Sun., 5/28, Pelican 7.5 Rob. 279, One carp left in da spray

[DimitriMilovich]

Rick ran a flawless kick-off to the Carp Crossing. Rescue boat, signal horn, start flag. Wow! Great job Rick.

Uh, sadly, the start was all I got too see. Showed up too late, rigged too big, with too big a fin, thus went over the handlebars 2x within 100 yds of starting. I continued gamely (lamely?) on for another 1/2 mile, by which time the fleet had vanished, including the patient Ralph and Bob, my team mates. Spent energy downhauling more, messing with harness lines, outhaul, other manner of on-water dweebery and flailing, all under the protective gaze of Rick's great bro on the chase board, whose charter was to keep an eye on sorry sorts like me. To no avail, I couldn't go deep and the wind didn't let up, so I figured it was time to run back for home instead of risking complete wreckage in the middle of the lake. Got back too exhausted to re-rig fast enough to get back on the water, sure that if I did I would arrive just in time to see the school bus of partying sailors pull out of the Boat Harbor parking lot, leaving me alone in the maw of Happy Valley.

The good news is that I'm the FIRST (and presumably only) OFFICIAL DNF in the history of the Carp Crossing, thus taking the pressure off of the rest of you in future crossings, who suitably owe me a beer or two, or maybe a kind word, or perhaps a little less snickering the next time we meet...

ROCKIN' JOB RICK, GETTING US ALL DOWN THERE AND LAUNCHED - YOU DA MAN!

[Trip Houk]

With the best of intentions and an early start on my projects, I had high hopes for making the crossing...but after my third trip to Home Depot, as it closed in on 2:00 with paint drying...ahh well you know the story!
I'm thrilled that Rick was able to pull it off congratulations on making it happen! As for Dimo's travails, someone had to make the sacrifice. I can't wait to see the pictures.

[Mike Egan]

Just got home from the Doc and no sailing for awhile, but what a great day. Thanks to everyone that helped with my bloody foot. Who made it across? Who made it first? Hit 30.3 mph today, my best yet.

[RickHeninger]

I couldn't pull it off w/out you guys... So thanks for everybody's help... It was fun... I'm actually a little bit sore today! Sorry if you could'nt make it, but the relatively smaller group made the test run a lot less stressful... And we now will have an even better system for next time...

That wind from 5 to 8 was like a fan.

Mike, what did you step on out there?!

[lesvierra]

Nice job guys, hope to hear more details.

[Josh Shirley]

Oh Dimitri, you would have killed us all on the other side when the winds lightened up. Just so you know I went over the handlebars twice, the second time I smashed my face on the mast. I have a nice purple bruise now. As Chris Farley said “it doesn’t hurt so much here, or here, but right here. Is there a big red mark on my face?”

Last year I was Rick's pit crew for the gorge blowout. As the race was getting underway I was able to meet many big name sailors and watch everyone preparing for a potentially brutal event. Then I was able to drive down next to the fastest sailors, who happened to go as fast as I drove. I saw them in every condition, light wind pumping their guts out to overpowering conditions hanging on for all its worth. Also a very exciting atmosphere to be in.
What I learned was the right rig wins the race.
Of course yesterday I didn't rig my 8.0 which would have halved my time.

So my gps overall time from leaving the beach to pulling into the harbor was 2:06. Total distance 15 miles. Top speed 23.5. Nothing impressive.
By next year I want to be doing the course in under and hour.
The middle third was grueling on my arms then the second wind came and I was able to rocket to the finish.

Course racing gear would rock. If you can get through the scary way overpowered window. Adjustable outhaul as well.

Overall a very difficult feat to get down to the harbor, especially in the varying conditions. I was really exposed to my sailing weaknesses. I have some areas to work on.

[Josh Shirley]

GPS Download for me.

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/email/accept.mb?senderPk.pkValue=20597&unitSystemPkValue=2&episodePk.pkValue=2870779

I accidently hit start on half way across the lake on the boat. So there is a weird line going back.