2009 Bay to Bay Race Results

Having missed last year's Bay to Bay race with my trouble-some elbow, I thought of a more enjoyable way to participate in this year's race. So I thought it would be fun to enter the Parent-Child category. Since I don't own a tandem, the kind folks at Aqua Adventures, lent me one of theirs.

The original plan was to enter the race with Ben, since there was a birthday party that Shira might enjoy as a substitute. However, Ben had some issues with self-control, and was grounded. Shira happily stepped up to the plate. It was tough lesson for Ben, but I am glad Shira was ready to go paddling. I felt bad having to pick one over the other in the first place.

Jen and Jake brought the tandem beast down to the starting line at Shelter Island. Shira was so excited to get in the boat and go paddling. She got high-fives from Jane Hardy, Jen, Jake and Mike Brown.

At 9:45, the starting horn sounded, and off we went!

Shira was paddling her heart out and loving every minute of it. We headed straight for Island Prime to the first bouy. The weather was perfect for racing, not too hot. There was a touch of wind, but it was mostly at our backs.

As we rounded the first buoy, we headed south toward Coronado. Instead of following the eastern side of the bay, the course now followed a more westerly route. This meant a longer channel crossing, but less boating issues.

A bit past the ferry landing, Mike Brown caught us and gave Shira a thumbs up on her paddling. Shira was hanging tough. She would paddle for a bit, then take a small break, but she was pulling her weight on Team Griffith.

We rounded the last marker and headed toward the finish line, now we felt the wind a bit more. Just then Shira's hat flew off her head. I quickly snatched it from the water and kept motoring on.

I kept my pace up, and giving Shira encouragement to keep on paddling. We crossed the line at 11:15:33, covering the 5 miles with an average speed of 3.4 knts.

We hauled the kayak up on to the grass, grabbed our shirts and waited for the results. Shira was so proud of herself for doing it.

Then, we found out we were first place beating the other entrant by nearly 11 minutes!



Here is Shira with her shirt and plaque. She was one tired little girl, as she nodded off as we rode back with Jake to the starting line. I can't wait for their kayak classes to start.

Bay to Bay is coming!!

Sadly, I won't be racing this year, but just got this email from Jen @ Aqua Adventures:

If you are participating and are trying to figure out how to get your kayak back from the finish line, Aqua Adventures would like to help! We will be providing kayak transportation (but NOT people transportation) from the finish line to Aqua Adventures FREE of charge for our SDKC and Night Herons friends. We have room for almost 20 kayaks. Your kayak will have a gentler ride if you provide cam straps. Please note that YOU must load the kayak onto the trailer located in the parking lot at Tidelands. Any kayaks left on the beach or lawn will remain there. You can tie them down, or we’ll do it. Please load from the top rows down (although I don’t think we’ll need the very top). We’re not exactly sure when the trailer will depart from Tidelands, but probably between 2-3pm. We can’t guarantee an exact arrival time at Aqua Adventures. You can pick up your kayak on Sunday if absolutely necessary, but we will be reloading the trailer Sat. night for an EARLY Sunday departure, so we’d appreciate boats being picked up on Sat. if at all possible!

If you’d like to take advantage of this kayak shuttle, send us an email so we get an idea of the demand.

I’m pretty sure the race organizers still provide people shuttles back to the start lines.

More Bay to Bay Race Photos

Jay Murdock's friend, Dominick Lemarie took some nice photos of some of the participants of this year's Bay to Bay Race. Here are two of myself and Bob cruising past some tandems.

Bay to Bay Race Results

Well the annual Bay to Bay race was today. The race started at Shelter Island and runs along the north side of San Diego Bay, cross over near the Coranado Bay Bridge. The mens field had several familar faces, Jay Murdock, Bob Pekarek, Teresa Boli. (Jane had some excuse about just hiking in the Andes...)

This was to be one of my first tests of my elbow. The pace was pretty good. Jay had a nice start, while Bob and I traded positions for second and third. I had some trouble with my water pack, but kept my a nice steady pace.

After the turn at the end of Harbor Island, Bob was able to slip past me. We kept passing the tandem sit-on tops that launched 15 minutes before us. I tried to make a sprint to catch Bob, he had about 30 seconds on me at the last bouy, but I didn't want to hurt my elbow.



Jay took this of me crossing the finish line (Congrats to him is winning, all that paddling is paying off). All told I placed third. I wanted to break an hour, but the tides and my not paddling for a couple weeks, prevented that. I think my unoffical time was 1:03.

Teresa won the women's division, several other Night Herons did quite well. All and all it was a fun time. Until next year's race.