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Race Length Lone Rock Pt and back Distance: 5 km Lone Rock, Raccoon Island, Jug Island and back. Distance: 4.58 Miles according to Michael Florian's GPS or 9.5km Commentary by Bob Putnam People seem to like the Long Course, Short Course Format. People in plastic kayak and the "Sea Kayak" (SK) categories shouldn't feel bad about not being able to make their kayaks go as fast as the skinny, long kayaks. Hull shape is the limiting factor. Each hull design has an optimal cruising speed. To make your kayak go 10% faster than its cruising speed usually take 30% more effort. Heck, the boat is only going to go so fast! The longer, narrower kayaks have faster cruising speeds but this is sometimes compromised by the paddler's ability to balance on the kayak. Some surf skis for example. Many paddlers are switching from some of the more high-strung kayaks to a kayak a little more stable. The rational being, the paddler in a stable kayak can focus on the stroke technique and power that is lost in effort to maintain balance in a more tippier/faster kayak. The best method is to progress from a stable kayak and gradually try tippier kayaks as your paddle technique and balancing skill improves. I have seen many paddlers say, "I am going to buy a fast surf skis so I can go faster." It doesn't work that way. We have a great instructional video on sale in the kayak shop. Brent Reitz's Forward Stroke Clinic. $40 Unfortunately Ti Gee had a bad night on his Surf Ski. Ti normally kicks my butt, but for whatever reason his balance was off last night. He came of his Surf Ski with Bad Boys Ben Fast and John George tailgating. (We'll talk about Ben's driving habits later….) Ti went from paddling 5 knots to 0 when he fell off, with the potential of 500 lbs of paddlers ramming him in the back, plus the weight of Ben's boat. It could have been serious! Ben, who was responsible for the steering of their rickety crate, seemed to have a problem with collisions that night. After the near miss with Ti Gee, Ben pulled a nasty! Side swiping me, who was acting like a cleaner fish on a big whale, and then sprinting away. If that wasn't enough, Big Bad Ben(BBB) rammed another unsuspecting canoeist. He was on a rampage! Spectators were outraged, calling foul and for the future banning of baidarkas in kayak competitions. (Just Kidding………wait….no I'm not its all true!) Racers have been assigned one of the following categories: Canoe (C), Double Kayak (DK), Fast Sea Kayak (FSK), High Performance Kayak (HPK), Plastic Kayaks (PK), and Sea Kayak (SK). For information on the classification system click here.
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