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Battle on the low fjord

Susan McKenzie / 15.09.2006

John Jacoby called it last night, when he said that he figured the race would come down to a fierce sea kayak race on the Saguenay Fjord.

Adidas Natventure had the right to leave this morning at six am, but as of 7:30 the Germans were still in the TA. Far from expert paddlers (other more colourful words have been used to describe the German paddling techinique), it seems the team may be waiting for the tide to turn before hitting the water.

Jacoby's team Spyder and Les Arcs Quechua hit the water as soon as possible this morning, and are paddling against the tide.

The problem for Spyder is two-fold. Well, two boat, in fact. They're strong paddlers, but have lousy kayaks. The members of Les Arcs Quechua are strong paddlers, and they have better boats.

Meanwhile, it's Adidas Natventure that has spent much of race in a Nike-like fashion: slowly, inexorably creeping up behind Les Arcs and Spyder, moving sure-footedly on the treks.
Watching the team's movements on the Competio GPS tracking system (found at theraid.org), you can see where the team made its move. As the French struggled with navigational errors and leg stresses, the Germans moved stealthily through the course. Somewhere between CP 34 and CP36, they made their move, and they arrived at the TA to the final sea kayak section ahead of Les Arcs Quechua, Spyder and Sport 2000 Lafuma.

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