For all those interested in the Rps & Starboard Flatwater 60, we have just learned that there is a Triathlon at Elwood beach the morning of 31-1-2010. We plan to hold the Rps & Starboard Flatwater 60 at Ricketts Point. We will inform everyone of the details closer to the day. So keep a watch on the forum for more info. Don't forget that there is a Starboard SUP up for grabs as the major prize. Cheers RPS
Rickets would be great if it's a northerly wind.. We could head down to Parkdale and back.. 
.. We could do that even if there's no wind.. It's a great paddle.
DJ
How many laps from Ricketts to Parkdale and back do you think would be possible in 60 minutes Dave?
I rekon it would be a fair challenge! There are plenty of options at and around Ricketts that could make it interesting. Should be fun.
More Details for the RPS/Starboard Flat 60.......Sunday 31/1/10
As mentioned, due to there being a triathalon at Elwood this Sunday, we are going to move the paddle event to a different location. [ Hope this doesn't inconvenience too many of you, but then you may get to paddle at an entirely new spot!!]
The location is Mentone beach. For those of you who know it, it provides easy beach access, flat, sandy bottom, and excellent sheltered conditions from the fresh to strong northerly winds.
At this stage the BOM forecast is as follows
Forecast for Sunday
Winds: North to northeasterly 15 to 25 knots tending northerly up to 30 knots
during the morning. Winds easing to northwesterly 15 to 20 knots later in the
day. Seas: 0.5 to 1.5 metres increasing to 2 metres during the morning
I'm thinking, for those of you who aren't too stressed about an early start, setting the registration time for 8.45 - 9.00am for a 9.15 start time. This way, we maybe able to paddle the 60 mins before the wind gets up too much. I'll put a final post up on Sat afternoon for the official start time.
The Melways ref for the location is
Map 86 / J7
There is a designated carpark for Kingston reisdents / with permit [ or paid]
And free carparking along Beach rd, with access stairs 200m west of the Mentone Lifesaving club. Parking is also avail near the Lifesaving club.
Same board classes will apply as the 1st race.
Prizes will include $$$$$, RPS gift vouchers, Paddling products from Balin, Flying Objects, OC Paddles and SPT.
All competitors will also have the chance to win the "BIG ONE" which is a 2010 Starboard paddle board!! Which will be presented at the 3rd and concluding 80 min race in March.
Don't forget, the emphasis on these events is as much fun, social paddling as well as testing your endurance. Encourage any of your family and friends to attend. It's all low-key and very informal. Beginners, novice's and recreational paddlers don't go unrecognised.
SUP Vic will also be present on the day to assist anyone who wishes to join the association on the day. These guys do a massive amount of behind the scenes work which in turn supports of fantastic sport!
Stay Tuned
Sounds good Warwick - can't turn it into a down-wind event can we!!
Maybe there will be a few left after the hour with enough left in the tank to consider a quick run from St Kilda to Sandy....followed by a big afternoon nap
If the conditions are right I'd be in favour of a straight downwind event for one hour. We'd need some sort of chase boat probably.
Sounds good Warick. I'll be down there whenand wherever the start is.
My wife is keen as well after she took part in the Port Phillip Cup. She really enjoyed it and was stoked on
the good vibes and social setting.
I think that location is good. We will just need to paddle out a couple of bouys to set the course.
The water will be dead flat with some gust coming across the water but if the course is set up so
people are paddling across the wind it should be fine. Will give both sides of the body a workout!
What a perfect opportunity to run a real down wind race.. The conditions look just right and it wouldn't be that hard to organize.
One hour paddling will take us from St Kilda to Sandy..A little longer will take up to Rickets Point.. Perfect.
We just need a few cars left at Rickets.. that wouldn't be hard to arrange.
We all start off from St Kilda and leave out cars there.. Once at Rickets someone stays to keep an eye on the boards and paddles and the others get into the cars to go back to get their own car.. and then they just drive down and pick up their own boards.. Easy-peasy.
What do ya think Warwick?
