The Gibsons Paddle Club hosted the 2018 Canadian Outrigger Champs on August 18 and 19. Our club sent a men's crew and a ladies crew. Rupert, Don and Carl stayed on Sunday to race the small boat event. Gibsons is an Idyllic setting for a weekend event like this. A quaint small town set in a picturesque West Coast setting, there is great food, nice shops, and lots explore. Although planning logistics for this event was a challenge, once we got there we quickly realized it was very worthwhile. The Gibsons crew put on a great event and the conditions and race course were perfect! We had some wind both days, so each event presented some really fun conditions. The start of the OC6 race was a hard push into the wind to a turn a few kilometers up the coast, then a long downwind run to the bottom of Keats Island, then back to Gibsons for a 20-22km loop. Our crews really enjoyed our new Malolo in these conditions. It was fast, fun and a joy to paddle. The wind dropped a bit by Sunday's small boat race, but gave enough of a bump for some fun runs and a course that presented some really varied conditions. The course was 10K, which gave us a shorter push into the wind, then a turn downwind, around a small island at the 5k mark, then back. OC6 Results: Comox and Friends (Ladies): 2nd overall and 2nd open/unlimited category. Comox Men's: 6th overall, 4th open unlimited Small Boat Results: Don Irvine: 1st men's 60+ Rupert Wong: 3rd men's 50+ Carl Tessmann: 1st OC1 https://www.facebook.com/gibsonspaddleclub http://www.gibsonspaddleclub.ca/ |