Latino, next year, Best will donate a prize for the last place finisher .... and for the guy who collects the most boards. You rock!!
1) After getting up Wed at 5AM and spending all day on a plane, I got back to Delray around 7 PM, and we left at 11PM, driving the 4 hours over to Tampa. Found a parking lot near a beach south of the launch, and "slept" in the Forerunner until morning. I slept inside, stretched out on top of the kites, while Brandon and "KiteBitch" Scott slept outside on their blowup mattresses ... until it started pouring. Scott climbed back into the front seat, while Brandon (150 lbs tall, 10 lbs wide), looking like Spongebob Square pants, ran off with his mattress towards the trees, seeking shelter.
"Hehehehe, Brandon just headed the north with his mattress!" I shouted to Scott over the downpour, "His legs are going 'deedle-eedle-eedle-eedle-eedle' like a cartoon! I think he's heading for the trees!!" Then two seconds later, "Hurry up ... LOOK! Here comes Brandon heading south with his mattress again.... guess the trees weren't enough .... !!!" It was the funniest sight I've seen in years.
2) Pumping up 3 kites, agonizing over which size would be the best to take, pretty sure that whatever kite I took would be the wrong size. Praying that it wouldn't blow up mid race, or a line didn't snap, or a footstrap didn't come loose ...
2) The agonizing start ... not being able to hear very well down where we were, and thinking the 2nd blast was the start. And starting. And getting a really great start since the guy ahead of me got ripped off his board and his kite went flying to the left, giving me plenty of room to dive my kite, then realizing it was a false start. And wondering if RickI was ever going to realize it was a false start and turn around and head back to shore, or just keep going
Then waiting ANOTHER five minutes for the real start. And not having as nearly a spectacular real start as the false start, because the guy who got ripped off his board didn't make the same mistake twice.
3) Body dragging back to my board a million times, and losing a place every single time. RRRRRRRRRR. THAT'S why you beat me, Surfnut. :lol:
4) Watching Brandon pass me 100 yards from the finish ... as yep! I fell and lost my board ... beating me by less than a minute. "I was gunning for you the entire time," he said. To make myself feel better, I tell him, "You should be gunning for the first guy, not the first girl." Oddly, this helps. Especially when I add under my breath, "I'm old enough to be your mom, for god's sake." But it was a crushing blow for me, for sure. Beaten by Spongebob. Sheesh. 8)
That race was HARD!!!!!!!!!!! And not fun until it was over. But then it was really fun 8)
What I learned for next time:
1) Run your own race. Don't look ahead, don't look behind. You never know what can happen. Race yourself, and make sure you beat yourself. Because maybe the person you THINK you were chasing, who is now 2 miles ahead of you, isn't really the person you're chasing at all ... maybe they just have the same kites and you got confused. Maybe the person you were trying to beat is actually behind you, so don't give up, keep going as fast as you can, even when you think you don't have a chance ... otherwise, that person you thought was miles ahead of you may just be a few people behind you, and if you give up and slow down, you may be giving them the chance to pass you.
2) If you're going to fall, fall on your butt, lift your legs up as if you're throwing a deadman, and fly your kite past 12, so you can keep sine-ing it and pop right back up and keep going.
3) Try to convince your R&D guy to design you a supersafe invisible board leash, that no one can see except you, that disintegrates when it senses danger (like when it's wrapped around your neck, or when the board is heading towards your head like a torpedo), then magically re-assembles itself when it senses you need it (like when you simply fall off and need to pull the board back towards you.) Bodydragging back to your board REALLY takes its toll!