A long race day
Today, July 9 was a misty and windy day from the onset. The competition organizers cleverly moved the kid's race to a small lake nearby. I haven't got any reports on that yet but stay tuned!
The other comps were postponed until 18.00, with the women and old farts like me (60+) starting together on a 7,5km course.
Iqyax premiere
I borrowed Jon Davids Iqyax/Baidarka, unfortunately broke it's rear deck stringer and paddled as fast as I felt like for 52 minutes of cheering bystanders. They cheered in various languages of which I understood very little from the sea. That was apparently enough to make it to goal as the "first lady". Flattering title :)
The "real men" (20-59 age group) are just coming in to our sleeping quarters at 23.20 and I will soon get their results and will update tomorrow. I hear them in the hallway claiming they didn't do so well. Some or the other sank (?).
Big drama
Jon David, the short distance winner in his class, ran into a rock and cut open his thinly skinned iqyax about half way into the race. He says his legs were numb and he thought the cold of sitting in water came from that. Once he looked down under his spray skirt he saw more then a hand's deep of water in his kayak and it started to dip it's stern! He got to enjoy a motor boat ride home.
The guy who led the race was occasionally shouting and Jon David thought he was cheering and shouted back. Apparently there was something wrong with the leader, Ujarneq's skeg (or something), and he shouted to get help. So, there can be big drama when you want to paddle light kayaks!
Planing rescue boat
During the race we saw a motor boat coming in to the main dock a few minutes into the race and people were gesticulating wildly. From the gestures I gathered that someone had waves and something was broken, but no detail. Other people ran here and there and hurriedly got a kayak, put it across the boat, which raced away again. Unfortunately, I had already packed the camera and had already decided to head home. In the evening I found out Ujarneq eventually changed kayaks mid race. It ran to one side and he had to weight shift constantly and paddle much harder on one side to keep the course straight... His paddling had taken him too close to the rocks, just like Jon David's, and his skeg probably hit a rock.
Still wow. I certainly hope Andrew and Dubside have filmed all of this. I just got the start of the race in a few pictures and the boat returning at speed.
Greenland's KNR reported here: