the Bing Lee Series behind Murray. Tim Jacobs was the favourite to win and win the series but as everyone does on occasions, Tim had a bad race finishing 13th and dropping to 4th in the series.

I suppose the big difference in my paddling in this race compared to overseas (apart from conditions) is that I stayed a lot more relaxed throughout the race. I chased only the runs that benefited me and let the runs go that I felt would hurt me too much chasing. I didn't worry about people around me or what they were doing, I pretty much just focused on what I was doing and this kept me in control of my race. I think this is one secret to ocean paddling and something I learnt from speaking to the great paddlers in this sport over the past few weeks!

That’s pretty much it from me. I hope everyone has a great Christmas and a happy new year and I look forward to racing again next year. My first race in the new year will be 'The Doctor' in Perth. I won't be doing the Fenn Cup race due to work comittments but I will try and get on line and assist with any paddling tips or answer any questions you may have.

Thanks to my sponsors, Think Kayaks, Bennett Paddles and Power Balance.

Schuey