canoe: outrigger canoe long distance races in santa cruz

It’s a quarter to 6 in the morning at the Santa Cruz harbor parked near the beach—it’s windy and cold though the onshore waves are small. It was dark when I arrived, but there's enough light from sunrise for me to see my outrigger canoe club setting up the canopy on the beach to watch the long distance races. As soon as I emerged from my car, it was a whirlwind of a morning getting the canoes off the trailer and then hauling them to the beach to rig the ama or outrigger float that stabilizes the canoe onto the iako or wooden arm.              

 

I watched Tasha do the rigging and then watched Daran the head coach undo it and re-do the ropes on the iako and ama.

 

I loved this mosaic of a humpback whale at Twin Lakes State Beach.

I think my muscles were as sore from traipsing back and forth on soft sand as much as paddling the outrigger canoe. The host for the race was the outrigger canoe club in Santa Cruz.

Overcast skies while I paddled the 8 mile race and still gray when I finally sat in my chair to watch the 10 mile race.

  

I heard on the radio during my race that there were 32 boats in the water and later counted the 19 flags representing the canoe clubs.

The sun shone finally during the 10 mile race, and then it was time to get the unlimited canoes into the harbor for the men to compete.

 

And the guys did really well, winning first and second places in their respective divisions.

This race was my first race ever as well as my first time racing on open water. I liked it! A lot. So much so that I also signed up for the Alcatraz long distance race and am seriously contemplating also participating in the Angel Island long distance race though I've yet to compete in a regatta, where I'm told by Bessie we would sweep on medals because of the many age divisions.