2km turn race and Dash for Cash
Eight Wallis Spirit paddlers competed on the Saturday, three cheers for Beck & Liz, it was their first 2km turn race with Brian, Simone, Jan, Pat, Robyn and Sally. We combined with the Central Coast Sea Dragons and completed the race in a time of 12.33.77, less than a minute behind the winners, Newcastle Dragon Hunters. The Dash for Cash (we paddled with our buddies the Sea Dragons again) was two 100 metre races straight after each other. Race 100m, paddle back to the start line, race another 100m, basically 5 grunties, 15 quick and keep going for 30 seconds with water going everywhere. I think everyone in the boat was soaking wet by the time we had finished, so much fun!! |
Sports Women’s 20s – DAS and DAC didn’t have enough paddlers for their combined crew so the organisers relaxed the racing rules and allowed Wallis Spirit, Coffs Coast and Flamin’ Dragon paddlers to join the crew. Now with 20 paddlers, it was another great team effort and Bernadette from DAS completed 2 races for her Sweep Accreditation. |
Open 10s – With only 6 Wallis Spirit paddlers we were allowed to borrow 2 more for our Open 10s crew. Chris from Port Hacking and Jayne from Coffs Coast came on board, Deb from Port Stephens was our drummer for Heat 1 and Wendy from the Pearls our drummer for Heat 2.
It was always going to be hard with only 8 paddlers but with the tide and the wind behind us in the first race we lifted, gave it everything and came in 3rd. What a buzz, we had managed to cross the line before one of the 10 paddler crews. Our second race against the tide and into the wind was hard!! I was so proud of our crew they gave it everything, the timing was perfect, they looked fantastic. The next best thing was, the sweep from Newcastle Hunter came up to everyone after the race and congratulated the team. He said we definitely showed “Spirit” and were true to our name, Wallis Spirit Dragons!! |
Women’s 10s - Wallis Spirit combined with Pt Stephens.
What a combination!! We came second in both our heats and were just heading back to our gazebos when an official said to stay near marshalling, we just might be in the final. When they announced Wallis/Port Stephens Lane 1 for the final you should have heard the cheering. We came 4th in the final but what a great result. The Port Stephens ladies had to paddle back to back for our first race and our second race was the last heat of the day, everyone had to jump straight back in Boat 1 for the final!! The Wallis Spirit ladies paddled in 9 races all together for the day. |
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Then on Sunday - the gang of seven competed in the 200m sprint races, two heats per race category. Brian, Chris Hugill, Elaine, Janne, Pat, Robyn and Sally showed a small club can hold its own.
First race category, the Open 10’s, was a Wallis predominant crew (5 paddlers plus drummer) with 3 from Coffs and Sally sweeping. We came home strong in both heats and acquitted ourselves well. Second race category was a surprise as we had no idea that we were in the Waratahs Women’s 10’s crew with Camden Haven and Port Hacking! It turned out to be a very pleasant surprise because we came 3rd in the finals! The prize was/is a lovely water influenced glass trophy which the other participating clubs very graciously allowed to keep. |
The 2kms
We combined with the Pinkwater Pinks and had 19 paddlers in all. The winning time was 11.56.06, our time was 13.13.28. The Women’s 10s
This was the event we were all waiting for. 10 Wallis Spirit paddlers, a WSD sweep and a WSD drummer – just us and nobody else! And did we make the most of it – 3rd out of 4 boats in our first race (0.02 secs between 3rd and 2nd place)! By the time it came to our last race of the day, we didn’t have much left but came in 3rd. |
The Sports Women
With Sally as Sweep we combined with the SUDU women and came 2nd out of 3 boats in our first heat and 2nd out of 3 boats in our second heat. Great consistency! We also paddled with SUDU in
The Sports Mixed There were 12 WSD and 4 SUDU men on the boat. We came 3rd out of 4 boats in our first heat and 4th in our second heat, missing out on 3rd by less than 0.02 of a second! The Men’s 10s
Brian was one of 8 men in the boat with paddlers from Kalang River and South West Rocks. |
WSDB paddlers Brian, Elaine, Janne, Jenny, Lyn, Pat, Robyn and Simone, plus Bill boat wrangler and a selection of supportive partners meandered down the road to Garrigill Lodge, Simone and Geoff’s home, for days of relaxation, decadence, walking, fishing and the paddling.
Saturday’s twilight 2km paddle had 8 tight turns in an unbalanced boat, and swell from the safety boat that has us slipping and sliding across the seats into fellow paddlers’ laps. We were all grateful to be just damp. Fabulous lead stroke Pat set a solid pace that the WSDB paddlers were well and truly prepared, if not over prepared for, none of us raised sweat nor a breathless intake of air. Thanks Elaine, Chris and Sally. Setting a steady pace we made ground on the other crews. Sunday - an early start - thankfully saw us get two paddles for the mixed team, and 1 paddle for the women’s and men’s teams. Then the wind whipped up, sweeps were blown off boats and the races were cancelled. We packed up and headed back to the ambience of Garrigill. We enjoyed days of walking in Kosciusko NP, fishing in the dam for trout and yabbies, competitive shuffleboard, dining out and the fabulous meals prepared by the couples rivalled any fancy restaurant. |
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