[Written by Don the afternoon of Tuesday, 2/27/07.]
I just had the most amazing race--in a KAYAK! They're having the Antarctic Kayak Championship here--it's us against the Vavilov tomorrow. Today was the preliminary heat. We have seven of us competing in the singles, and I'm one of them. As we rafted together to wait for the start, two humpback whales slept only about 100 yards away. We watched as the blew out their spouts and bobbed up and down in the water.
Finally we started the race, a 1 kilometer straight line to the zodiaks waiting at the finish. Starting with slow, steady strokes, then accelerating and digging in, pushing and pulling as we went around as many of the ice chunks as possible. I looked up, and out of the seven in the race, only Bruce was ahead of me! I dug in, trying to catch him as the others disappeared from my peripheral vision. I yelled, encouraging him and letting him know I was right on his tail. We crossed the finish line in 5:52 and 5:59, giving me a second place finish and a place in the finals tomorrow!
Maybe I should give up running and race kayaks. Or not. But it sure was fun.
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