Cam’s Report from the Hawkesbury Canoe Classic, 28th October 2017.

Hawkesbury Canoe Classic 2017, Saturday 28 -Sunday 29 October.

 

The first thing I noticed on arrival at Macquarie Park, Windsor was the alarmingly fewer numbers than ever before, I guess that is something to be addressed for the future of this iconic event, what was once, the outward bound Hawkesbury Canoe Classic or moonlight marathon appears now to be suffering from lessening attendance’s.

 

Conditions were as follows, overcast warm and balmy with light to nil wind at the start, a light to moderate northerly breeze approaching Wiseman but dissipated again fairly quickly as temperature cooled into the nigh but not cold or noticeably chilly at any stage.

 

The 4.45 open race mass start was delayed 10 minute and saw the K4 and a few double crews going away along with two or three quite strong ocean ski paddlers as the race to Cattai began to evolve. I myself was paddling in what quickly became next group of eight or more craft including doubles, a number of ocean race skis of which there were many at this year’s classic, seemably the craft of choice in the race classes and the odd kayak.

 

The early pace was fairly enthusiastic, racing along against the incoming tide was quite fun, I guess some were attempting to tease out their opposition and make a break or perhaps glory hunters attempting to become first past the crowded jetty at Cattai after which time the pack began to fragment.

 

At 20 km I was paying a slight price for the earlier mentioned excitement or perhaps a week of illness I had brought into the event and decided to settle into paddling my own pace and well prepared to continue on with that race plane from there until the finish, which included a two quick pit stop strategy.

 

There was much traffic from earlier start grid’s approaching Sackville and a quick wait for the ferry prior to changing out my drink bladder and a mouth full of food maybe 40-60 seconds and on the way again as darkness fell on the river, moonlight filtered through the clouds so it was visually navigable and my global positioning system’s map screen was set on low dimmer for back up as I headed of on the next often very dark section towards Wisemans.

 

Still many boats on the river to negotiate passing Dargal, Lower Portland ferry and check point E then began to recover and feel stronger again whilst taking advantage of riding the run out tide into the middle section where things can often be the most difficult, transitioning through what some might call the wall, passing the half way mark a boat came from behind, a double crew, they had a brief chat and they fell away again, confidence came from the knowledge that I had done the work and I had a plan to complete the distance and if subconscious questions were asked, I had the answers.

 

Arriving at the Wisemans check point beach another quick pit stop, in and out under one minute, feeling happy and confident, many thanks for Lyn and my father Max.

 

Another ferry stop and off again into the night, the moon had set but not totally dark as the loom of nearby Sydney was reflected beneath the overcast cloud cover and the slightly cooler temps made ideal paddling conditions for the run down towards Spencer, amazingly I was not suffering much, maybe thanks to my physical and mental preparation. I caught up to two guys in a mirage double and shared a few directions who seemed content to pace along together for a while but otherwise not another boat in sight the entire time.

 

Losing my voice to the effects of throat infection I was having difficulty calling my number to the support vessels at the check points, 214 was starting to sound like I had swallowed a mouth full of gravel but continued undeterred and just past the ragging bond fire at low tide pit stop, where the tide became neutral. At this point I started to think about distance remaining and began to stretch out my effort on my power meter up to 145 watts for the final run past Spencer and passing through Milsons passage a spectacular bio fluorescence in the water and the lights on the freeway bridge come into view, drawing closer to the finish I was almost disappointed it was over and as the saying goes, the final mile is never crowded.

 

after finishing, paddling into the boat ramp tripped over my own paddle and threw in a swim for good measure and cool down yeehaa.

 

approximate splits taken.

 

start – cattai 1:15

 

cattai – sackville1:40

 

sackville- wisemans 2:45

 

wisemans – finish 3:55

 

elapsed time 9:36

 

1st 50+ ocean race ski division and 1st 50+ paddler on overall elapsed time.

 

Cam Tunbridge