January 27 Competition Log

January 26, 2005

Prelims: I made my plan as aggressively with my highest
potential score, given my track record on each move here. The plan could
earn my as much as 1,100 points done perfectly. The world’s record
ride was my ride during the Pre-Worlds in 2002 with this same system at
869 points. I got a little over ½ that today in a much tougher
spot on one ride and only 238 points on my first ride.

1. Warm-up was fine- However, I felt like it took forever
to get to my heat and I may have showed up a little early.

Ride 1

2. Focus- I did manage to start with an outward focus,
scanning the crowd, recognizing the friendly faces, seeing Kristine before
my run, but not the judges like I wanted. I hit the hole on my first ride
with a great entry move, eeeked out my splits, but flushed, and then it
was obvious that I forgot my contingency plan of entering on a loop move
each time if I flush because of the better set up. Instead I proceeded
with my lefty cartwheels and flushed again! This time I managed a short
look up at the crowd and was relaxed enough to know what to do next. Eyes
were not focused on the target, but too blurry, not staying ahead of the
boat enough to get a fix on the target before losing it again.

3. Volley Pace- Going good, but blind

4. Score- Actually with three flushes, two of these
rides at 238 points each would have put me in first place in this first
round, but that is not how the event goes- the scores at the top will
double in the next round with people like Jay, Billy, Yappa, etc. working
out the jitters in the first round and then getting mad about their first
round performance and coming in two the next round with a vengeance

Ride 2

1. I got out and carried around to watch a few rides
again, but it took too long, and I was fidgeting like crazy wanting to
go. I walked up the hill looking for some Gatorade but the bottle was
empty. I found Kristine’s stash in time, which gave me something
to do to take my mind off of the run for a minute. I put in above the
drop again, this time three boats ahead of me and paddled around. I went
for a flatwater cartwheel in the eddy and fell on my head. Given the timing,
I wasn’t amused, so I did a couple properly and by then I was up
for my second round. I was truly disappointed in my first run, getting
nowhere near what the goal or expectation is, and behind Billy’s
first ride score of 348 by 100 points.

2. I lined up the entry move and have found that even
though I was the only top person doing one besides Jimmy Blakeney who
flushed on one of his, it is worth it. The way I have to approach the
entry move is to do it full power, not holding back. Otherwise, my head
doesn’t clear, and I flush, both bad. That makes the start of the
routine easy to get in the right frame of mind. Just line it up and be
ready to explode when you hit the hole with the opening stroke, followed
by a quick visual of the hole so I can line up the loop, then it is off
and running.

3. My first loop was huge and I landed in the green.
I did some OK splits, but it took me two tries on each to assure I got
them, followed by a very fast, mostly vertical flurry of 12 ends which
went according to plan. My next loop was even bigger, making the routine
near perfect to that point. Then I went for my two clean blunts, but hit
an air blunt and a regular blunt left, not able to go clean, and followed
that up with a blown righty blunt. Next was a geeked Space Godzilla, and
some more useless set up time to the buzzer, missing the final moves of
my routine. The good news is that I had one of three 45 second rides without
flushing. Billy had one, I had one, and a junior had one (forget who now)

Changes to my next round routine;

I will keep the same routine, however, I think
the focus needs to be more outwards still and I need to see the hole better
for better moves. I will remember to enter with loop if I flush. I will
also practice clean cartwheels and perhaps throw one clean end in on each
cartwheel sequence.

🙂 EJ