DJ
Forecast for Sunday
Winds: North to northeasterly 10 to 15 knots freshening to 20 to 30 knots
during the morning then tending north to northwesterly 15 to 25 knots during
the afternoon before shifting south to southwesterly 10 to 15 knots during the
evening. Seas: 0.5 to 1.5 reaching 2 metres during the morning.
Hey Guys,
I hear what you're all saying and it does sound quite tempting.
But I think the possible logistical nightmare that we could face if the field spreads out over quite a distance could be a tough task. Also, I don't have access to a boat. As Jonathon mentioned, it maybe an option for a few of us to do after the race.
Depending on the conditions and who turns up, I may just keep our options open on the format.
Short course, sprints, relays??
I will have a few new-comers turning up, so we don't want to scare them off with a off-shore, down-winder for their first foray into SUP racing!
Comments?
We could go up and down from Mentone past Beaumaris.. It's all protected because of the high cliffs along there.
But try and paddle around the corner to Rickets and you'll get blown towards Frankston.
It's a beautiful place to paddle.. There's a boat ramp half way along that might be a problem with boats coming and going.. I paddle it mid week and it's always quiet but Sundays might be a different story.. Also because it's the only protected water in a strong northerly you can get lots of boats/jet skis and even wake boarders taking advantage of the protected smooth water.
Let's try and get a support boat for that down wind race.. .. or Like Warwick said.. after the race will also be good for a down winder.
DJ
Its looking perfect for a downwinder on Sunday. Whats the best way to do this? Race first and then bolt up to St Kilda before the change comes through (abt midday) or do a downwinder to get there and then race?
I'm thinking about getting an early down-winder in before the race. It may be a little off-shore but we all know how dodgy it gets when it goes quickly from NW to SW.
Was just planning on parking the van at StKilda and paddling to wherever the race is to be held, doing the race and trying to get get a lift back later.
I paddle from Ricketts around there to Mentone and back often. DJ is right that on weekends, in a northerly, you can get quite a few boats down towards the corner, but they usually just anchor up and sit around in the back of their boats swimming, drinking etc (boring pastime, I reckon). I've never had any problems with boating traffic.
A bunch (school, pod, flock??) of SUP's paddling past will probably make their day.
We can use the biggest boat that usually has the girls in bikinis on the front as the turnung point.
We will give them something to look at and vise versa.
Na but seriously, I rekon we just throw a bouy in on the second sand bar (about waist deep) and then
paddle a bouy out about 300 or 400 metres out on a diagonal which should be cross wind which will
make the paddle easier for everyone. That way it can be judged from the beach and participants are less likely to get into trouble. Risk management being the key.
Thanks Bren and DJ,
the area you both outline will be suitable. I paddled there on New Yr's eve and it was Northerly 20 - 25 knots [ and 40+ degrees!] and it was fine. [ if you don't mind getting pushed almost backward by the gusts].
I'll be there at 8.45 for crew to register and prepare and we'll look for a start time as close to 9.30am as possible. That way, the guys who want to also go and do a downwinder will be able to race and then get back to St Kilda. If the wind is pushing, we can always shorten the race duration from 60 mins back to 40 mins.
The beach access stairs on Beach rd are opposite Plummer rd and there is ample free parking. Just watch when you unload your boards that a gust doesn't whip your board into an unsuspecting cyclist!
Hope to see you all there. Let's hope that the Bom's forecast is wrong!
For those who've never paddled this area check out this old post of mine.. www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=36165
..and here for more recent pictures.. www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=52630&SearchTerms=new,Naish,paddles
It's a beautful place to paddle... See ya there tomorrow..
DJ
Quick memo, SUP Vic will have drinks at the event. Bottles of water plus Coke, Lemonade and a few Mountain Dew cans. All drinks will be $1.50 if ya feel a bit parched!
A few people have brought up the collision thing before but if all paddlers are travelling, lets say anti-clockwise then this shouldn't be an issue. Everyone we round bouys to port and pass each other port to port (to your left). Just simple boating rules. SUP's aren't speedboats or sailboards or race cars. The fast paddlers are only travelling at about 10km/hour and over a 400m length between the bouys I would be very suprised if there are any collisions.
