The 20 Beaches Ocean Classic is the oldest ocean race in Australia, traditionally raced from Manly to Palm Beach (or the other way around, depending on the wind). While the majority of competitors are surf ski paddlers, the race organisers have kindly offered to make an extra category for sea kayaks, if we have at least 5 entries. As we only have three doubles, we'll be using the singles for the race.
This is quite a fast-paced race, with most of the competitors usually finishing in around 1.5-2.5 hours (I'm hoping to finish it in 3), so I'm putting this up extra early so we have enough time to get ready for it. However, I'm aiming to get a group of people that are keen to have fun racing with the surf skis, but not necessarily trying to win, and we'll be staying as a group throughout the race.
Getting ready for this race will involve training and some sea kayaking trips, as well as making sure everyone's competent with rescue skills. I'd like to start getting ready for it as soon as possible, and ideally have a group of people committed to training by July (but if you start training at this point, you'll need to already be a fast kayaker). If you want to enter and try and get a good time, you'll probably be paddling away from the main group of us, so you'll need to show me that you can perform a self-rescue and a roll in a sea kayak.
I'm aiming this at people that have already learnt some form of rescue and/or roll (e.g. if you've been going to the pool sessions), but if this sounds like something you'd like to do but you've never learnt any rescue skills or rolls, you can still sign up, just let me know and I'll see what I can sort out :) (if you're in this situation, please sign up by the end of April to give me a bit of extra time).