Announcing: Fall-Winter Whitewater Race Series
Printed From: ProfessorPaddle.com
Category: General
Forum Name: Whitewater Forum
Forum Discription: Open Discussion Forum. Whitewater related subjects only
URL: http://www.professorpaddle.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=12533
Printed Date: 25 Sep 2025 at 8:26pm
Topic: Announcing: Fall-Winter Whitewater Race Series
Posted By: fiddleyak
Subject: Announcing: Fall-Winter Whitewater Race Series
Date Posted: 11 Oct 2012 at 8:46pm
I'm proud to announce the Western Washington Fall Winter Whitewater Race Series!
For fun and for training, this winter we are going to hold an informal series of races on the rivers surrounding the Seattle Area. The Series will showcase some of the most popular class III-IV rivers as well as a couple harder ones. We hope to get people excited about racing and out taking advantage of our local whitewater. This is not about competition as much as pushing ourselves to have fun on rivers we might not normally paddle.
We prefer the mass start format because we feel that it is the safest format for friendly, informal races. There is almost always someone close behind you that can provide help (especially if we get safety volunteers to paddle behind the racers). Furthermore, it's more fun to have people chasing you! Of course this requires paddlers to be courteous and careful at all times and especially when overtaking others. There is no need for aggressiveness or any other forms of unsafe paddling.
-Events will be held on the 3rd Saturday of every month from October 2012 to March 2013, for a total of 6 races. The dates of the races are Oct 20th, Nov 17, Dec 15th, Jan 19th, Feb 16th and Mar 16th.
-There are no entry fees and no prizes for racers. Hopefully we can find some prizes for the safety volunteers.
-Each racer is personally responsible for their decision to participate. Whenever possible we will solicit safety boaters but their presence is not guaranteed. If the course is above your ability to race safely and competently please do not participate.
-It is the goal of the Series to choose race sites that are safe enough to encourage wide participation from the community. We will attempt to choose the location of each race with participant safety as the most foremost consideration. The location of each race will be determined by the racers in the week prior to the race. Although the goal will be to decide on location with as much notice as possible, the deadline for the final decision on location is 8pm of the day prior to the race. Factors influencing this decision include:
-Water levels
-Weather conditions
-Hazards of potential race sites
-Racer preferences and availability
Whenever and wherever appropriate the format will be as follows:
-Mass start race with 2+ safety boaters (when available) to follow up behind racers.
-Short boat (9 foot max) race first followed by a long boat (or open class) race. If people want to paddle other boat types that is fine.
Race Sites:
-Skykomish River
-Green River - Gorge
-MF Snoqualmie - Middle Middle
-Middle Section, SF Stillaguamish
-Canyon Creek, SF Stillaguamish
-*Robe Canyon, SF Stillaguamish - Above 1st class IV to below Mrs. Robinson's. Might not include Landslide portage
*Note: It is the opinion of the Organizers that the Series would not be complete without an event on Robe Canyon, despite the fact that there is already a race on this section. We will attempt to schedule our event in December or January and it is not intended to replace, detract or associate in any way with the "The Robe Race" which is held in April using a partner format.
The goal of the series is to choose the most popular, high quality rivers that are close to Seattle. However, there are a variety of alternate race sites that can replace any of the above (with the exception of Robe) if racers want to make the change.
Alternate Race Sites:
-Lower Tilton River
-Upper Pilchuck River
-Pilchuck Creek
-Sauk (Whitechuck R to Clear Creek)
-Sultan River - Lower
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Replies:
Posted By: fiddleyak
Date Posted: 11 Oct 2012 at 8:47pm
Skykomish River - Race #1 of Fall Winter Race Series
There will be an informal race on the Skykomish River next Saturday, Oct 20th. Meeting place is Cable Drop at 11am. This is intended to be a fun event open to any boater that wants to come out and run the Sky a bit faster than normal. It’s much less about the competition and more for the personal challenge of racing. We encourage everyone in the community to come out and participate in this event. You can pick and choose any of the sections that you want to race and it would be great to see lots of people out on the river. If you just want to paddle along with the racers that great. Safety boaters and spectators are welcome. No entry fees or prizes.
The first part of the race will be Mass Start on three successive sections of the river. We encourage you to bring your creekboat (under 9 feet) for this event, although other craft are welcome:
-Cable Drop to above Boulder Drop
-Boulder Drop
-Below Boulder Drop to Split Rock.
Then we will do another race on the full Skykomish River, Cable Drop to Split Rock. This is the main event for longboats, although other craft are welcome.
Meeting time is 11am at Cable Drop putin (around here on Google maps: 47.809112,-121.572005). We’ll set shuttle at Spit Rock before that.
This will be the first race of the Western Washington Fall Winter Whitewater Racing Series!
Please post with any questions or email me at:
benjhawthorne@gmail.com
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Posted By: ENDO
Date Posted: 12 Oct 2012 at 4:53pm
Are there any race categories?
or all long boat?
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Posted By: fiddleyak
Date Posted: 12 Oct 2012 at 6:00pm
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Originally posted by ENDO
Are there any race categories?
or all long boat?
Since they are most popular, whitewater creekboats (boats 8'-9' feet long) are the primary class of kayaks for these races. Those of us that have longboats (~12' long eg Greenboat, Tornado) definitely want to use them. This means we will hold a second race for longboats whenever practical.
The beauty of a mass start race is that you can be in any boat and still challenge yourself and have a good time. If racers want to paddle rafts, IKs, playboats or Wildwater boats, that's fine by us. The only complication is organizing safety boaters to follow up behind the racers (it will get more complicated with groups that move at different speeds). This should not be a problem as long as people watch out for each other.
Basically, this is going to be a case that people can race in whatever boat they want. For simplicity, we're primarily targeting standard length whitewater kayaks, but have no boat restrictions.
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Posted By: ENDO
Date Posted: 13 Oct 2012 at 10:32am
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sweet! this looks like a blast!
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Posted By: fiddleyak
Date Posted: 15 Oct 2012 at 12:49pm
It has been brought to my attention that the Wind River Race is scheduled for the 16th of March.
To avoid a conflict the final race of the series will be changed to March 9th.
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Posted By: TastyWaves
Date Posted: 16 Oct 2012 at 10:03pm
Darren was telling me about this last weekend it sounds super cool, I had never raced before the icicle race around PP this year and I developed a new respect for that aspect of WW, I hadn't felt that tired and winded in a loooong time.
Anyway this sounds fun I'm in.
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Wise men say forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza.
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Posted By: jerryclayross
Date Posted: 17 Oct 2012 at 11:50am
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This sounds really cool fiddleyak! I'm doing a beginner trip with Puget Sound this Saturday, but will definitely be interested in joining up with you guys on the next race!
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