Also, I will try get a GPS to lay the outside bouy so it can be set at a specific distance. That way paddlers can workout how far they have paddled.
VERY Late update.
Drinks will be $1 each as I can't be bothered with change. Just got back from an engagement
party I thought was going to finish hours ago and didn't have any time. I'm fine with $1 or otherwise
a gold coin donation would be great.
Everything is on ice so will be super chilled for the morning.
Forecast is all over the place so it will be interesting to see what we are delt in the morning.
See you there!
Some of us are doing a downwinder after the race today..
The conditions look perfect 20-30 knots north/northwest.
We'll be starting from St Kilda about 11am.
DJ
Don't know about anyone else but I'm totally wrecked. 40 min race in pretty gusty wind followed by a 10km downwinder (first time for this little black duck).
As for the race, according to BOM, the max wind gusts across Melbourne for today occurred between about 9.30 and 11 this morning (race time), peaking at 74 km/h. Not sure if any of that happened down at Mentone but it sure felt like it.
I might let the guys from RPS post the official results of the race, suffice to say, we discovered today that the Port Phillip Cup result was no flash-in-the-pan.
Pictures to follow.
Cam's on a roll.. First wining the Port Phillip Cup race on Australia day and now wining the RPS Starboard Flat water race... Wow!!
I have more pics but here's just a few.
This is Cam and Matt going head to head soon after the start.. They both jumped ahead of the pack.
Here's Cam styling it around the buoy and making it look easy.
It must be Cam's shout..
Warwick from RPS finished a strong third.
DJ
30 degrees at 9am and 20knot winds wasn't the best conditions for a 60min race that the keen paddlers fronted up for this morning.Thanks Warwick for organising the event, finding the most sheltered spot the foreshore has to offer and reducing the race time to 40min
,I was fully buggered at the end,
Cheers for the pic DJ,just starting to get the hang of those turns
.
Thanks DJ, Paul and Al for the photo's.
Just waiting on Brendan to give me the official results for the race wrap-up.
Warwick
Race Results from the RPS/Starboard Flat 60
Well, as you've probably already read, the 2nd of our 3 race series was held at Mentone Beach. Determined not to be marred yet again by unfavourable conditions, the location move proved to be very successful.
Very strong northerly winds were gusting up around 30 knots, so whilst we were getting hit by the odd bullet, we were for the most part reasonably protected. [ As evidenced by the photos.] Still, it proved to be a tough race, no matter where you were in the laps. Temps were already in the low 30's and the competitors who had the sense to wear a hydration pack fared better than those who didn't.
With the very trying conditions, it was favoured that the race was shortened to 40 mins. As usual, the start was quite frenetic, with Cam and Matt blasting out ahead. Everyone else also got caught up in their own private battles.
Somehow, the 40 mins felt like it was 60 mins, must've been the heat!
When the hooter went signalling the end of the race, you could hear the collective sigh. It's nice to know that even Cam and Matt are human and showed signs of being spent at the end!
Results
12'6" / under
1st - Cam Hosking / Starboard
2nd - Matt Lumley / Naish
3rd - Warwick Lee / Naish
4th - Jonathon Cowcher / Starboard
Women
1st - Rea Haare / Naish
2nd - Marita Finch / NSP
Open
1st - Mike Key / Naish
9'6" under
1st - Ross McClure.
Special performance efforts go to Roscoe for lapping well on his 9'6" DC and James Clarke for entering despite not even owning a board or paddle and going the full time! [ he borrowed a set up].
Thanks to Brendan, Jonathon and DJ / SUP VIC for on-going support for these races and their efforts to promote the sport in Vic.
David Finch and Frank Nachtigal for being the race stewards and time keeper on the day.
Al, Paul and DJ for taking time out of the race to provide us with the action shots.
And Bren again for having the foresight to chill the drinks!
Keep training for the last race in March. The Starboard SUP has to be won!
