Ski to Sea race plagued by problems

Still, most of the participants from the 445 teams seemed to enjoy the sun and the fun that some dubbed "Ski to Plan B."

"The sun's out. That's all that matters, right?" said Chelsie Papiez, a 26-year-old Olympia resident who was twirling a hula hoop around her waist while waiting to start the kayak leg for '80s-inspired team Awesome, in her second Ski to Sea race. "It's just so much fun."

CANOE CANCELED

All week long, race organizers and Whatcom County Search and Rescue members kept an eye on the Nooksack. But Saturday's sunny skies pushed daytime temperatures into the 70s, melting the snow that had accumulated at unusually low elevations this spring and pushing up the river levels.

Canoe leg chairman Thom Prichard and Whatcom County Search and Rescue Council Chairman Fred Knight made the decision to cancel the leg after checking the rapidly rising river and looking at online predictions of river levels from the National Weather Service and U.S. Geological Survey.

Prichard made the announcement to the hundreds of competitors assembled in the sunshine at Riverside Park. It was believed to be the first such cancellation since the race began in 1973.

"The water level has gone above our cutoff point," Prichard told them. "I don't know how to say it, but we're running without the canoe leg this year. … This is the hardest thing I have ever done … I really wish — I don't know what to say."

Once the first wave of groaning died, a smattering of applause built into a warm wave as relieved canoeists pressed forward to show their support for Prichard.

"Good call," one man said as he pumped Prichard's hand. CWe'd rather be alive."

"You saved our lives," another canoeist told Prichard. "I was really scared. I'm a novice canoeist and I was nervous."

After the announcement, Prichard said he considered an 11-foot reading on the Ferndale flood gauge an absolute maximum level for a safe race. At mid-morning, the level at Ferndale was surging toward that mark. By afternoon, when hundreds of inexperienced canoeists would have been on the water, organizers believed the 11-foot level would be surpassed.

Prichard said he didn't think the top competitors would have been in any danger, but for hundreds of novice canoeists, the risk would have been real.

Knight coordinates rescue efforts on the river every year, and he noted that about 25 canoes can be expected to tip over on the 18-mile race leg, even when the river is placid. Knight said he thought that total likely would have doubled this year.

"I've got standing whitewater going into the first corner," Knight said. "Any boat going into that sideways is going to tip in that corner."

With a powerful current of unusually cold water, the river posed a much worse risk to spilled canoeists than a simple dunking, Knight added. The fickle river didn't appear to be living up to the worst expectations as the day wore on. By midafternoon, online river gauges showed that the river was peaking just below 11 feet at Ferndale.

But that level was still about four feet above last year's race day, and the river at Everson had an ugly look, carrying logs and other debris in its swirling brownish gray torrent.

While the competitive canoeists on the top teams were most disappointed, they supported the call.

Brian Boatman, canoeist and organizer of the perennial powerhouse Beaver's Tree Service team, said high water levels were flooding banks and sandbars where spilled canoeists might normally scramble to safety.

"There are so many novices, and there are no beaches to swim out," Boatman said. "There's just not enough standby boats for everybody. The only thing to grab (along flooded banks) is blackberries."

Gwyn Howat, a 25-year race veteran who has competed in a canoe for the past seven years, said she wasn't looking forward to getting on the river this year to race for the Mount Baker Ski Area's Whatcom County mixed team.

Howat, the ski area's office manager, said this year's snow conditions were downright freakish.

"I'd be surprised if these conditions ever align this way again in my lifetime," she said.

KAYAK ALTERATIONS

Winds that whipped up whitecaps and created chop on Bellingham Bay Sunday morning also forced organizers to cut the kayak leg to three miles from its originally scheduled distance of about five miles.

"We have a wide array of skill levels," kayak chairman Dave Ringwald said, referring to his concern over the safety of racers. "We still have the option of canceling the leg later if conditions worsen."

That didn't happen, but authorities were concerned by reports of wind speeds that were 10 to 15 miles per hour with gusts of up to 25 mph. A number of competitors clapped when Ringwald announced the change at Zuanich Point Park.

Organizers cut the part that would have required kayakers to paddle out into the bay then back in before hugging the shores on their way to Marine Park.

"That's the windiest, roughest part," Ringwald said of the out-and-back section.

Shortening the course allowed competitors to paddle directly into the waves and keep the boats tighter together, helping safety crews on the bay. The course still zigzagged across the bay from Zuanich Point Park to Marine Park, but was much closer to shore. No major problems were reported.

FINISH NOT FINAL SAY

When the Clippercanoes.com kayak eclipsed The Bagelry's paddler around the last buoy and scrambled to ring the bell first, it appeared Clipper had sealed the victory.

Not so.

Problems in how the mountain bikers were sent onto the course left kayakers confused as to who was in what place.

The trouble began with the canoe leg cancellation. The initial plan was to release the mountain bikers, who race the leg after the canoeists, onto the course exactly two hours after the road bikers finished the leg going into the canoe section.

But the mountain bikers weren't let on the course with the proper spacing between riders, based on road bike finish times.

Clippercanoes.com finished the road bike at 2:37:45.8 from the start, while The Bagelry came in at 2:31:00.4. Though Clippercanoes.com was nearly seven minutes behind The Bagelry, mountain biker David Kvick was released onto the course just about 2 minutes after The Bagelry's Adam Schwind, Bagelry kayaker Jeff Hilburn said.

Schwind won the leg, and before he found out about the controversy over times said he thought the releases worked well.

"It was frustrating not having an actual start time. It was really well done, considering they skipped such a large portion of the race," he said at the time.

Hilburn said all the top teams knew about the problem, but were told by officials that the times had to be retrieved from the wristband chips and reviewed. That left the teams waiting for several hours, until the awards were given out at 6 p.m., to find out who actually won.

The Bagelry team actually won the Open Division and overall crown. Barron Heating was second and Clippercanoes.com third.

Ron Williams, Clippercanoes.com canoeist, said it wasn't the team's fault they ended up being released early.

"When they said go, we went," he said.