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PHOTOS - Liquid Surf & Sail Ft. Lauderdale Standup Race - Part I!
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The guys got together to put on the first ever Standup Paddleboard Race (or Standup for short) on the Intracoastal Waterway in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Liquid Surf & Sail, Tiki Beach Watersports and a bunch of others threw in to create this fun event. It is part of the Hobie Standup Paddleboard Series. Jesse with Liquid did most of the organizing with help from Neil with Tiki and a ton of volunteers. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album404/venue_IMG_9721.jpg The Coastal awaits http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-...71_7400246.jpg Originally an epic five mile looping south around the barrier island was planned but strong winds and seas changed the venue. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album404/Course.jpg The roundtrip run starts behind Coconuts, just beside the International Swimming Hall of Fame on Ft. Lauderdale Beach, running south along Bahia Mar, then turning west into New River, turning off Lauderdale Yacht Club and returning. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album404/PTE_4_26_09.gif The wind. The race went off between roughly 10 and 11 am. Nice to have that east wind at your back on the way out but a bear coming back. Land shadow may have reduced winds somewhat at points along the run from what shows in the wind plot. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album404/start_IMG_0001.jpg Folks are arriving http://www.fksa.org/albums/album404/...9932.sized.jpg Jesse conducts the Captains Meeting http://www.fksa.org/albums/album404/1_IMG_9791.jpg Getting ready along side Coconuts http://www.fksa.org/albums/album404/01_MG_9806.jpg http://www.fksa.org/albums/album404/..._1_s.sized.jpg The 31 odd paddlers line up for the "Grayhound Start." In effect the boat "playing the rabbit" travels from north to south at speed in front of the line. Once the boat gets out of the way, you can go! Hey, no fair, the blond fellow on the left has THREE arms! Then again, he has no paddle blade. Problem with QTVR panoramas is that if the subject moves, strange things can happen. CLICK PHOTO FOR FULL SIZED IMAGE http://www.fksa.org/albums/album404/3_IMG_9855.jpg The boat's moving and so are the guys http://www.fksa.org/albums/album404/3_IMG_9858.jpg Digging in. The second fellow from the right is Neil Hutchenson of Tiki Beach and birthday boy for a day. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album404/4_G.jpg As far as I know, this is the first time something like this has been seen in Ft. Lauderdale. The white stuff in the water is the boat's wake, that is how fast these folks are moving out. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album404/amphitrite203_r.jpg A lot of history to this place. The paddlers may be passing over the former haunts of the Hotel Amphitrite. The Amphitrite was a Monitor class war vessel as in "The Monitor and Merrimac battle" in the Civil War. It saw action during the Spanish American War having been towed to San Juan for bombardment of coastal defenses. It helped out in Sub defense duty in NY Harbor during WWI. It was even said to have been sent to China to help deal with the Boxer Revolution but given inadequate coal bunkers onboard and coaling logistics at sea, it seems unlikely. It landed here as a hotel and served until the Hurricane of 1935 blew it into the former Las Olas Bridge. Photo from: http://www.ibiblio.org/maritime/ , info from The Broward Legacy (1.1.26) http://www.fksa.org/albums/album404/10_IMG_9870.jpg http://www.fksa.org/albums/album404/5_G.jpg There used to be a sea plane base off to the right near the SW side of the Las Olas Bridge http://www.fksa.org/albums/album404/29_G.jpg There goes Bonnie and newly minted Dr. Laura stroking along by the mega yachts. This used to be the home of the "Sea Scouts" houseboat. Sort of like water going boy scouts back in the day. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album404/30_G.jpg Taking the turn south into the Intracoastal, heading towards Pier 66 and FLL http://www.fksa.org/albums/album404/42_G.jpg At the front of this group is Jim DeSilva of Liquid Surf & Sail with the Las Olas Bridge in the background. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album404/33_IMG_9904.jpg Steve Bean pulling out, smart, brought tunes along http://www.fksa.org/albums/album405/...ds_s.sized.jpg There is a local story I heard growing up that Johnny Weissmuller of Tarzan and Jungle Jim fame used to swim to the Hall of Fame from his home off Las Olas. Wonder how he would have done at Standup? The folks are likely racing along his swimming route. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album404/43_IMG_9955.jpg http://www.fksa.org/albums/album404/39_IMG_9939.jpg Grace keeps an eye on things as Jay cons the support boat near the front of the pack http://www.fksa.org/albums/album404/34_G.jpg http://www.fksa.org/albums/album404/32_IMG_9927.jpg Paddlers are stretching out http://www.fksa.org/albums/album404/35_IMG_9919.jpg Who needs a big yacht if you have a good paddleboard, uh anyone? http://www.fksa.org/albums/album404/38_G.jpg Roray Kam and Packet Casey went hard at it throughout. Excellent athletes these two and so many others in the competition. