Junior Sprint Practice July 01, 2009

Our new paddles know no holidays. Now that the weather is nice and warm they are training every day of the week for 2hrs. Coaches Kendra and Emily run the show. Today's lesson was trying different boats - C1 and more advanced K1's. Paul, Cam and Trevor showed up for practice and seem to have a lot of fun. We also signed up a new master paddler today, Cam's dad Mike - an avid surfski paddle who tried some sprint boats today as well.

Paul is getting canoe stroke lessons on the dock by Kendra ...

...it seem to have helped

The newest member Cam trying out a Lancer for the first time - looks great

Trevor trying out the C1 with Emily's help

And here is Trevor in the Super Lancer

While Emily instructs Cam in the C1 - pretty good for his second practice

And here is Cam's dad Mike also mastering the C1 - more or less

Everyone of course fell in at least once - this picture shows coach Kendra going for a swim

Ted Houk Regatta Seattle June 13-14, 2009

For the forth or fifth time in a row BCKC took a trailer full of boats (we just got our NEW trailer thanks to Dave with lots of room for ours and FLCC's boats) and atheletes down to Seattle to participate in the Ted Houk Memorial Regatta put on by the Seattle Canoe and Kayak Club. Their race course on Green Lake is one of the best in the Pacific Northwest reagion and the host club always puts on a great event with lots of racing and a potluck dinner on Saturday nigthts. This year we had great warm weather and even the legendary cross wind at the 500m mark did stay away. 8 BCKC paddlers competed: High Performance athletes Jim, Nic, Sebastian, Kristin, Kiran and Rebecca teamed up with Masters athletes Darrell and Katja. The girls sure dominated the Open Women devision with Kristin almost winning all her races (except for the one where she teamed up with the oldie). Many of the parents were cheering on the athletes from the sideline and provided trasnportation - thanks to Dave, Vicki, Kamal and Diane.Full results can be found here: http://www.seattlecanoeclub.org/race-results

Matching K2 teams before the Open Women K2 1000m race: Kiran, Katja, Rebecca, Kristin

Jim, Nic and Sebastian teamed up with FLCC paddler Elliot for the Open Men K4 1000m and put on a stellar performance

Darrell fighting hard in the Open Men K1 1000m heat - here head to head with Ridge paddler Mike.

For additional pictures check here: http://picasaweb.google.com/krade1709/TedHoukRegattaSeattle1314June2009#

Round Bowen Race June 7, 2009

A favorite with our Masters paddlers - the 10th annual Round Bowen Race put on by Bowen Island Sea Kayaking - a 32km circumnavigation of Bowen Island in How Sound just north of Vancouver. This race is open to surfskis, sea kayaks and outriggers. Paddlers come from as far as Wisconsin to compete. BCKC member Chris competed in the men's single surfski class while Ben & John, Gary & Sean and Katja & Jeff teamed up in double surfskis.


For more info see here: http://surfskibc.wordpress.com/2009/06/12/race-results-round-bowen-challenge/

The start line

Just after the start

Katja & Jeff coming into the fnish - 3rd overall - some way behind two strong men's doubles from the US.

Tour de Indian Arm May 10 2009

A day after the marathon race in Ft Langley some of us went to do the Tour de Indian Arm - another 19km course this time on the ocean. The weather was still great. BCKC members Katja & Jeff and Ben & John teamed up in a double surfskis while Darrell, Gary, Chris and Jean went in single surfskis.

Katja & Jeff getting ready

Jean before the start with Darrell lining up next to him

Fast start for the doubles

Gary on his way back into the cove

Ft Langley Classics May 9 2009

The second Marathon Race of the season this time on the Fraser River in Ft Langley. The weather was great and the current much less of a struggle than last year. It was still flowing fast but not as much weird stuff going on. Hugging the shore on the upstream leg sure made a difference. BCKC members Kiran, Rebecca, Katja, Jeff, Jim and John braved the 20km long course.

Shortly after the start - Ken in the lead pulling a whole bunch of K1.

Lap 1: First up river turn.

