The Ventura Outrigger Challenge started cloudy and full of friendly smack-talk! When the crew lists came out the day before with two competitive Co-ed crews my immediate reaction was “Oh this is going to be fun! Who’s going to win? The Masters team or the Open team?”
I thought my Open team (Stacy, Yuko, Ondrian, Taylor, and Albert) had it in the bag and couldn’t help poking the Masters team (Jenny, Nancy, Nat, Claudio, Matt, and Chuck) morning of with a few eyebrow raises and a “You ready to go down??”, while quietly asking Ondrian and Taylor “We’re going to win, right?”
Spoiler alert… we didn’t. The Masters crew beat us by two minutes.
I steered my crew to the start line and got a little frustrated when all the canoes bunched up right next to each other – amas to hulls, not leaving room for anyone to paddle on the left side. I should have known it wouldn’t be a clean start when I heard a steers-person next to me say, “I wouldn’t line up next to me! I don’t know how to steer this thing!” Needless to say, we had a messy start that left us in about 5th-7th place five minutes into the race – not ideal – especially when I peeked over and saw the Master crew in the bright yellow 420 canoe practically in the lead!
Conditions going out to the first buoy were pretty flat unless you counted the two boat wakes that came through. We were battling for 5th place heading to the first turn, and luckily had the inside and were able to finally drop the Lanakilia crew next to us. We maintained our 5th place position for the second turn, and tried our darndest to get the 4th place Hokuloa crew in the slow rolling surf but were never able to reign them in. We rounded the Bell Buoy outside the harbor and picked up some speed to finish strong across the line. We were greeted with “Yeah NAC!” by our smiling Masters Crew who ended up 3rd place over-all – proving that age is just a number. They ended up winning 1st place in their division, while we placed 2nd in Open making both teams happy at the end of the day.
After hugs, photos, and a quick change we all headed down to send the Men’s crews off for their race. Being the wife of the NAC Men’s coach (Will Reichenstein) allows me to be privy to his crew selections for each race. So, I knew he was really interested in how this race’s “Top” crew would perform. It was a goal set at the beginning of this season to prioritize the young guys if they put in the work, and this was the race to prove themselves. The crew: Lee (20), Calvin (23), Judson (21), Chester (24), and Justice (20)…(and Will steering them at the young age of 35).
And boy did they prove themselves – coming 1st across the line, beating the very experienced Hanohano and Lanakila crews! Will told me he was impressed with their speed changes, power, and adaptiveness, and he was so stoked with how well Jud captained the boat from seat three and thrilled with how in sync they were as Captain and Steersman. They left it all out on the course, some of the guys even almost unable to stand once they got to the beach, but they proved to everyone that they’ve got the grit and that their efforts this season was something to watch.
Will and I cannot remember a crew winning the Men’s race with that many paddlers under the age of 25! Before the races, everyone at the NAC tents jokingly called this crew “Uncle Will and The Boys” and now after winning I think that nick-name may be sticking around – everyone was beyond proud of the guys and they proved just like our Master’s Co-ed crew that age really is just a number. How lucky are we to do a sport that lets all ages shine??
After the races everyone hung out at the tents, eating tacos that Linden and his wife made (Thank you Linden!), celebrating with a drink as friends from Dana, Marina, Lanakilia and other clubs stopped by to say hi, and introduce new people so they could get one of our increasingly popular “You’ve Made an NAC Friend” coozies! The sun finally came out in time for NAC to collect their awards in Novice Co-ed (3rd), Open Co-ed (2nd), Masters Co-ed (1st), and Open Men (1st)! The drive home trailering the canoes was smooth sailing with minimal traffic and I couldn’t help thinking what a great day it was, and I was reminded again…how lucky are we to be able to do this sport?
Iron Champs…NAC is coming for you!
Bobbie Reichenstein
#NAC4Life