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album404/31_G.jpg http://www.fksa.org/albums/album404/41_IMG_9946.jpg There is Gebi leading a group around the turn to the west and into New River formerly served by an inlet at the south end of Bahia Mar. This inlet was closed in the Hurricane of 1926, with Port Everglades being dredged from Lake Mabel to the south some decades later. I recall reading that you used to be able to drink the water about where the guys are shown here. Things change with salt water intrusion and a lot of years. http://www.broward.org/library/images/lii14015.jpg Things just before the hurricane. The inlet and New River are up there to the north with parts of early Ft. Lauderdale. That mangrove cay off Whisky Creek on soon to be Dania Beach vanished in the hurricane. That's Lake Mabel just to the west. From: http://www.broward.org/ http://www.fksa.org/albums/album404/50_IMG_9998.jpg Lots of interesting boats along the run http://www.fksa.org/albums/album404/44_G.jpg] The leaders are setting a fast pace and working hard to pass the other and pull out. Things are just getting going, more photos to come in Part II at www.fksa.org/showthread.php?t=8233 . |
Jesse just put up this nice summary of the event:
"Windy, Windy, Windy….The words that described the biggest challenge to all of the determined competitors at the 1st stop in this 3 race series. Twenty-seven competitors took to the water 10am last Sunday morning in front of Coconuts to take on an impressive 3-mile course which consisted of a 1 ½ mile leg with a 20mph tail wind that made it seem as if all riders had jet engines in their boards. The horn blew and a flurry of carbon and wood began churning the waters as the riders took off. The pack stayed extremely close for the first half but it became apparent that the same 20mph tail wind would soon start to pick off paddlers as they rounded the Red Bull buoy positioned at the Ft. Lauderdale Yacht Club. Leading the pack for the men was Roray Kam, Packet Casey and Mike Gebhardt. Following close behind were Patrick Little, Thad Foote and Liquid’s own Jim Dasilva. It was an all out battle for positioning once these guys rounded the buoy and stared to take on Mother nature. “If you stopped paddling you just started to move backwards.” (Jim Dasilva) Some decided to take the wind on full force by paddling directly in the center of the canal, others strategically planned to paddle close to the seawall attempting to find some refuge. The lead pack was paddling so hard that you could visibly see the paddles bending in their hands. Packet having a strong lead decided to go down the wrong canal which cost him precious seconds with local Watermen Roray Kam and Mike Gebhardt very close behind. It was this mistake of course deception that allowed Roray Kam to take home the 1st place title with an impressive time of 34:36. Of the twenty-seven paddlers six girls came out to show that this sport is completely unbiased. This was proven by local Amanda Wilson that beat out several guys by a landslide. While these girls were showing the boys how it was done I had the pleasure of sitting on my butt in one of the chase boats that was following Diane Scully. Nearing the end of the course Diane told us that earlier that morning she ran a 5K! Needless to say myself and the several other guys in the boat felt pretty little at that point. I’m glad everybody finished in strong form. I hope this means that you will be ready for the next race on May 17th. This event could never have happened without all of our sponsors and all of you guys that competed. THANK YOU to everybody that helped us make this the first, but definitely not the last, Liquid Surf and Sail SUP race. I have attached the poster for the next race at the Miami Yacht Club. You can also stay updated on all of our events by checking out our events page. Or just give me a ring at the shop 954-523-7778. Check out all of the photos and an excellent write up by Rick Iossi here: http://fksa.org/showthread.php?p=40169 Big thank you to all of our sponsors: Hobie, Dunkelvolk, Tikibeach, Coconuts, Dakine, Ark, C4 boards, Werner paddles, The Results: 1 Roray Kam 34:36 2 Packet Casey 34:40 3 Mike Gebhardt 35:36 4 Patrick Little 36:02 5 Thad Foote 36:18 6 Jim Dasilva 36:26 7 Jimmy Levine 36:32 8 Sean Collins 36:53 9 Trevor Usher 36:57 10 Ken Sullivan 37:10 11 Jake Portwood 37:31 12 Steven Bean 38:15 13 Andy Engle 38:54 14 Luke Goetz 39:17 15 Rick Deroxtra 39:25 16 Stewart Murray 40:32 17 Robert Davis 40:40 18 Amanda Wilson 42:10 19 Evan Bell 45:37 20 Bobby Little 45:47 21 Neil Hutchinson 46:07 22 Nicole Macias 51:35 23 JulianLucero 55:23 24 Blanca Granda 56:58 25 Bonnie Nabors 57:57 26 Laura Iossi 1:05:42 27 Diane Scully 1:08:11 Jesse Cors Liquid Surf and Sail 2000 S. Federal Highway Ft. Lauderdale, Fl 33316 Ph:954-523-7778 www.LiquidSurfandSail.com" Still more photos to come, just have to finish the processing and put them up! |
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