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Austin OCC will be joined by outrigger paddlers from across Texas for the 2024 Austin OCC Bill Krutzer Ironman race.

On Saturday, 12 October, two kane (Hoewa’a Dallas OCC and Westlake OCC) and four mixed (Texas OCC / San Antonio OCC, two Hoewa’a Dallas, one OCCAustin OCC) crews will paddle it out on the Colorado River (Lake Austin) at Emma Long Metropolitan Park, 1600 City Park Rd, Austin, TX 78730.

Set-up will begin at 0730 hrs at the park and be completed by 0930 hrs. All attendees will check-in and all paddlers will sign a liability waiver.

The steersfolk meeting will happen at 0930 hrs. Racing will commence at 1000 hrs. The race will be approximately 10 miles (5 miles up stream, turn around, 5 mile return). Lunch is scheduled for 1230 hrs.

Fees :

1. The City of Austin charges a $10 park entry fee, per vehicle of up to 8 people.
   
2. There is a race fee of $35/paddler (or $210/crew). If possible, please, pay per crew. We can take pre-registration payments through PayPal at AustinOCC@gmail.com. Checks submitted on the day of the race should be made out to Austin Outrigger Canoe Club. We should be able to take cash payments, too.
3. Lunch is available for $12/non-paddler
   

Please, confirm a headcount (crew + non-paddlers) with Justin McGuire by October 05, 2024 so that lunch can be planned based on total headcount. Call, text, or email him (512) 554-1157.

I didn’t get many photos of the OC-4 Mimi as it was being repaired but here are a few.

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Weather versus climate

As I type this post, I hear thunder outside and I can see some falling rain. Toss in a relative humidity reading, the current windspeed and you have weather.

Climate is a long-term summary of weather data. Meteorologists use a 30-year summary of the previous three decades (currently, 1981 – 2010) to determine the so-called “norm” for the year, the month, the day.

Your tax dollars at work!

The conclusions / summaries of Austin weather are derived from climate data freely-available from the National Climatic Data Center (NDCD). These are good folks, hard-working and dedicated. They make certain that the probability of bad data being entered into the summary is LOW.

OK, back to Austin

A quick-and-dirty summary of Austin’s August climate is :

• Average daily high = 97 °F (+/- 2 °F)
• Average daily low = 75 °F (+1/-2 °F)
• Average daily humidity = 64%

Would you like a little more? Here are some more Austin August averages based on data from 1981-2010.

• Number of days with daily high temperature ≥90°F = 29
• Number of days with daily low temperature ≤70°F = 2
• Wind speed = 7.4 mph
• % of sunny days = 74%
  (303 hours of sunshine or
  13 hours and 11 minutes per day)
• Monthly precipitation = 2.4″

Some Summer records

112°F : The highest daily temperature ever recorded in Austin on 2011-08-28 and 2000-09-05.

90 : The greatest number of days with daily high temperature ≥100°F occurred in 2011.

27 : The greatest number of consecutive days with daily high temperature ≥100°F (2011-08, Camp Mabry). By contrast, as of today, we appear to have broken our streak of 19 consecutive days with high temperature ≥100°F.

We’re nearly out of the woods

The good news is that we are closer to cooler weather. The bad news is that we are not done with the hot weather, yet.

Stay well-hydrated, my friends!

User accounts have been created!

• Hong
• Jesscia
• Tracy
• Stu
• Jeff
• Mike

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?