It looks like the wind will not be in our favour on Saturday as you can see below. I heard on the unofficial grapevine that the Outriggers Long Course will probably be changed for 2 reasons.
1. It will most probably be a slight NE "none existent" wind ...ie.. no real downwind to do a downwind.
2. The shore dump is apparantly massive at Mermaid which will prevent canoes either getting out or getting in if the course is reversed.
So the canoes will most probably be starting at Southport, going out through the Seaway and punching into the NE for 8km then turning and running back with it. They will not be making there call until the morning of racing which may cause mass confusion IMO.
Now for the SUP's ... After discussions with the Organisers and several paddlers who aren't keen on doing the above ie. Why do 15km of that when you can do 8km ??? Instead of waiting till the last minute as many people are already making alot of phone calls... and causing major confusion a decision has been made.
THE SUP LONG COURSE HAS BEEN CANCELLED !
We will only be doing the 8km Short Course (the original SUP Race) which will be pretty much a smaller version of the above race ie. Starting at the Southport Spit Marine Rescue Centre (near the boat ramp), heading out through the Seaway, punching into the NE for about 2.5 to 3km and then turning and running back with the wind behind, through the Seaway and back to the Rescue Centre.
So ALL SUP ARE TO START AT 8.15am.
REGISTRATION AND BRIEFING FROM 7.30am AT THE SOUTHPORT MARINE RESCUE CENTRE.
If any of you really really want to do a longer paddle then maybe after you compete in the 8km race you can organise your own unofficial paddle later in the day in a direction that suits.
I hope to see you all on Saturday for a fun race. Please let all SUP paddlers you know of on the Gold Coast to come along and have a race. Remember there are 3 divisions.
12'6", 14' and Unlimited with two age groups...Under 40's and Over 40's.
If there are any objections or major disappointments to the above decision then please take your case to Laurie (cause he makes up the wind chart on Seabreeze) or DJ (cause he loves smoothing over disputes)
