The Final RPS/Starboard Flatwater is on this Sunday 14th March.
Conditions at this stage look close to perfect
Forecast for Sunday
Mostly sunny. Light winds tending southeast to southwesterly up to 25 km/h during the afternoon.
City Mostly sunny.Min15 Max25
One lucky paddler will have the chance to "WIN" a 2010 Starboard SUP
Plus - there's heaps of other prizes, vouchers and giveaways.
Venue - Elwood Beach , Melways ref 67 B4
Date - Sun March 14
Time - 9.15 am onwards/registration, 10am Race.
After - Post race presentation and Bbq.
Now's the chance to prove that all of the summer paddling/training has made a difference.
Board Classes - Open, 12'6" Flat, 10'6" under, 9'6" under [Roscoe class].
Men's, Women, Junior [under 18].
Entry - SUP Vic members $10, Non-members $20. [*SUP Vic will be there on the day, so for those who haven't yet joined, here's your chance to support the our great organisation.]
Encourage friends, family etc to come along. Again, the emphasis is on fun, social, recreational paddling. For those that don't have a board, there are a limited number of boards available to use on the day. If you wish to organise one of these, call the store on 9525-6475. Boards can be collected from the store on the Friday or Saturday prior.
Hope to See You There.
RPS
Errrr.........yeah, I saw the photo of you carrying a 2 piece board at Wooly.
I'm actually selling my trusty Starboard 11'2" (with cover), if it's of any interest.
For some of those people with two boards + , it would be kind of you make 1 available for others.... but then again, I don't expect many novices will want to slog it out for 80 minutes !!! 
This is going to be a great showdown between Matt and Cam.. It's gunna be a beauty.. 
Those guys are in a class of their own right now.. I might aim for third.. 
DJ
I rekon 60 minutes would be a good ender to the series...but...
I'm not paddling so it isn't up to me. It will definately be no more than 60 minutes but after speaking with Warwick today it will be 40 or 45 minutes.
Hey Cam,
it maybe a case of see on the day, but at this stage I'd personally like to see the race go for 60 mins. The temperature should be around 15 - 17 degrees, conditions perfect for endurance paddling. [Rather than the 34 degrees we endured for the previous race].
If there's a few novice's entered, then perhaps we could sound a 45 min hooter to mark the end of their race and leave the others to battle for an extra 15 mins.
Talk soon.
Warwick
Just a heads up for everybody...
The Run For The Kids is on in the morning of the event and the Bolti Bridge will be closed, also
the tunnel westbound to the Bolti bridge on ramp.
See the below link for course details.http://www.runforthekids.com.au/r4k/2010_R4K_Course_map.pdf
Here's a detailed list of road closures:http://www.runforthekids.com.au/r4k/2010_R4K_Course_map.pdf
This will only effect maybe a handful of people, you know who you are.
See everyone there! The forecast just seems to get better and better!!
As Bren said, the forecast just keeps improving!
Forecast for Sunday
Mostly sunny. Winds mainly northeast to southeasterly averaging up to 20 km/h.
CityMostly sunny.Min15 Max27
Forecast for Sunday
Winds: East to northeasterly 5 to 10 knots tending southeasterly 10 to 15 knots
during the afternoon. Seas: Below 0.5 metre increasing to 0.5 to 1 metre during
the evening.
Elwood should be a millpond.
Bring it On!
Sounds awesome
Getting my crew up at the crack of dawn,
Bit of a road trip but looking forward to it.
Cheers Scott
Just one of the prizes to be won in tomorrow's race!
It's a fantastic Starboard 9'8" x 30" Element.
Forecast for Sunday
Winds: Northeasterly 5 to 10 knots becoming light around midday then afternoon
seabreezes around 10 knots developing. Winds north to northeasterly later in
the evening. Seas: Below 0.5 metres.
Note - there are triathalons being staged at St Kilda and also Green Point, Brighton, so for those of you coming from either the west or east/Beach rd, it might prove better hitting an inland alt route. Fortunately Elwood is unaffected from either of these events.
Don't know how that kiteboard snuck into the shot?
