Well that was by far the toughest lake paddle to date. Well done to all the crew who braved it and also thanks to Di (Trev's mum) for standing in that freezing muck to time it. My wife politely turned down the suggestion to come and time the crew tonight.
Wind speed was measured local on the BOM site at 35km/h with 50km/h gusts. An old lady with a walker pushing a shopping trolley on the grass would have passed us on the way up the lake as this was head on into the wind.
When I arrived most boards were still on the car with thoughts of should they come off or should we drive to the other end and do a downwind sprint. After convincing Jonsey that the crew would love it (maybe I got that backwards) we untied the boards and caught them before they fluttered off the cars and headed to the start line.
The battle at the start was hard with no one gaining sprinting off. More like the the elite crew slowly sliding away. Real advantage and distance was achieved by those who hugged the bay wall sections and didn't paddle in a straight line across the open water. This split the pack leaving a couple of us back a bit who thought as the crow flys would be the best idea. Mind you no crow would have been stupid enough to fly though. They would have walked the path beside the lake faster instead.
Young Josh and I had a great battle and I resisted the urge to give a shove and yes you beat me tonight. Still have a better PB though
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Here are the times for tonight.
