USA Slalom Team Trials are underway, and I have my Ricochet proto 2!

June 11, 2005

Yes, I am getting back into
slalom, and yes I already have my own new slalom kayak, the Ricochet.
The plug was finished on Friday at 9am, and by Tuesday night Larry Parzynski
had a brand new mold and boat finished for me. He flew it from Florida
to Denver and I picked it up on Wednesday and got to try it on Thursday.
Friday, today, I got to try it in race number one! It is about 26 pounds,
verses the minimum 19 pounds that the other boats people race are, but
it is my new prototype and we are going the right direction. David Knight
and I have now made two prototypes, with this second one being a great
next step. We will make one more final design that will wrap up the Jackson
Kayak Ricochet and will be ready to make for anybody who wants them.

Back to the races:

The format for Team Trials is three days, three races.
Each race is two runs, times added together. The best two races count
towards making the team. The team consists of 3 men, 3 women, 2 C1’s,
and 2 C2’s.

Today I was in 10th place after my first run. I did
gates 1-3 really well, 3-4 good, but dropped too much edge on Gate 5 and
stalled on the pivot turn, losing a little time there. I did 5-13 well,
but lost a little time from 13-17, and then crashed at 18, actually eddying
out above the gate, losing 4 seconds there. All told my run felt good,
like I was a slalom racer, who made a few mistakes that were fixable,
and I didn’t hit a gate. Scott Parsons was in first, followed by
Scott Mann, and then Danny Stock in third. I was in 10th.

On my second run, I paddled too hard out of the start
and was a little off line everywhere having slower splits on every section
except the last gate, gate 18. I also had a clean run and because I made
up so much time on 18 I finished 1.5 seconds faster than my first run,
and bumped me up to 8th place overall on Race number 1.

The results for the Men’s kayak class in Race
1, USA Team Trials down to 8th place was: There are 27 qualified competitors
in the race in K1.

• Scotty Parsons
• Scott Mann
• Brett Hyle
• Eric Hurd
• Danny Stock
• John Gurstenburg
• Eric Giddens
• Eric Jackson

I got to go out with Toon and his lovely friend the
rock climber last night. We went to a bar on the deck of a roof first
for a beer and then to a Sushi place and sat at the bar. The food was
awesome, but Kristine ordered about 4 too many sushi rolls and we ate
until it was not possible to eat any more. Since we sat at the bar, the
beer came quicker than if we had sat at a table and before I knew it we
had switched from Fat Tire to Pin Stripe, Sake’, and then it was
time for home. I have known Toon since 1984 and we swapped a few stories
from back in France during my first trip there about a rodeo I did there,
etc.

It is now time for Race #2. I need to fix my boat with
duct tape (Emily broke the stern, remember). Also, I need to memorize
the course, and get ready to race in about 60 minutes.

Fun stuff!

EJ 🙂