Harbour Racing Incorporated Race 2 Cronulla (13/2/10) - By Steve Newsome

Waking to the sound of pouring rain at 4am was not the start of the day that I was looking for!  After months of planning and thought into what would make a great day for the paddlers, many of whom would have come a long way.  It was frustrating to arrive at a water logged park in the dark to be greeted by huge trees brought down in the storms from the night before.

It did not dampen our spirits though as too much had been prepared to not continue onwards!  Any fears were pushed aside as the first and then the steady stream of cars with skis and canoes started to arrive at the park.  It was fantastic to see the first of the eager faces appear asking if they could help set up as they bought their boats down onto the grass. 

As the numbers grew it was great to see so many familiar faces from Race 1 and they too were looking forward to another great race just like we saw at Balmoral (it was just 20 degrees cooler)!  It should be recognized right from the start the huge amount of help that I received in setting up for the event with so many of the sponsors, HRI members and volunteers who all pitched in and set us up for the day.

Sadly, we hit our first challenge for the day when our 6 metre inflatable was launched at the ramp only to find that the engine had been vandalized the night before after I had picked it up and dropped it off!  Rather than let this stop us I decided to ask one of the other volunteers to take over the start and lead boat duties.  Luckily Steven Sey jumped in and willingly helped me not only set up the course by laying out the buoys, checked the course and also gave me excellent support throughout the day.

      A civilsed indoor briefing

In the end when the registration desk closed we had 80 craft registered for the races, 74 for the long course and 6 for the short course.  This comprised craft such as OC1, OC2, OC6, Spec Ski, Ocean Skis, Kayaks and even a solitary Stand Up Paddle boarder (well done Darren Pease who paddled the Short Course in a creditable 1hr 12mins).  We should thank the many paddlers who came a long way and also for the OC6 guys who gave us some laughs at the start line (when one of them tipped over).  I wasn’t laughing guys.

      Doubles finishing in sync

The start of any race is always difficult and we have debated it since and come up with all sorts of scenarios as to what could be done in the future.  I have seen better starts and I have seen far worse.  I am sorry for anyone who felt that they lost their position in the start however the starter was completing a job that not many people could do better in trying circumstances and despite taking some abuse he ran it the best that he could.  In reality a few metres at the start of a long race such as that should balance itself out over the course of the race as we all take the chances and luck that the ocean serves us.

      Tom Simmat finishes

      Paul Bourne finishes

We saw some great results from what was from all accounts a great race, unfortunately the well known Bay Surf bumps did not appear as they did the week before but I believe some lucky paddlers got some good runs on the downhill leg of the bay.  Maybe next year we will see some bigger bumps for the lovers of the surfing race legs (some sunshine would be nice too).

The winning time of 1hr 9 mins in the Long course was again taken out by Cade Barnes with Matt Blundell second in 1hr, 11 mins.  The first womens paddler, Rachelle Irving in 1hr 28mins and Rozanne Green second in 1hr, 35mins, these were excellent times by all.  The winning times in the Short Course were Michael McDonald 1hr, 3mins  and Julie Schofield second in 1hr, 5mins.  Again, great results and congratulations to all of the winners.

As in the first race we put on a free BBQ, drinks and fruit (and lots of lollies) and we saw some great results here too:

15kg Sausages – gone
8 loaves of bread – gone
100 bread rolls – gone

I don’t know if people were stocking up for dinner, it was the rain or just the way it was cooked and prepared!  By the way thanks also to Elvis from Toll Ipec who came down and cooked for us all!  Thanks Elvis and thank you to Toll Ipec for their continued support on the day.

The random raffle and prize draw saw plenty of happy faces with the awesome prize packs as donated again by Epic Kayaks (Jacqui and Tony, thank you), Bennett Paddles, Pro Kayaks and the major prizes from Bing Lee and LG. 

If you have ever tried to run an event in the rain you know that it has challenges!  But we kicked into gear and the event just ticked along really well.  Everyone involved did a fantastic job from the Rego desk, Number allocations, singlets and race control.  We should make particular note to our awesome sponsors who kicked in some fantastic prizes, Epic Kayaks, Bing Lee, LG, Bennett Paddles, Lolliland (everyone who enjoyed those lollies they were donated by the great guys from Lolliland).  Without those people the event would have never been the success that it was. 

Finally, I would like to thank the paddlers who again supported us in what were trying conditions and we saw some fantastic efforts on the day by many of you.  Thank you for your support and I hope to see you again at the next race on Sunday 14th April at Northbridge for Round 3 of the Harbour Racing Series.

Regards