Wow, Kalavida Surf Shop put on one hell of a show this year!

With a new set up on the beach and a new format for the Wiki Holo sprint course, it was a blast (killer but a blast)!  Since I’d been spending most of my time in outrigger this summer, I was quite nervous going into this weekend.  A couple young girls keep getting faster and better and had been pushing me in every race this season and this weekend was no different!

The Wiki Holo had us racing a lap then a 5 minute rest after the first paddler crossed the line before doing a second lap, followed by another 5 minute rest after the first paddler finished again and then for the third round we did a lap with a short beach run followed immediately by another lap.  Though my starts were pretty bad, I managed to make up ground on the first buoy turn and second one too if I was still back. I finished the first two rounds in second place behind superstar Shannon Bell. By the third round I was cooked, finishing in fourth which put me third overall for the Wiki Holo “points wise”.

Day two brought the infamous Kal Lake crossing, 16.5km.  We had high hopes of a downwind run as we got ready for the start as the wind was picking up from the south. I finally had a good start and was with Shannon all the way to buoy turn before she started to pull away in the waves.

Avery and I worked together for the first couple km on Kal Lake until the wind was strong enough to surf a few.  I managed to surf away from her but veteran paddler Debbie Chadwick pulled ahead of both of us. The wind quickly died and it was a flat water race the remainder of the race. I spent the next hour trying to reel her in but with no luck.  I finished third with a time a couple minutes faster than last year. But unlike last year, I felt good throughout the full two hours and even felt good the next day!  The two third place finishes left me a second overall for the Queen of Kalamalka behind Shannon.

I’m stoked with my racing over the weekend. I have no doubt that if I spend more time on the SUP and improve my fitness, I can continue to get closer to the top women of Canadian SUP (who also happen to be top contenders on the World SUP stage as well).

I couldn’t have raced strong all weekend without my Vitargo. If you haven’t tried this stuff, you need to!