making friends across the waters: Day 3 in Thun

Overnight rain gave rise to a damp morning and an overcast sky. Day 3 in Thun looked like it would be a very grey affair. With the event still in the prelim stages, mid week was for the Canoe classes and Juniors. Due to very late night practise I was sleeping in this morning and missed the C1 and OC1, yet my training partner on the water last night, Jeremy Laucks of the USA, hit a huge air loop in his open boat to please the crowd in the morning. Next up were the C1 paddlers, and my hot tip from the training days Guillaume LaRue of Canada made several clean air moves, including his very flash looking air screw to bring home the bacon, and a score of 1000, which would of put him in the top 10 of the kayakers. Brit Dave Bainbridge was not far be hide on 930, expect the Semi Finals on Saturday to be tight.

After lunch, the Junior Ladies went, and we saw some nervous paddling. Imagine, you’re 16 years old, you’ve battled with your team mates for the 6 team practise sessions, at night the eddy is completely full, and now you are in the bull pit with hundreds of people watching. Your friends and family are making all the noise they can, national flags are flying and you need to make a show of your paddling. Needless to say, thanks for the four rides, the first one can be a throw away. And once one gets into the rhythm of paddling, the moves start to flow, smiles are found and any tension departs. True to form Nouria from France sat on the wave blunting here and there, sometimes with air, and pretty much surfed out her rides in control and with style. Needless to say it was no surprise she got nearly 4 times the score of the 2nd place. With the rest of the girls making semifinals hitting around 100 points, its going to be tight for the 5 places of Sunday’s Final.

The junior mens was another matter all together. Few nerves were shown, only some frantic paddling to ensure the wave was caught, before the throwdown. The French supports dressed up to appear as quintessentially French as possible; beret, pencil line moustache and tricolour colours adorned. This made for a great party atmosphere with lots of noise with every French boaters paddle stroke. The French support clearly worked as both Sebastien and Thomas made the cut. A pre-event favourite Dane Jackson, wobbled at first but pulled through on his second ride to ensure that he beats his Father’s score in the Mens class from yesterday. Devyn Scoot from Canada hit the big moves to put up a 1200 point score that would of placed him 8th in the Mens. In the final heat Jason Craig, gave a finale performance with huge rides, and amped the crowd who cheered him on, always surfin’ off to a big cheer and wearing a huge smile. This boy flies, and boy does he enjoy himself, a great end of day show. Jason from the USA scored 1700 points, this would make 2nd place in the mens. The race for the title is going to be a great one to watch.

All today’s classes top ten go straight to semi’s, where they get 2 rides and only one counts, this is the toughest round of the event and where the tactical advantage of going towards the end of the pack can ensure a smoother passage to the final 5 places, yet like all things in white water, everything can change in a moments notice.