Headwinds... always headwinds...
Our volunteers out at CP8 (Aubrey Island) are chatting up racers as they come in to ask how things are going and it seems that the age-old nemesis of paddlers everywhere has reared its head today - the headwind.
What's a headwind you ask? It's the wind that smacks you in the steals your hat, seems to suck ever ounce of forward movement out of your boat ("Are you sure, we're moving forward?!?") and brings joys such as sudden veers right or left, and makes that 40km seem more like 400km.
Headwinds when adventure race paddling are (speaking from experience) just a little extra evil as teams largely use kayak paddles, adding a little resistance to both blades (the one in the water and the the one in the air), and steering a canoe with a kayak paddle is... less finesse and more brute force.
The headwind seems to be the worst when paddling east... and there's a lot of the paddle that takes them in an easterly direction, so the hard work will continue!
One team likened the experience to "paddling through mud". So don't be fooled by the lack of whitecaps, and sunny reflections - the conditions are exhausting out there.
Comments