Penalties and Lessons

I am back home in Canada after a great three week camp in Brazil. By the end of the three weeks I was feeling at home on the course and feel like I have a solid understanding for how to paddle there.

 

Going into the race I probably had a little more fatigue from the training than I would normally like during the race season but the training and acclimation to the course was the primary objective of the trip. The qualifier went without a hitch, I had a strong first run that was maybe a little too relaxed and was 7^th going into second runs. On the second run I pushed the line a little bit more and was more confident with the upstreams and moved into 3^rd.

 

I was very happy with the look of the finals course, the new rule changes allow the course designers to set a completely new course rather than being limited to the six changes that were previously allowed. I liked the moves and with the success I had in the qualifier I was very optimistic. Unfortunately in sport you cannot guarantee anything and I was caught off guard by a surge in the first upstream and caught the inside pole as I entered the gate. This cost me just over a second and the two second penalty so I was three seconds down on the field coming out of gate 2. Not the position I was planning on to be sure. I was able to re group however and had a good run the rest of the way down. I knew I was behind on time though and tried to cut the line where I could and that cost me another small touch on gate 14 that no one but the judges were able to see. Giving up one second to the field is bad enough but to also take four seconds in penalties is certainly not going to get the job done. In the end I finished 27^th but my time was good enough to put me into the final in sixth place which would have been a great position to attack from. I will have to be satisfied with the fact that I am paddling well and will have to take the lessons from this race and apply them to the rest of the season.

 

I continue to be optimistic and I am looking forward to the next steps.

Brazil

After 13 days, 43 degree heat and 98 % relative humidity and a course that paddles allot like the course in Spain where I won the world championships, I am starting to get the hang of this place.

The Pan Am championships are only a few days away and I am feeling good about my paddling here. The last two race simulations have gone quite well, although I touched a few too many gates on one of them. The times have been quick and relatively easy to achieve. It is nice to have a course that sets up well for my natural pace. This is a tough course to put a full length together on though, there is no big drop or massive move to worry about but the shallow eddies and boily currents pose a good challenge when racing with urgency.

The hardest part about being here is filling the days, with the high heat and humidity, spending time outdoors is quite tiring. Still, we have managed to play soccer with the French team and the Chinese team, we visited the Iguassu Falls, one of the seven natural wonders of the world. We were also treated to a tour of the Itaipu dam and power complex. Until the new hydro electric project is finished in China the Itaipu dam is the largest in the world and truly is massive.

I find myself quite anxious now to get to the race and see where I stand against the best paddlers in the world on the course that will decide this years world champion in September. Until then, the word of the day is patience.