Kiran & Doug turning downriver

Lap 2: Jeff in his surfski pulling the youngsters in their K1's

Next group with Elliot and Jim in tow

John in pursuit in his surfski

Katja on the downhill/river leg charging towards the finish line

With Rebecca in pursuit

The finish line - all happy smiles

Spring Run Off Marathon in Victoria - Apr 18, 2009

This year's marathon race in Victoria treated the paddlers with much nicer conditions weather wise. Instead of the snow we had last year, this year the sun even come out for a bit. Temperature were just about right for racing. 7 BCKC members made the trip to the Island: Kiran, Kristin, Jim & Jean in K1, Nicole in C1 and Katja & Jeff in K2.

While the weather was nice, the water turned out to be much more challenging this year. The 6km long water loop took us through Tillicum Narrows and with an outgoing tide the current was flowing at up to 5knots near the end of the race (5 laps for some of us). Lots of boat banging and collisions with the barnacle covered walls while trying to navigate through the narrows. But besides some scratched up boats we all finished - not all race participants did. Don Craig was taking some pictures at the portage during the race - many thanks to Don Craig Photography: http://doncraigdesign.com/gorge_marathon_2009/

Deep Cove Race Night - April 14

Tuesday was the second night out racing in Deep Cove. Again is was nice and sunny albeit a bit on the cool site. Several BCKC members were out racing surfskis - the above picture shows Sebastian in a Think Uno. B

For race write up and video see the Surfski BC weblog http://surfskibc.wordpress.com/2009/04/17/race-results-april-14-at-deep-cove/ and the race results can be found as usual on the Deep Cove Site at http://www.deepcovekayak.com/rental-and-lessons/racing/tnr-current-results/

Below are Jean & Jeff fighting for the lead.

Winter just doesn't want to end

Today, Jean, Jeff and Katja battled another late winter snowstorm paddling K1 and K2 on Burnaby Lake. The wind was breezy out of the east adding to the misery on the water. But hey - the great thing about the west coast you can paddle all year long :-)


Last weekend was another surfski race event in English Bay. BCKC paddlers Chris, Gary, Jeff and Katja braved some nasty conditions. Due to the cold and stiff wind out of the west creating some nice waves the organizers altered the race course to allow for some downwind racing. See race results and race video here: http://surfskibc.wordpress.com/2009/03/10/race-results-march-7-at-vancouver/

Last Weeks Racing, Awards and Training News

Now that the weather is getting warmer (or maybe not) things are starting to become more busy for our athletes. The Juniors are still in Downunder but I heard it's raining a lot there but it is warm :-)
Congratulations to Nicole Haywood for being recognized by the Premier Award for the sport of Canoe/Kayak in the province of BC: http://www2.canada.com/burnabynow/news/sports/story.html?id=8036f150-48c7-4c6a-a4ae-5969d16c2a3c.
Last Saturday the first masters practice of the year 2009 happend on a now ice-free lake but unfortunatley not very many paddlers showed up. It was a beautiful sunny and calm day on the lake.
Last Sunday, BCKC's masters Jeff, Jean, Chris and Katja went to Nanaimo for the Shack Attack race. Have a look at the race results and video taken from the stern of Jeff's and Katja's surfski double: http://surfskibc.wordpress.com/2009/02/23/race-results-february-22-at-nanaimo/.

First Race of the Season Feb 14, 2009

While our Junior Athletes are at a training camp in NSW in Australia(http://www2.canada.com/burnabynow/news/sports/story.html?id=62aa01f5-dda2-4682-8f86-ef9fba645112), some of the adult racers, Jeff, Jean, Gary & Katja, participated in the first ocean race of the season. Originally this race was scheduled for January but postponed due to the cold weather. It was still not warm but a nice and calm sunny day. (http://surfskibc.wordpress.com/2009/02/15/race-results-february-14-at-jericho/)

Jeff and Jean getting ready for the race

Jeff and Katja finishing 2nd behind Jean in a prototype of the brand new, still secret Think Kayaks surfski.

Lake frozen since Christmas

That's probably the longest time I remember Burnaby Lake being frozen for. What happened to global warming - ah right it is all about extreme weather not it being warm. And we sure had an extreme winter this year in the Greater Vancouver Area with lots of snow and many cold days. But rumor has it that the lake is close to being ice free again soon!!!

