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It's funny how the best downwind runs are often not the ones where you're battling gigantic waves in gale force winds... (Although my two "gale-force" paddles this season were both near the top in terms of fun...) Endorfin-starvation I've had family from overseas staying with us for the last three weeks and some more have just arrived. (My cousin has an artificial knee which seems to have developed a "late-stage infection" - a good reason for avoiding protheses if at all possible. He's seeing the surgeon today and faces possible removal of the prosthesis for three months. ) Anyway, what with that and other hassles (like work!), I haven't been on the water as much as I'd like recently. By yesterday I was feeling extremely cranky - but the southeaster had been blowing since early morning and it looked as though conditions were going to be ideal for a Millers Run. As we drove towards Millers Point we could see that there was in fact a good strong wind (the Roman Rock weather station was reading 30kts steady); the sea was covered with whitecaps, but there wasn't much in the way of big sea swell. Flat Start Millers Point itself was fairly sheltered and was being hit by neither wind nor waves. We had a easy paddle out to Bakoven Rock where we paused to start the GPS's. I always find the first two km tricky: the waves are small and messy and the wind swirls sideways off the land. But the trick (I think, anyway!) is definitely to head straight up the coast and to resist the temptation to go offshore. I took a couple of shots of Damo with head cam, but found myself dropping behind - being unable to focus on the waves while focussing on him! So I discarded all thought of making movies & concentrated on keeping touch with him - he's a stronger paddler than me and usually beats me, both in races and on the Millers Run. Splitting up... Not that we're competitive or anything. But we do find that if we paddle too close together - if either of us gets ahead, the other usually gets flustered and drops back. So we generally split up, each finding his own line and focussing on milking maximum efficiency and energy from the waves. By the time we passed the lighthouse, Damo was about 250m seaward of me - and passed Roman Rock quite close, maybe 50m. At that point I put together a series of waves and had a magnificent run, felt like a minute or more, sitting on the crest of a wave, 3-4 quick strokes to move to the next hole, sitting there, watching, watching, there! A couple of quick strokes again, onto the run, stop paddling, scan, scan, and off again. Great stuff - and when I next looked up I couldn't see him. Either he was even further out to sea, or I'd passed him. Forget him! Focus on the waves! It's so much fun anyway, it doesn't matter if he's got ahead. In any case, it felt so good, I couldn't believe that he had got ahead! ...and getting together again About 500m from Fish Hoek Bay, I was heading straight for the point when I heard a hissing sound coming from behind to my right. A quick glance - bloody hell where did he come from?! He was coming down a massive run and I was wallowing. Look ahead, there's a wave, go, go, go, and I was onto it, just as Damo's wave ran out of energy. We traded the lead as we approached the point, first one then the other, riding each wave. Then, a supreme effort to get over the next wave, up, over, accelerate, and a sequence put together. Quick glance to see that he'd dropped back a bit then focus again on approaching the reef at Sunny Cove. Diagonally on the waves, focus, don't drop off, now! Turn onto the shoulder of a wave breaking on the reef, ride it, ride it, veer off towards the club house, still on the run. Now, the final 500m sprint to the beach, milking each of the little runs for it all it was worth. Don't look back! Quick glance and the white ski was pulling up on the left, we're on the final wave into the beach, pull over the foamy in front and... get to the beach 0.5m in front! What a paddle! Just as intense as the biggest race - and just as fun. Total time from the ramp? just over 51 minutes. Check "history" and there it is - time for lap 2 (from the start of the run): 46:35. Hey, not bad - second best timed run ever. And over a cold beer, agreement that that was one of the best runs this season. Cheers!
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