Austin OCC 2017 Sprint event is in the books!

Wow! The 2017 Austin OCC Sprints at Lake Bastrop Noth Shore Park was a huge[1] event!! It was a lot of fun even though not without its problems :

• the official NWS high temperature was recorded at 100 F,
• the event got underway a couple of hours late, and
• the water temperature in Lake Bastrop was hotter than anything in which I have bathed in decades!

Times can be found here. (No, actually, they cannot. The Wayback Machine at archive.org missed that one.)

Austin OCC thanks all of the teams represented at the event :

• Texas OCC
• Hoewa’a Dallas OCC
• Team Hokulele
• San Antonio OCC
• Rio Grande Valley OCC
• Austin OCC!

More thanks to offer :

• Justin McGuire, Austin OCC president, for spearheading this effort.
• Tracy Quon, Joy Emshoff, Ginsie Stauss,[2] and Denise Scioli for the hours of planning and printing the new shirt design, and the awards.
• Tracy, Joy, Bob Spain, and everyone else involved in getting four lanes of buoys deployed.[3]
• Denise and everyone else who helped at the registration table.[3]
• Alma Forti, Becky Naddef, Jenny Tam, and everyone else involved in timing the race.[4]
• Austin OCC members who provided the coffee, cold water, energy drinks, iced tea, breakfast items, fruit, salads, and side-dishes that complimented the chicken and brisket so lovingly grilled by J.D. Martinez.[5]
• Phil Schafer and Jenny Tam for photographing the event for posteriety (that is a misspelling but the combination of posterity and notoriety is too good to correct).
• Austin OCC members who were there until the bitter end, helping with the tear-down of the site, hauling equipment across the grounds, de-rigging the canoes, pulling buoys, loading everything on trailers and into vehicles.
• All who paddled their hearts out in the heat.
• All who were patient with late-afternoon lineup changes.
• All who were patient as we provided opportunities for our newest members to paddle even if that made us less competitive.[6]

Notes :

[1] There have never been as many teams represented in a Texas outrigger event before. Nor have as many paddlers participated in a Texas outrigger event before. The sport is growing!

[2] Ginsie, we are so sorry that we did not get to distribute them at the event. The crowd began to thin as soon as the racing was done … long before we could tally the results.

[3] We learned a few things that we hope will make this faster at the next event.

[4] T.O.R.A. (Texas Outrigger Racing Association) rules need to be followed better next time. In particular, we need timing help from all clubs. Shade, cold drinks, and comfort need to be a forethought next time.

[5] We will have some significant improvements in place for your comfort before the next event. I am already in the process of re-creating a hand-and-utensil washing system to make your task easier and the whole process safer.

[6] After all, what is the role of senior and more-experienced paddlers if not to prepare our newest members and to provide them with such opportunity?