August 31, 2010: Tuesday Night SUP Race Recap

On what turned out to be a record breaking day for weather in Vancouver (not in a good way as it was the wettest August day ever) Deep Cove Kayak held its weekly Tuesday Night Race series again on Tuesday August 31st, 2010.

The original plan was for this to be a full on family oriented event with a kids race, demos and more, but considering the weather, the special events were canceled and they ended up just running their regularly scheduled 7:00PM race.

No worries though, Stand Up Paddleboarding is a watersport anyways so a bit of rain didn’t really make a difference… Hardly even noticed it actually!

Of particular interest, Deep Cove Kayak owner Bob Putnam raced a very good looking Starboard Free Race brushed carbon board equipped with Starboard’s new Bamboo race fin.

I had a chance to take it out for a brief spin and was really surprised at its stability AND speed… Two characteristics that tend to be mutually exclusive on stand up paddleboards. The brushed carbon (basically just a whitewashed finish over the raw carbon) not only adds to the look of the board, but also protects the carbon from warping in hot weather, while at the same time will do a good job of hiding nicks and scratches, since the finish is already “distressed” in appearance.

The rain mellowed out by race time but the weather was still a tad rough, so I opted to play it safe and paddle my  Starboard Cruiser 12’6. This was the board of choice, as two other racers were also on Cruisers. As mentioned, Bob was on the Starboard Free Race, and rounding out the pack was another racer was on a Starboard K-15… So Starboards all round!

In the end I placed right in the middle of the pack at third place. I’m still working on getting that fluid race stroke together, but with some more work on that as well as my cadence, I’m hoping for better results down the road.

With the race season drawing to a close, Deep Cove will be holding just two more Tuesday Night Races on September 7th and 14th, so if you haven’t had a chance, be sure to swing down to check out the action.

And if you’re a first timer, by all means don’t feel intimidated. Everyone does a great job of balancing the atmosphere and making everyone feel welcome!

Thanks to Deep Cove Kayak for another great race!

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