Must've been feeling left out.
If anyone is still up to read this,
Remember to bring some coins for parking and also a cold drink.
Cam won the 12'6" class.
Rea won the womens.
Not sure on the other classes.
And I was lucky enough to win the 'most improved' over the 3 races with a 4th place in the last race.
Thanks heaps Warwick from RPS and Starboard for putting on the series.
In a week I went from starring at a broken board to gazing at a new one.
Congrats Alan.. That new board couldn't have gone to a nicer guy.. Great looking board..
Thanks Warwick and Starboard.. It was a great event and we were lucky to have perfect weather.. I took some vid of the race and will post it soon.
Congrats to Rea also on winning the womens and finishing 5th among the men.
DJ
Good on you Al!! What a SUP roller-coaster you have been on over the last few weeks. Karma, a wonderful thing....
Yeah thanks to RPS for putting the series on and all the crew for turning up at each event.
Congrats Al on winning the board!
Well done Cam and Rea on taking it out, you are both machines! Seriously you both need to
get up the coast for some more distance paddles, I rekon you'd give the other crew a good
shake up in some of those bigger events like the Honolua race. I'll come up can cheer you both on!
Also thanks everyone for supporting SUP Vic and those that joined up at the events. We have
now officially exceeded expectations for our first summer so we are stoked. We are working on
something at the moment to cap off the season and if we pull it off it will be a great way to
wrap up a great summer. Details to follow if things work out.
Final Results.
The day dawned perfectly to run the final RPS/Starboard Flatwater 60.
Elwood Beach took on an almost carnival like atmosphere, with an Outrigger race towards Pt Ormond, the Stand Up race and also a nipper carnival right under our noses.
We had 17 starters for the final race, which also included 4 girls.
The much anticipated showdown between Matt and Cam unfortunately didn't eventuate, but Cam still paddled the race as if Matt was there!
The race duration was 60 mins and almost everyone paddled within themselves and lasted the full time.
Out front was...............of course Cam. But vying for 2nd and 3rd for the entire race was new-comer, Andrew Hocking ( co-incidentally an RPS team wavesailor) and the evergreen Jonathon Cowcher. For those of you who don't know Hock, he stands around 6'3", is able to master any style of board that floats on water, such is his experience. But he is new to the SUP thing. Paddling my very old, original Starboard 12'6", he used his long stroke with good effect to come in second.
Further back down the field there were some epic battles. Al, Bren B, Mick and Rea all stayed tight, with some interesting cat/mouse techniques which involved some very canny, but legal wash-riding. Al finished strongly, as did Rea who in the end, pulled away from Brenny. ( Much to his disgust), whilst Mick unfortunately faded. ( Mind you, he did a massive amount of pace setting early.)
Other notable mentions go to Greg Thomson who paddled a 9'6" as if it was a 12'6", Lucy Bell who also paddled a sub 10'6" board like it was a raceboard and Kirsten and Katrine who were paddling in their first race and went the distance.
Men's Open 12'6"
1st - Cam Hosking [ Starboard]
2nd - Andrew Hocking [ Starboard]
3rd - Alan Farlie [ Naish]
Women's Open 12'6"
1st - Rea Haare [Naish]
2nd - Lucy Bell
Unlimited
1st - Jonathon Cowcher [ Penetrator]
Men's 10'6"
1st - James Clarke
Men's 9'6"
1st - Greg Thomson
Overall RPS/Starboard Series Winner Men's - Cam Hosking
Overall RPS/Starboard Series Winner Women's - Rea Haare
Overall RPS/Starboard Series Most Improved - Al Fairlie [well done on winning the major prize!]
Also thanks must go to DJ, Jonathon and Brendan all from SUP Vic, who have helped, guided, coached, inspired and mentored many new and existing paddlers through this season. Their collective efforts in founding SUP VIC, maintaining relations throughout the paddling community and creating awareness about our awesome sport. Keep up the great work guys! We are lucky to have you.
Balin Surf Sports for their kind prize donations as well as Wade from OC Paddles.
And of course...Starboard
Keep paddling towards next summer's series.