While the lake was frozen some of the Adult members went out in their surfskis (as long as the rudder lines didn't freeze up)

Launching from Jericho Beach - Chris warming up in his dry suit

Daryl in front of the lighthouse

Matt in Evo, Chris & Curtis in Double XT

Katja in her Legend on the return to Jericho Beach

Jean, Matt and Chris as we are leaving Deep Cove another Sunday

Adult Paddling Technique Development Session Oct 18

Coach Lynn was filming her athletes on a nice fall day on Burnaby lake. The lake was really busy with Rene, Curtice, Sasha, Lisa, Brian, Katja, Darrell, Dan, Hugh and Jeff paddling up and down the course. Check out the video.

BCKC Fun Raiser Pub Night Nov 22

The goal for BCKC's fundraiser this year was not only to have fun together away from the boathouse and lake but also to raise enough money to buy a shelter for athletes going to sprint regattas.
As in years before the Burnaby Firesfighter Club hosted our event and provided the food and great dancing. Silent Auction, tooney toss and other tidbits were attracting the crowd. Thanks for everyone who participated. And thanks to Satnam for pulling off a great night again!!!
Here is what out master fundraiser Satnam had to say afterwards:

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

BCKC has the best “team players” / group! and that is the only thing that counts whether it is our fundraiser event, regatta or our club on the whole. I was overwhelmed with everyone who helped out with the fundraiser event without hesitation that it felt so easy….and fun!!

Thank you, thank you and thank you…..

While our donations from the local businesses were down our tables at the event did not show it….again it was our club members and group who stepped up to the plate and helped out. Thank you.

Heidi Eden:
For printing up the bid sheets and having them ready for us. Thank you and by the way the cowboy missed you!

Dan:
Thank you for being the ticket master for the night and handling all the woes with the monies and tickets as guests and members attended.

Angela, Debbie, Kamal, Katja and Diana:
For setting up the silent auction, dealing with the silent auction paperwork and payments at the end of the event, setting up the twoonie toss, taping and selling the twoonies. Thank you to the BCKC Angels!

Lynn and Harm:
Thank you for doing a faaaantastic job on selling the 50/50 tickets. We raised approximately $235.00. Brains and Beauty or was it beauty and brains….hmmm! Either way you were grrrreat!

Vicki:
Thank you for being the walking, talking advertising Blinkie! Selling the blinkies, glow necklaces and blinking bracelets and Oh yeah… for dancing the night away… J

Jeff and Hugh:
Twoonie Toss Bodyguards… thank you guys..you made sure all AWOL twoonies were accounted for.

Finally our beautiful MC Julie…brilliant as always….not only did Julie do the announcements for the Twoonie Toss, 50/50 draw and advertised our auction but she was also busy helping Vicki and selling the blinkies, glow necklaces and blinking bracelets. She was on fire!

One more thing…it was the donations from you, our club members, and the guests you brought that made our fundraiser effective.

I would like to thank everyone for their help in making BCKC’s 2008 fundraiser a blooming success! Jolly good show!

Please forgive me if I have left anyone out but everyone knows and should know as a club we acted as a team.

What was more fun and something very positive was to see: Ridge and Pitt Meadows at our event….we should encourage and we should support each other’s clubs at these types of events. In the future more local clubs should be invited from North Vancouver to Langley! This shows when we work together we can effectively promote the sport of kayaking in BC while having fun!

Seriously, the fundraiser was more than just about raising funds, it was good to see people having fun and smiling…..and sometimes that smile is all you need!

Again thank you for all your support and friendship!

I know….already looking forward to doing it again next year!

Satnam

First 2008 "Winter" Paddle Oct 4th

Today BCKC started the winter masters paddling season on an overcast but quite warm day. Even Coach Lynn was out in short sleeves. The gang is supposed to meet every Saturday at 9:30 to go for a 45min-1hr run followed by a steady paddle (8-16km). Lynn will be coaching technique every 1st and 3rd Saturday.
Some new paddlers join us today. These guys are not new to paddling but race surfski during the summer. Being beat by Jeff all season long convinced them to come out and work on their technique over the winter - hence joining BCKC.
This week only Katja and Jeff showed up for the run. Dave, Chris & Gary as well as new members Sean, Rene & Curtis joined as at 11am for a paddle. Hugh showed up later as well. Lynn was out in the coachboat. A bit of an easterly headwind made us work our way up the lake but was welcome on the way back.

