I meant to ask you about that, in your initial reply you referred to “40’ plus 6 man canoes,” I thought it was a typo, 40’ ? How in the world do they do the portages and make the tight turns?…40’
Here we go with the questions again. What was the winning time in the race you were in? You and your “Novice” Team finished within 26 minutes of the Cowboys? What are ya’ll Superhuman?
Fastest time this year was 42 hours…. Yes we very nearly had a shot to beat the Cowboys but I was pretty happy just catching them even though they smoked us on the gulf crossing…. Another point is that the really fast teams generally switch to double blade wing paddles for large portions of the race. We used single blade for the duration
This little clip from this year should give you an idea of some of these canoes lengths as well as highlighting the dangers one can encounter with a boat of this size. Fortunately no one was hurt and that team went on to complete the course
That is what I am talking about, how does a 40’ boat do certain parts of the course? You yourself said the very first part of the course is very tight with a lot of really tight turns. Then you have the ditches and the water control structures
Well,I’ll tell you what, I am not getting into a fight with any member of the crew including the female member.
I think it’s an interesting skill, managing a boat that long. Even in the 26 foot range, if I’m in the bow, setting pace, I’m also seeing and encountering stuff 26 feet before the stern guy. Therefore I am doing quite a bit of steering and boat control independently from the stern who often doesn’t even see the obstacle I’m steering around. Picture number 4 in my recap post above illustrates an example of this, you can see the bow doing a “post” to pull the bow to the right, seat number 2 stays on that side to assist, seat 3 sweeps on the left and stern does a rudder stroke and initiates a lean and adjusts the rudder to help turn quickly. If we can setup well on turns we would all be on one side to keep forward movement and then bow would switch and post if needed and then switch back to our alternating formation. A foot controlled rudder is an essential piece of gear on these boats
Communication between front and back is a key component
I didn’t realize so much was going on and it is constant. A crew that had not paddled together, no matter how good, would not stand a chance.
How did you get “speared” in the chest? That would concern me in that environment, the discourtesy of the other paddlers. I would be afraid I would lose my temper.
It was in an early part of the race(first 5 miles) a series of 3 waterfalls within 50 yards or so. It’s total chaos as everyone is still packed up tight and there is carnage everywhere with boats tipping, some intentionally swimming to keep from capsizing, others just going full yard sale. We pulled out and carried the first 2 drops and hit the 3rd. When we were re entering the river an out of control boat that went through the rapid hit me in the ribs. I could honestly feel it for the entire race and weeks after with every paddle stroke
This is the section although I think we had already passed through when this video was started(we were very fortunate to get in the very front of the pack but it was very chaotic)
You can see Cowboy boat at 54 seconds(they started behind us but initially passed us about 10 miles in) . You can see alot of the long boats have most of their team walk or swim around and then just one or 2 paddle the boat through to keep it upright
Edit: you can see the orange boat that fell over the dam in the other video at 3:00 here
A surprising number of aluminum canoes.
It’s a huge class. A surprisingly effective boat for this course
As essential as every member of the crew is, to have one member hurt so early in the “race” and diminished somewhat and still finish as well as your crew did being novices and everything…ya’ll are Beasts.
Well I went and did it, yesterday in training I upped my weight 10 lbs, 10 freaking lbs,and tore something in my chest muscles (where the attachment to the sternum is.)
10 freaking lbs. dman it!
Worked through it today, not going to say anything about performance other than it was abysmal, but I had to to keep the lung capacity up.
important safety tip only go up by 5 lbs.
I just noticed something, are those compression leggings you and the other fella are wearing in the finish line picture?
These are the other thoughts I had after viewing the video ( But I wanted to get the “Beast” comment in by itself so as not to detract) It gave me a good sense of the flavor of the Safari, it was not like I thought, there seemed to be a degree of comradeship and there appeared to be a number of really spunky women, the woman at 1:00 was a pistol. You are lucky to have such close friends, I hope it is as genuine as it looks.
I thought the whole idea was just to do it and one and done to say you did it. But you said you would go back. Same crew - Different Crew?
Many people do wear compression sleeves on arms and legs(it is a good idea), we used white head to toe to keep the sun off of our bodies. The lighter clothing has a cooling effect and honestly full coverage clothing when wet cooled us further. It also gave us some abrasion protection on the carries and kept some of the fire ants at bay(but they bite through eventually).
I would do it with this team again in a second. In fact we will be doing the Suwannee 230 as a “reunion” in May . Other people in my circle I would do it with for sure but you need to consider very wisely for an event like this. I’d like to think that the comradeship is very authentic and even the competition on the course gave a warm sense of “we are in this together.” Especially on the lower half when everyone’s nerves were shot
So it is compression sleeves as it appears. I suggested this on this very forum to tone the muscles, prevent cramping, give some feedback, promote circulation (especially in the legs on long paddles being in the same position for so long) and to keep you cool and refreshed ( just toss a little water on them) and was poo pooed and ridiculed including by this @Rookie person who plays moderator, and come to find out, this is what endurance paddlers wear…Nice.
So as successful as this crew/team was, things can be so complicated it is still not a shoe in that it could be put together for another Safari race. Getting together again at Suwannee sounds very healthy, I hope it is not anticlimactic but just another good event. I guess the chemistry is everything. So, the atmosphere at the Safari, contributes to it, not detracts from it.
Maybe I will come down there with my Santee116 and kick some butt. Strictly solo baby.
Not for canoe, but for kayak I use Compression gloves for my hands, prevents blisters and helps my arthritis out when paddling also somehow has a cooling effect as well.
Possibly made of magic.
everything else I wear is generally loose fitting.
Did not even know they had “Compression Gloves”. What brand is it? I just ran across a super close out on a brand called “ Kinetic” in France that is supposed to be very good and usually very expensive at a liquidation website. I mean it was like 1/4-1/5 regular price. I bought multiple shirts, arm sleeves, leggings, shorts, a bib (which I can’t fit into) calf high socks, all kinds of stuff, about $750 at the sale price. The stuff has some compression, but like all of it I guess, it does stretch out after a while.
It was the Copper Fit gloves I picked up at Walmart of all places. I’m not sure they carry anymore so here’s a link to Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Copper-Fit-Relief-Compression-Gloves/dp/B07N7LKLGZ
I had a regular pair of NRS gloves but they were too bulky and unwieldy and tend to stink after getting wet.
the copper threading of the copper fit gloves is anti-bacterial so they don’t seem to get the funk.
I don’t mind the funk in the water shoes, It’s 6ft away from my nose, the gloves on the other hand not-so-much 
.
Walmart?…Sacre’ Bleau
I have never heard of anything like this. What exactly do they do for you? It seems like every paddler ought to know about this, it is right up their alley and I have never heard of them. Maybe you should start a topic on it and @darkstar one on Compression Garments for paddling.
Mostly keep me from getting blisters between my thumb and forefinger.
The compression helps with the arthritis in the hands and for what it’s worth they seem to have a cooling effect. I suspect it’s the copper threads in them.
But mostly it’s for the blisters.It’s the only place I get them from paddling.
I suspect most paddlers (especially with expensivier boats) would balk at the idea as it’s not a name brand and being sold in big box stores. but they are better for me than my NRS ones so go figure.
I like wearing a pair of gloves for the little bit of padding they provide against the paddle, it is more comfortable and gives a better grip. The only ones that work have been some soft, padded work gloves from Home Depot for 3 for $9, right up there with Walmart. These are a little pricey but I am going to give them a try. I am glad I asked you.
copper fit gloves…all have the copper infusion to reduce odors. Only the additional menthol infused gloves supposedly have the cooling effect…supposedly.