Hoosier Regatta April 22, 2018
Recap by Ted Beatty
We had a beautiful day for canoe racing Sunday on the White River: perfect weather, perfect water levels, and a bit of excitement, intrigue, and mystery on the course. Five C1s lined up to start, plus a sea kayak and two recreational canoes. After a bit of boat banging off the start, Matt M realized that somehow a rope had gotten tied around his boat, and Bill K decided to take a swim, just for the fun of it. By the time all that sorted out, everyone settled into paddling in earnest, with Matt M, Bill K, and Ted B running more or less even, more or less most of the next hour and a half or so; Matt C leading the kayak class; Skeet C just behind; and the two recreational canoes running sweep. There looked to be a good battle for 1st-2nd-and-3rd, and Matt M leaned into a strong finish, despite the rope. But either Bill or Ted quit paddling with a few dozen meters to go, and the both ended up floating over the finish line, paddles stowed. In the end, it’s not entirely clear what the order of finish was, and George appropriately skipped finish times and awards and jumped straight to the antique-tool-&-coin raffle, much to everyone’s delight. A table full of hand drills, folding rulers, spittoons, wrenches, and proof coin sets were raffled off to all racers, rounding out a good day. Many thanks to George for a great race day.