Sean is getting ready in the Swift, while Rene already braves the Super Lancer for his first sprint boat practice. Paddling a speedster before sure has helped him to develop pretty good balance.

Lynn is giving instructions to the newbies while Gary and Chris watch and hope one of them would fall in - nobody did :-)
Curtis very confident in a Laser.

Gary, Sean, Chris, Curtis and Rene on their way in to the dock.

Bantam & Masters Champs Ridge Sept 27/28

As every September the final sprint regatta of the season, the BC Bantam & Masters Championship, is hosted by Ridge Canoe & Kayak Club. The large number of kids coming up from Washington (Seattle & Gig Harbor) made the regatta into a huge event - probably one of the biggest we had in BC this season.
BCKC had 16 athletes compete: Masters Hugh, Dan, Darrell, Jeff, Katja, Carla, Krista, Dave & Trevor and Bantam/Peewees Sebastion, Nicolas, Eric, David, Trevor, Anders & Tess; assisted by coaches Lynn (coaching), Jim (trailer boys), Kiran (coffee runs), Emily (number girl) & Rebecca (socializing).
Darrell & Hugh brought home the Master Men B burgee, while Katja earned the Master Women A burgee (too bad there was NO other female racing small boats in her catergory).
Katja and Jeff destroyed the field in the K2 Men's 500m race beating all the crews, while coming in second in the 200m race (darn I wish they would learn how to start - or maybe it is because they just won a 100km race in their double surfski down Okanagan lake the weekend before: http://surfskibc.wordpress.com/)
Our young paddlers had a great regatta. This was David, Trevors and Anders first season paddling. Well done!!! Eric & Tess showed them how it is done.
And of course one needs to mention that BCKC again won the war canoe race - the masters trained hard for it all summer long (one drink two drink... all that lifting must build up your biceps). Thanks to Carla, Trevor, Dave & Krista to came out especially for this race.

Here are a few pictures:
Hugh after his first race of the season - K1 500m Heat

Eric & Trevor come in all exited after their Bantam/Peewee K2 500m

Masters Men K4 500m Silver Medalists: Jeff, Dan, Hugh & Darrell

Master Men C 1 500m: Jeff's competition decided to dump the boat just before the finish - 1st place finish for BCKC!!

Tess is getting ready for her K1 200m race with the help of mom

Eric (green K1) destroying the field in his Peewee 200m heat

Master Men 200m start - guess who can start and who can't - and it is not the camera angle.

Nicolas & Sebastion getting ready to win the Bantam K2 200m race with open water.

Bantam/Peewee Men K4 - it has been some time since BCKC entered a boys K4. Coach Lynn is getting them fired up: Eric, David, Trevor &

Anders in the back
They had a great race!!! Well done boys - get ready for next year.

Thompson River rafting Sept 14

8 BCKC members went to experience some very different type of paddling and went to Lytton BC for a Whitewater Rafting trip on the lower Thompson River. Rapids like "The Frog of Death", "The Rollercoaster of Death", "Jaws of Death" and "The Green Monster of Death" looked threatening when we drove by on our way to the launch site. But what a hoot!!!! And we did it twice. Vicki, Connor, Katja, Trevor, Jim, Jeff, Lynn and Dave behind the camera get ready for the adventure. Mastering ".... of Death"
Guide Paul showing off riding ".... of Death"

Group shot: The rights - Jeff, Trevor, Jim, Vicki; the lefts: Katja, Connor, Lynn; Steering: Dave

Paddling ".... of Death" Braving ".... of Death"
Enjoying ".... of Death"
We all survided - Trevor, Connor, Jeff, Katja, Dave, Lynn, Vicki & Jim.

