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Land Rover Slip Out of Gear

Rob / 20.11.2002

Steve ‘Ski’ Sharp of Team Land Rover banged the hull of his kayak in frustration then held his head in his hands. His team had moved into 10th place and was paddling quickly down Kenepuru Sound with wind and tide behind them, approaching checkpoint 21. Everything was looking good until Ski realised they’d missed out CP20, and to return and get it meant a long paddle back – this time against strong wind and tide.

He had to break the news to his team – they had to backtrack and it would cost a lot of time and energy to recover the mistake of not paddling in a few hundred metres to Portage Bay an hour earlier. There was little to debate and no point in recriminations, they turned their kayaks around into wind to go back they way they’d come. For Land Rover the make-or-break low point of the race had come. They had to dig deep.

Earlier in the day, approaching the end of the second long Mtb leg Ski had been talking about the race in a more positive light, though the team had had trouble at the end of the previous kayak stage. “We turned into Crail Bay and the wind was so strongly against us we could hardly make any headway at all, even creeping along the shore inside the mussel farms. It took us well over an hour to cover the 6km to the Transition Area and we slept for 90 minutes when we got there. The wind was so strong one of our tarps was ripped right out and blown away and a tent next to us was demolished completely.� There were mini tornados elsewhere too which caused more damage.

“The ride was good and even the slippery descent Geoff talked about was rideable. Ran kept us entertained too by regularly going flying. On one occasion I saw his bike go over a bridge without him – he was in the river below! He just can’t seem to stay on.� For his part Ran Fiennes just said, “The paddling, flats and downhills are fine, it’s the uphills that are unreasonable.� He was pushing his bike at the time.

As they made their way along the Queen Charlotte Track Ski was enjoying the stunning scenery and being part of Southern Traverse. “I love this race as it’s still a real adventure. There are no taped routes, no hand holding as you get in some races. It’s a true adventure race.� The team pressed on down to the side of Kenepuru Sound to pick up the kayaks again and their timing seemed perfect, the tide would be with them almost all the way round to the mouth of the Pelorus River, which they had to paddle up to reach the end of the stage. They were expecting no problems getting off the water by mid-afternoon and into the big trekking stage on the Richmond Range by nightfall.

It wasn’t to be. Not only did they have to paddle back against the tide, it then turned and so was against them all the way back up the Sound. They finally reached CP21 at 19.19, some 5 hours later than expected and, now in 14th position, had to struggle on to complete the stage as dusk fell.

(Lythgoe remain in 3rd place and were 4 hours behind the leaders Seagate.com starting the 20 hour trekking stage on the Richmond Mountains.)

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