Due to some nasty weather systems hanging around earlier in the week Sydney and its environs had been hit with some big surf, so on race day although the skies were clear the surf was looking like it could be a bit of a handful for some. So to avoid the kayak leg looking like a log jam on a North American river the organizers decided to shorten the paddle leg slightly to avoid mass carnage. After some major jockeying for positions at the start line and a starter that was under the impression that a 10m advantage was going to effect the final result the yellow flotilla was eventually off and racing, the craft soon spread out with the leaders picking up the CP some 100m or so down the beach avoiding the mass carnage that could have ensued had they gone further down the beach as originally planned.
As it was some teams found themselves at the mercy of the waves, 1 crew seemingly lost their boat, another we witnessed lost their rear paddler and valuable minutes whilst retrieving him, and another decided to do an impromptu outrigger paddler changeover where by all crew changed positions.
SleepMonsters
