The Final Challenge

The last race is in the books and it was a great one! TCOCC participated in the beach change-out at the Pacific Northwest Challenge this past weekend and took home 2nd place. The course consisted of four, 5 mile laps across Lake Washington. We got out to a strong start and it quickly became a two canoe race. Through the second change we remained within contact with first, but just couldn't get even. Regardless second place is a great finish and it was great day on the water and fun way to end the season. Mahalo to Kikaha and Sand Point for putting on a great event and to Anne and Luz for joining us to fill out our crew. We'd also like to congratulate our other TCOCC paddlers who participated in the 26 mile water change-out in preparation for some upcoming Hawaii races.

Bellingham Bay Battle

Congratulations to all of our members that participated in the Bellingham race last weekend! Conditions were challenging and the competition was stifflast Saturday. We did not get the best position in the start line but quickly established a 3 canoe pack with a BBOP crew and CROCC crew that included Rich. The course change necessitated three 180 degree buoy turns. Those turns made the critical moments for our race. We capitalized on a mistake in the second turn and flew by BBOP to establish a lead that we would hold until the end of the race for a strong 4th place out of 7 in the mixed open division.

I'm a little late on the wrap up here but I wasn't able to take as many pictures as usual. The photo credits go to the BBOP photographer on these. Go check out their Facebook page for more. We also want to thank CROCC for helping us fill and find seats for our crew and to Autumn Rose for Loaning us the Canoes we raced in.

Practice Cancelled Saturday 08/19

Due to the PNW challenge there will be no practice on Saturday. Good luck to all of the paddlers participating. Its our last TCOCC race of the season and it should be a fun one!

Air Quality Information

For more information on the air quality issues we are experiencing right now here is the air quality map as of this morning and some links to further information. We are sitting in the "unhealthy" category meaning that even for healthy individuals strenuous outdoor exercise is not recommended. Our first priority is keeping everyone safe so please take it easy and hope this clears out Saturday.

Washington Air Quality Map

Washington Air Quality Advisory Index

Practice Cancelled Wednesday 08/02

Due to the dangerously unhealthy air quality coupled with the expected high temperatures, practice will be cancelled tonight. The Forecast shows air quality improving by Saturday so we will plan to be back on the water on our normal schedule at that point.

Grinding It Out!

It was a great day of racing at Alki Beach on Saturday. We had 12 members participating in 4 different crews. The course was a beautiful 12 mile paddle across the Puget Sound. Weather stayed calm and warm, making for a real test of endurance and grit throughout the race. The Tri-Cities Mixed Masters pulled out the most impressive performance of the day, finishing first of all the spec canoes in their heat! Which, of course, gave them a 1st place in their division as well. To fill out some other crews we had paddlers in with SOCC and Pacific Outrigger as well as 3 men in a hybrid crew organized by Maui Mike. Thank you to everyone who came and participated and to Seattle Outrigger Canoe Club for hosting the event. Now we look ahead to Bellingham in two weeks and our last race, the Pacific Northwest Challenge the week after.

Practice Cancelled Saturday 07/29

Due to Da Grind practice will be cancelled Saturday. We will resume normal schedule on Monday. Good Luck to all of those racing on Saturday!

Practice Cancelled Saturday

Due to both members and wa'a being gone for the gorge race this weekend there will be no practice Saturday morning. Normal schedule will resume on Monday. Good luck to all the crews racing!

Saturday Scrimmage

We had a great training session today two strong crews came out for a difficult 11 mile course up and down the Columbia. We're hoping to use this course for future training as we prepare for the rest of the season. 1 hour 36 minutes now stands as the time to beat!

Monday Mahalo

Mahalo to everyone who came out to practice on Monday. We had 20 paddlers show up and 2 graciously volunteered to sit out. That's the first time this season. Its never good to leave anyone on shore but this is definitely filed under good problems to have. If we keep up the great spirit and recruiting, we might have to find another Canoe!

Practice Changes for Summer

With the summer weather beginning we will be moving Saturday practice up to 8:15 to beat the heat. Set your alarm an hour earlier and we'll see you on the water!

Practice Changes for Memorial Day

Remember on Memorial Day we will practicing at 9:15 A.M. our weekend time so everyone can enjoy the holiday!

Paddlefest

Paddlefest was a great success for the club. Thank You to everyone who committed to the extra paddling and helped promote the club in the community. We had many interested people taking rides and hopefully we get some new members out of it. See some pictures below.

Saturday Practice Changes

Don't forget tomorrow 05/13 we will be meeting at 8:45 instead of the usual time for a paddle up to Howard Amon Park to join in Paddle-fest!

Race Around the Island Wrap-up

It was a great weekend of racing at Chinook landing Marine Park. After the traditional team dinner at Shirley's Tippy Canoe we started early by unloading and rigging Lokahi then putting her down in the water. The opening ceremonies that commenced shortly after were a beautiful tribute to Aunty Jean and Lance Kahn.

Our mixed open team had a little help from Ila, a SOCC paddler that filled out the crew. They went out on the long course upstream into a strong current off the start. After the first turn a battle was quickly established that would shape the rest of the race. There was a constant back and forth with the team from hood river breathing down their neck all the way until the finish. The crew never gave up ground and in the end were able to take 2nd place in the Mixed Open Division. This is a great result for the team amongst a stiff field of competition! Not only that but they finished third among all the spec canoes in the morning race and even had a better time than one of the unlimiteds.

After a short break the short course crew were ready to take to the water. Matt and Nessa had to pull double duty and get the unofficial award for most miles paddled. The competition was lean but fierce with one other OC-6 and a slew of small boats in the field. A last minute course change made for a difficult cross-current route to the other side of the island. TCOCC started in front but gave up ground as the course turned around the island. It was a valiant effort coming back up-river but the crew would finish just behind the other OC-6. However, all that will be written in the history books is a first place in the Mens Open division!

Check out the gallery below for some pictures and a video of the start from Matt's 360 camera. It was a fun weekend and a great start to our 2017 race season.

Congratulations RATI Crews!

It was a great day of racing at RATI. Our Mixed open long course took home 2nd place and the mixed open short course came in 1st! Look out for some pictures later this week.

We will be resuming our normal practice schedule on Monday night, if we can get as many people as possible there early, that will help make unloading the trailer and rerrigging the race boats smooth and fast.

RATI and Saturday Practice

This upcoming Saturday, May 6th, we have paddlers going to the Race Around the Island near Portland. If you're planning to go and need some information, talk to Nessa or Steve.

Good luck! Bring home some hardware!

With most of our people and boats gone, we will have to cancel practice for Saturday.  We will be back to our normal schedule on Monday, May 8th.

Practice Cancelled Saturday 04/22

Unfortunately, due to a lack of experienced steersmen and experienced paddlers to run practice, we won't be meeting on Saturday. You still have Wednesday 04/19 to paddle and we'll be back at it on Monday too. In the mean time it will be a good day to cross train and make your plans for RATI on May 6th.  We also wish all the paddlers going to Rusty Iron this weekend good luck!

Practice Cancelled Tonight

Due to Weather, practice will be cancelled Wednesday 04/16. Forecast looks promising for Saturday, we'll be back on the water then.

Visitors!

This week we had a visiting paddler at practice. Hector was in town visiting from Hawaii, and he came out to join TCOCC for some time on the water. He also gave us the kind gift of a shirt from his club, which Bob is proudly holding in the picture.