Marathon Nationals Enderby July 19/20 2008

5 BCKC athletes went for their first National Marathon event which was held in Enderby, BC this year. In BC and pretty much all of Canada the dicipline of marathon racing is dominated by marathon canoes while in Europe one will find much more kayaks in long distance events. The distance in Enderby was 3 labs of about 8.5km up and down stream with 2 portages. Kiran, Katja, Jim and Jeff participated in K1 as well as K2 events. Keith joined us on Sunday for the men's K1 race. Fort Langley as well as Ridge send some of their sprint athletes to compete. What a different type of racing - more strategy than muscle. Weather was fantastic. Camping was great. All in all a great weekend full of fun and pain.

Day 2: Woman's Doubles and Men's Singles

2min aftre the start

Kiran & Katja in K2

Keith finished his race. Well done!

Day 1: Men's Doubles and Woman's Singles

The start of the woman's race

High traffic area in front of the portage -Jim & Jeff got slowed down by the woman's having to cross the lane

Portage - Jim & Jeff ahead of Elliot and Jordan from FLCC

Katja on her 2nd lap.

Kiran finishing 1st K1 ahead of Katja and Clara (RCKC)

More pictures and lots of write up can be found here:

http://surfskibc.wordpress.com/2008/07/22/canadian-national-marathon-champs/

Round Bowen Race June 8, 2008

The legendary Round Bowen Race. 32km open ocean racing around a little island in How Sound just north of Vancouver. Besides winds, waves and current, paddlers have to watch the wake coming of the ferry to Vancouver Island. It was tough race this year. Temperatures were below normal and didn't get over 10C I think. A couple from California complain bitterly about never having to race in such cold conditions before - wimps. Nevertheless 8 BCKC members battled the cold, the wind and waves and participated in the race. Masters Jeff & Katja, John & Ben in double surfskis and Keith, Chris and Jim in singles surfskis did the long race (32km), while juniors Sebastian and Nicolas braved the rough water in a trainer K2 in the short course (10km). It was one of the more choppy days we had out on this course for some time. Some boats flipped, a few never finished the race but Jeff & Katja had one of their best races and finished 3rd only 20 sec behind the first boat finisher, a double surfski with TNR paddling buddies Mike & Paul in it. Fastest time was 2hr38min07sec breaking last years record by 51sec. To read up on Jeff's race strategy go to: http://surfskibc.wordpress.com/page/2/ Full results can be found here: http://roundbowenchallenge.com/results.html

Just after the start - boats are still close together - and ferry waves as well sa wind waves made for a fun battle.

Jeff & Katja on the west side of the Island after we managed to get through the rough stuff without problems. At this point we were in 5th place closing on to #4 and #3 fast.

Jim in front of Jodi & Colleen in another surfski double. He also got through the rough section but as we heard afterwards with a lot more cursing.

Fort Langley Marathon May 10

As every spring Fort Langley Canoe Club hosted their Ft Langley Classics Long Distance Regatta. Usually they do offer some shorter races (10-12km) for the sprint kayaks while marathon canoes from the Isalnd or the US paddle the 20km long course. This year all the kayakers were getting each other hyped up about paddling the long course which including a short portage and a sharp turn in a tiny creek. First only BCKC paddlers Kiran, Kristin, Katja, Jeff Chris, Jim & John signed up for the grueling long course but the other clubs were falling into line pretty quickly which made it a very interesting race. The Fraser river current always add to the fun as well. BCKC member Emily opted on the shorter course - which is a wise decision being in a C1.

Burnaby Long distance Regatta April 13

This year Burnaby again hosted a long distance Regatta in the spring. This is the best time to paddle. Temperatures finally start coming up, the sun was shining down on the paddlers and the lake isn't overgrown with weeds yet.


Jim and Sky (FLCC) partner in the K2 6km fun race (fun means teams have to be either female/male or experienced/beginner or kids/oldies crews).

BCKC Kiran and Sebastian in the same race.

The father and son award went to Mike Fitzmaurice and Cam

Many of the BCKC members came out to either compete or help out with the Regatta! From left to right in front kneeling: Darrell, Kamal, Heide, Katja, first rowstanding: Connor, Ron, Debbie, Jim, Kiran, Lynn, Rebecca, Emily, Vicki, Sara, Sebastian, second row: Dave, Satnam, John, Jeff, Nicolas, Kristin. Where is Hugh!? He was helping as well