I am home.....here's how the finals went...
Hey everybody.
After a looonnnnngggg travel day, I am home.
Things got crazy at the end, so I didn;t have time to post how the team finals went.
I got a good night before the finals, as the contest was to begin at 9am instead of the usual 6:40am (thank goodness).
Almost all of us on the team had been sick or were sick going into finals. Though we were all pretty much running on fumes, the energy was still there.
I felt better than I had in days. And with the good night's sleep, I was ready to go for it in my heat.
The morning started off really well, we got a win in the first heat, which led to first and second places in the next few heats as well.
As the morning wore on and turned into afternoon we were in first place! Everyone was shocked and excited, we'd just been taking it one heat at a time and had no idea what to expect.
My heat was one of the highest scoring heats of the day, and everyone in my heat had good rides. I was patient, choosing to take some of the better outside waves, before coming in to ride some inside sets. I had some really good waves, and I was going hard for it on each one. I hit lots of tail slashes, a few karate chop things off the lip, some roundhouses, and even a retentive barrel roll on the lip on a smaller wave. Regardless of how I placed, I felt I surfed well.
The scores came in, Rusty Sage won the heat by a long shot, but I tied for second with the paddler from ireland, and lost the tie breaker to finish third in the heat. It was frustrating, but I felt good that I had tied at least, as the heat was very competitive. my friend Stuart from Jersey finished 4th, but he had some killer rides as well, like I said, it was the highest scoring heat in the class.
We hit a few roadbumps in the afternoon, but our women came through for us again later on. We fell to second place, and then they stopped posting scores, so we were not sure how we were doing towards the end.
My buddy geoff got us huge points with a win in a very difficult heat later on, and I'd say his heat was the most fun to watch of the whole day.
The contest finished and we did not know where we'd placed. They would be announcing that at the awards ceremony.
At the closing ceremony, I was asked to help hand out the awards, and I was really happy to see two of my team mates, Ross Fulcher, and April McEwen, become world champions in individual events. I got to give April her award, which was really cool.
On that note, the trophies are awesome, they are hand painted "wagon wheels" and they were made by a local artisan.
When it was time to announce the team event results, I noticed that the committee and judges were having a long discussion.....I thought to myself "oh boy, someone TIED"
Sure enough someone did. Jersey finished in fourth place. But our team and Ireland tied for second with 40 points each. The tie breaker was number of first place finishes each team had. Ireland had one more than us, so we finished third, them second, and US West first.
Even so, we were all really happy to of done that well, it was a great contest. We were only 8 points out of first place, and if we weren't all sick and tired and injured, who knows what might of happened.
I had a great time, it was really cool to get to help organize the event as a committee memeber, and I feel like this event was some of the best surfing in competition that I have ever done. I am really energized about surf kayaking again, and I hope to get back on the waves ASAP.
Thanks to all of you for your support and thanks for reading my blog.
Here is a photo of me and the coach, mike simpson, holding our awards.
jHo
After a looonnnnngggg travel day, I am home.
Things got crazy at the end, so I didn;t have time to post how the team finals went.
I got a good night before the finals, as the contest was to begin at 9am instead of the usual 6:40am (thank goodness).
Almost all of us on the team had been sick or were sick going into finals. Though we were all pretty much running on fumes, the energy was still there.
I felt better than I had in days. And with the good night's sleep, I was ready to go for it in my heat.
The morning started off really well, we got a win in the first heat, which led to first and second places in the next few heats as well.
As the morning wore on and turned into afternoon we were in first place! Everyone was shocked and excited, we'd just been taking it one heat at a time and had no idea what to expect.
My heat was one of the highest scoring heats of the day, and everyone in my heat had good rides. I was patient, choosing to take some of the better outside waves, before coming in to ride some inside sets. I had some really good waves, and I was going hard for it on each one. I hit lots of tail slashes, a few karate chop things off the lip, some roundhouses, and even a retentive barrel roll on the lip on a smaller wave. Regardless of how I placed, I felt I surfed well.
The scores came in, Rusty Sage won the heat by a long shot, but I tied for second with the paddler from ireland, and lost the tie breaker to finish third in the heat. It was frustrating, but I felt good that I had tied at least, as the heat was very competitive. my friend Stuart from Jersey finished 4th, but he had some killer rides as well, like I said, it was the highest scoring heat in the class.
We hit a few roadbumps in the afternoon, but our women came through for us again later on. We fell to second place, and then they stopped posting scores, so we were not sure how we were doing towards the end.
My buddy geoff got us huge points with a win in a very difficult heat later on, and I'd say his heat was the most fun to watch of the whole day.
The contest finished and we did not know where we'd placed. They would be announcing that at the awards ceremony.
At the closing ceremony, I was asked to help hand out the awards, and I was really happy to see two of my team mates, Ross Fulcher, and April McEwen, become world champions in individual events. I got to give April her award, which was really cool.
On that note, the trophies are awesome, they are hand painted "wagon wheels" and they were made by a local artisan.
When it was time to announce the team event results, I noticed that the committee and judges were having a long discussion.....I thought to myself "oh boy, someone TIED"
Sure enough someone did. Jersey finished in fourth place. But our team and Ireland tied for second with 40 points each. The tie breaker was number of first place finishes each team had. Ireland had one more than us, so we finished third, them second, and US West first.
Even so, we were all really happy to of done that well, it was a great contest. We were only 8 points out of first place, and if we weren't all sick and tired and injured, who knows what might of happened.
I had a great time, it was really cool to get to help organize the event as a committee memeber, and I feel like this event was some of the best surfing in competition that I have ever done. I am really energized about surf kayaking again, and I hope to get back on the waves ASAP.
Thanks to all of you for your support and thanks for reading my blog.
Here is a photo of me and the coach, mike simpson, holding our awards.
jHo
posted by jHo at 12:04 PM
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