Let the games begin... teams going to Woodstock:

Team Chaos, Jetstart, MOFOs, Golden Plate Warriors, MOJOS, GSK Firedragons, BMO First Dragons, Stroking Sea Monkeys, CN Aquatrain, Ronin Warriors, FUHNatics, Stratford Juniors... and others (see festival website for a full list).

Place your bets!

A Final:
1) Team Chaos (should win all things being equal)
2) Jetstart (if they bring Hydros from their Montreal roster then will beat Chaos)
3) MOJOS (inside sources say they're stacking their boat)
4) MOFOS (repeat after me: "it was an honour just making the A Final")

A Consolation:
1) GSK Firedragons (looking at TIDBRF results then will be close but should win this race)
2) Golden Plate Warriors (always in the mix and should make it interesting)
3) BMO First Dragons (if Montreal results are any indication they should be in the mix)
4) CN Aquatrain (hoping Montreal results were not indicative of their talent)

B Final:
1) Strokin Sea Monkeys (you never know with them, may squeak into A Consol)
2) FUNHAtics - mixed (based on last year's results)
3) Ronin Warriors (around for a while and usually consistent)
4) Stratford Juniors (the best of the rest?)

Finding myself unexpectedly free this weekend and with the desire to race as much as possible is any team needing another right male paddler? 11 years experience can sit almost anywhere in the boat (right side preferred but can race left if needed)- have raced all over the US, Canada, Hong Kong etc.
Let me know by responding to this and then arrangements can be made.

email me @ rightside.strong@gmail.com

Are you the one looking for a team to paddle with?
Would you consider Huntsville?

I predict it's going to rain.

The raven-haired yummie in the pink shorts? A little too thin for my liking, but the was a stunner. Post 'em if you got 'em.

Just got back from yet another rain-fest:

1 Mofos
2 Jetstart
3 GSK
4 Chaos
5 Mojos
6 CN
7 Golden Plate
8 BMO

Sorry can't remember anything beyond 8th. Rain/thuderstorms played havoc with the schedule only allowing the heats and a couple of the semis to be run. After multiple delays GWN amended the format to eliminate the semis and go directly to the finals in the top divisions. I think many of the local crews had packed up and gone home (lucky them). Format was for 6 boat finals instead of 4 boats.

In B final Golden Plate easily won and BMO surprised a few teams as they were seeded 11th going in to the final. In A final, race was much closer with Mofos pulling out a squeeker over Jetstart by 0.1s. GSK pipped Chaos for 3rd, not sure what happened to Chaos but the anticipated favorite going in the regatta, must have had a bad race.

Kudos to Woodstock organizers and GWN for trying to find a solution to crappy weather situation. Very animated PA guy, wow is all I can say.

Impromptu 6-lane finals?

Sounds the weather made this a total mess.

Too bad.

Didn't feel like a mess at all. The top 6 teams qualified within one second of each other so all had a legit shot at the podium. To race all 6 together was actually very exciting to watch. Ceremonies followed shortly after and the skies didn't really open up again until we were on the road back home. All in all a great event even with the sketchy weather.

I would just like to thank all the teams that came to Woodstock and stuck it out through the crappy weather in the afternoon. This was the first rain in 11 years and it really challenged us. Thanks for showing good sportsmanship.

Thanks to Mike and the GWN crew for finding a schedule that would work and allow for a very exciting A and B division final. All teams got two races in before the end of the day.

The skies poured down on us at teardown time for sure. We packed it in and helped Bill get the boats loaded before heading for a couple of pints. We finished the teardown today. (again in the rain)

We will be working with DB Canada this fall to get certified and see if we can come up with a new schedule for next year incorporating some other distances.

Also sorry about the short course (450m). I had a crappy GPS when we set it. That won't happen next year.

Any other thoughts or comments on the day are welcome. Was the new course layout better?
Dave

Dave;

The weather was tough - but you guys run a very fun event.

It is not a great venue to paddle at, but you do a fairly decent job working with what you have.

I think you should go back to the previous course set up however. Rotating the course where the finish line was on an angle to the shore gave a bit more of an advantage to teams paddling in the outer lanes at the finish.

We will definitely be back next year and lets pray for better weather!

1. Weather could have been worse; we should be fortunate nobody was affected by:
a) lightning
b) flying debris... including hail + tents
c) drowning (riptide) ...Sorry, couldn't resist =)

2. Luckily all teams that waited out the storm got in two races... and even though 6 lanes is far from ideal, it made for interesting A + B finals.

3. Course setup provided good viewing of the race.. especially the finish

Cheers

I beg to differ on the course setup. The "inside lane" finished up at least as far out from the shore as in previous years and the lane depth across all lanes was fair and consistent. This setup avoided the issue we have always has with the inside lane at about the 200m mark where an old roadbed ran up outo the shore. In addition the viewing was much better as the race could be seen from start to finish.

I liked the course this year

Dave, I agree. The course was much more even this year. Last year we got stuck doing all three of our races in lane 1 and that was quite a challenge. This year not one person I heard complained about the course being unfair. You run a good regatta. Hopefully the weather will cooperate next year.

The Festival was good this weekend. The course was fair, as was the starter.
Obviously you guys can't control the weather, but you did the best you could given the circumstances.

The rotary guys running the marshalling were very enthusiastic. However next year it may be beneficial to have someone who knows more about the sport to be in charge of that area, maybe just have those guys help out on the docks.

The GWN guys in the ref boat were a bit unneccessarily rude and the starter was a bit of a dick. But the festival did run smoothly while the weather held.

Woodstock

GWN made the best call from the weather.
I doubt the organizers could have run the full set of finals.
A six boat final is always good, and gave everyone an opportunity.
Mofo's paddled well - great race guys for a crew coming together at
the end of the season with all the rookies on board.
Wind created all kinds of trouble, which was clear on the start line
with some teams and steerspeople in the early races (you might want
to think about some better help there).
The Finals at the end of a soggy day was great and fair.
The course though was definately short.

The starter was fine - unless you were being the pricks on the line.
And, the Ref was the dick - a bit over zealous.

Great course set-up, you guys did the best you could given the circumstances. It was good to have every team race twice, and having more teams in the finals lead to exciting A & B finals.

Said it last time I was here, but hands down the best announcer in the business. Someone buy that guy a beer and a throat lozenge!

Great job running a fun festival despite terrible weather. Which one of you guys pissed off the gods? Has there been a festival thats run without rain this year?
A fair (but short) course.
Very exciting finals. Congratulations Mofos. We'll get you GWN.

wow, that was some final.

Wow, is the race course a full 500m? Those are some fast times.

450m. It's stated above.

There's no way it was even 450. Try about 420.

No Way it's 420. Try 438

Try 445m - measured on the weekend of racing.

No way. It was 444.

MOFOS!!!!

Measured via GPS on race day, the course was 450m (which corroborates what Dave mentioned above)

Can anyone tell me how the womens crews can be identified from the woodstock results?

Thanx, PD

I don't think there were any womens crews registered at Woodstock. Are you confusing with Oakville/Kelso?

So are you telling me the following race as a mixed race? The woodstock results say it is.

Race 8 - 10:24
1 Knot A Breast 2 2:09.04
2 Dragons Abreast 4 2:16.04
3 fUHNatics Women 3 2:15.07
4 Stratford Women 1 2:00.42