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photo: Tom Grigg

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10 Mar 2010	Entries Open for Tas Slalom and Wildwater Champs
23 Feb 2010	Rogue Wave takes out paddler at Browns!
5 Feb 2010	Clingo Wins at Browns

Entries Open for Tas Slalom and Wildwater Champs

John Borojevic, Wednesday, 10 March 2010

Championships 20-21 March 2010 at Upper Mersey.

Entries are now open for the 2009 Slalom and Wildwater Championships. Held over from december 2009. they are on 20 and 21 March at the Upper Mersey River, below Parangana Dam.

Get your entry in early to make life easier for organisers - we have to create start lists and spreadsheets.

Information sheet and entry forms attached.

Other Links
Information Sheet and Entry Form

Rogue Wave takes out paddler at Browns!

John Borojevic, Tuesday, 23 February 2010

Phil Watkins risks drowning and disease.....

While waiting patiently for his start group to be called to the line Phil Watkins was mysteriously thrown from his ski into the murky depths of the notoriously dangerous Browns river. Lucky for Phil it was only knee deep. But why did he fall? A rogue wave from the crosswind combined with the wash from frantically paddling starters? Sabotage from another paddler? Browns river monster fish in a spawning frenzy? Or was Phil caught out having a pre-race powernap? Phil had a lame excuse that his paddle was just stuck in the mud. So in the interests of fair reporting we will just say that it was a rogue wave!

There was a strong cold Easterly sea breeze which gave a strong tail wind on the starting straight. Low water meant that it was highly technical going through the slalom course section with some paddlers running into the exposed mudbanks. There was a season high number of boats (42) and paddlers (44). Due to this high number of boats and low water the field was split into 2 separate divisions with a 2 minute delay for the faster division 1 boats to avoid over 40 boats trying to finish at the same time. Race sponsor Leigh Wighton was most disappointed to have to wait the extra 2 minutes as he felt that he was missing out on the thrill of overtaking the slower paddlers ahead.

Results have been adjusted to compensate for the 2 minute delay and the two divisions’ results have been combined.

Elsa Gales showed further improvement to win the Kayak4play $20 voucher for first over the lines. Well done Elsa!

Mel Curry was second over the line but was penalised 30secs for breaking. Paddlers are reminded that the start line is the sea side of the bridge and they should be stationary at the start. This put Grady Koolhof up to 2^nd with Mel relegated to 3^rd place.

Gerhard was fastest in 14min 17 secs which equalled the season fastest time set by Ben Oakley and Matt Dalziel. There were 5 paddlers under the magical 15 minute barrier!

In her last Browns race Hannah showed that she has become a true Brownwater champion with another victory in the Women’s division. There was a close head to head battle for 2^nd place with fast improvers Jodi Templar only 3 seconds faster than Marjorie Morgan.

Most paddlers were just really pleased to be able to say that they outpaddled Matt Dalziel. That doesn’t happen very often!

Andy

Andrew Maver amaver@totaleyecare.com.au

Clingo Wins at Browns

John Borojevic, Friday, 5 February 2010

Race 6 Handicap Winner Shock!

John Clingo breaks through to win the Kayak4Play Browns River Race 6 handicap title!

It was a perfect evening for a kayak race. 33 paddlers in 31 boats, warm, but not too hot, little wind, little weed on a rapidly receding tide. The race sponsors had again been busy this time removing that hazardous jetty that was left in the middle of the home strait after recent treacherous floods. And the water was almost clear! Could the mystery of what lies at the bottom of Browns finally be revealed? Where are those feared mystery rock banks, tree stumps, shopping trolleys, golf buggys, mud banks etc?

Then John Clingo churned up the water turning it back to Brown with his blistering run taking nearly a minute off his previous time to win. His arms were going extra fast once he realised he had a chance to win at Browns. He takes home the $20 winners voucher from sponsor Kayak4Play and can now bask in 2 weeks of glory until the handicappers make it really hard for him in the next race. His victory celebration (caught on the finishing line video) is sure to be a hit on Utube!

Jodi Templar also showed great improvement to improve her time by 70 secs from the previous race to come second on handicap with John Dalco paddling well to take out third.

There was some close finishes with Ben Maynard (14min 26 sec) just ahead of Stew Bennett with the fastest times of the day. Other “grudge matches” had Andrew Buckley ahead of Andrew Palmer and Matt Watton just held off Dan Firth.

Hannah Brown was again the fastest female ahead of Jodi Templar.

It was great to see a number of new paddlers and old faces returning to Browns.

Thanks to Marg, Cliff and Ann for starting and time keeping.

Ocean downwind racing returns this Saturday 6^th at Frederick Henry Bay and then at the DSS on Tuesday night (followed by the club meeting). Brownwater racing returns on Feb 16^th. Details of upcoming races and full handicap and fastest Browns race 6 times are on the DCC website.

Cheers,

Andy