During a previous training paddle, Jen Mercer-Castro-Riley, had asked if I had signed up for the Dana Ocean Challenge? I’d asked her if I should be. I had seen it on Paddle Guru but had passed it up previously but as soon as I got home from the training session I fixed the problem.

Today was the day. I’ve only taken to the ocean three times previously, my adventures sticking mostly to harbors. Water is generaLily much calmer there. Wind texture will Be visible when it comes up but there is no rolling, curling wave energy just aching to break and crest. This was a text I would need to take if I dreamed of crossing the channel.

This years resolution is to be more prepared, hoping this will cut down on my ramped anxiety. If I’m prepared as best I can be then I can cut down the anxiety, at least in the areas I can control. So to do this I made sure to get food the night before. Boil some eggs, bananas, several peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwiches. Prepare the coffee for the morning drive. Pack my duffle bag. Wetsuit, hat, sunglasses, rashguard, water, all the things I’ll need for the morning. Then right to bed.

3:30 am comes early. I let myself sleep in a little more, then up and out by 5:30 am. A quick drive south. The sun isn’t up when I find a parking spot and crawl in the back where the cot is. I love this van and can‘t imagine having another kind of vehicle. Cozy and warm I get a decent nap. 7:00 am is the registration check in time.

The alarm goes off and I check in. There is more time before the short course meeting. I run into Jen while walking around. She mentions getting changed now and I agree that it’s a good idea. Preparation.

At the short course meeting we’re to to go straight to the whistle buoy from the start. Easier to remember. Everyone seperates to get their boats and boards.

this course has a water start so we must paddle out the backside of the harbor to line up at the start line. It’s a good 10 minute warm up before getting out in the water. Birds line the rock wall. Pelicans and seagulls watching the spectacular paddling out to sea. We gather around the buoy that is the starting point. Agitating the seals that use it as a sleeping spot. One barks and howls. Everyone ignores it, hoping pretending it doesn’t exist it’ll then calm down.

The safety boats float behind and around us. The announcer boat in front, telling us again to just go straight to the whistle buoy. I can barely see the buoy as the wave rise and fall blocking the view. A few minutes pass. A silence falls and tension rises. Honk. The horn sounds. Everyone takes off. Surfskis, SUPs, ORC of all numbers, and prone paddle boards all take off. I try not to worry about winning, I just want to survive.

The conditions of the water are better than the day Jen and I went on to the ocean the week before. There is less roll and bowl to the water, I’m stoked I went that day even though it scared the carp out of me, it made today much easier. People pull ahead of me, I just keep going. It’s about the marathon.

Paddling out in the open ocean like there is no land the help you gauge your speed. Nothing out of your peripheral vision to see pass by. You feel like you’re paddling in a very rough infinity pool. Paddling. Paddling. Paddling. To nowhere. Just endless burning. You can bitch out and ask for the boat but then how could you ever show your face again? So you keep paddling. You think of anything and everything out on the water, because there is nothing else to do but think and paddle.

Slowly the whistle buoy creeps closer. The first group of people are turning around and paddling back towards me. Yewww I yell at them. The buoy rises and falls with the water. Whistling each time. Whooooo. Whoooooo. Whooo. Two seals on the buoy add to the song. My board is point back towards the harbor. Let’s go.

On the way out I was able to knee-paddle a few times, though doing it in the still waters of the harbors and the rolling water of the ocean is two different things. The rolling motion threw my balance off more and on my return trip I fell off my board twice. Easily able to get back on I opt not to try again until back in the harbor. The time seems to pass quickly and i’ close to the mouth of the harbor. The ocean energy is creating a churning monster around the rocks, causing me to have to swing wide so as not to be thrown around.

Once inside I get to my knees and try to take off. The calmer water allows me to mostly knee paddle and I try to use the tips Mark Schulein gave the group during our Sunday knee paddle. I hear a voice from the island. “Ben”. Yeeewww I yell back. I’m not sure who it was but get stoked and keep on paddling.

I come around the island in the middle of the harbor and see the finish line. I get back up on my knees and dig. I try to give it my all at the end.

I’m tired but stoked. Chatting with a few of the folks who came in well ahead of me. Alyssa ended up wining her division. She was way ahead of me and was a target for me to keep following and try to keep up with.

The sun is out and the even is done. Once I stop my watch I did 6.20 miles in 1h 44m 41s.

I am super stoked and have another race on March 29th—the Pier to Bay event in Newport Beach.

Dana Ocean Challenge

Back Bay Beauty, Pt. 1

Adventure with the Vixens