Welcome to BAIR ISLAND NEWS, BIAC's electronic newsletter. The purpose of BIN is to communicate with members about the Center's activities and programs, to promote a greater sense of community within BIAC, and to spread awareness of BIAC's activities beyond the membership list.

Your comments and contributions are always welcome. Please email them to the editor, Craig Canine. Thanks!

IN THIS ISSUE

GENERAL BIAC NEWS

  • Dock Renovation Update

PADDLING NEWS

  • Novice Paddlers Off To A Strong Start

ROWING NEWS

COMING EVENTS

GENERAL BIAC NEWS

The BIAC Board of Directors has approved plans for the repair and replacement of the docks that service our marina. With better docks it may be possible to decrease potential liability, increase rents, and attract better tenants to the Marina, which is a significant source of revenue for BIAC. See full-size illustration.

All the docks on the south side of the marina will be replaced. The overall configuration will remain similar to how it exists today; and the south side will be used for the Marina only, with no access for BIAC members.

The main dock on the north side of the Marina will not be replaced. Instead, it will be re-skinned (a new layer of plywood will be added to the top). Although the budget developed for the Dock/Marina Project did not allocate money for improved water access, we were able to add a dock with racks to store four Aero singles. This will help those scullers unable to carry an Aero to and from their current storage racks.

So that the Marina tenants can take advantage of their new docks, the Dragon Boats will be moved from the south side to the north side of the Marina. There is no change in how the Dragon Boaters access the water except for their location. To save on our construction and labor costs, the Dragon Boaters will provide their own dock.

All of the docks will utilize a modular construction technique. They will be constructed on land in small sections, moved into the water and assembled with pins. The advantage to this technique is in our ability to reconfigure the docks later. - Kevyn Allard

For early-morning rowers and paddlers, there's good news -- there are no mornings in November with tides too low for going out in eights or launches. So we'll have to look for other excuses to keep us off the water. Perhaps the weather will cooperate.

Evening rowers, however, should take note: late-afternoon tides will be quite low (i.e., below the 0'00" mark) during the entire week of Nov. 21 - 28. Eights and launches would be well advised to stay in, and smaller boats should use caution.

If you are interested in tracking tidal conditions for the Port of Redwood City, here some helpful web sites. Look at the tide level at Smith slough, which is the closest reading to the BIAC dock.
1. http://www.duckcentral.com/daily_tideA.shtml - Only gives predictions for the current day and the next day.
2. http://www.harbortides.com/tidetable.asp?Station=3201&period=0 - Good because it covers a whole month (and includes sunrise/sunset and lunar phase info), but you have to sign up (free).
3. http://sfports.wr.usgs.gov/cgi-bin/WindTide.cgi - USGS tide and wind data for the current 24-hour period (click on the data for Redwood City).

PADDLING NEWS

In what might be considered an understatement, 2003 turned out to be an exciting and fruitful season for the new Hui Wa’a novice program. The program started in mid-July, with Coach Mike Martinez taking a small corps of paddlers through 2 weeks of intense training in preparation for their first race. With a fair amount of inexperience, only 2 weeks of training, and a load of grit, the Hui Wa’a Novice Crew went on to take First Place at The Alcatraz Challenge in an exciting and close race!

Their race result came as a surprise, even to Coach Martinez. In a phone conversation with Anny Choi, Coach Martinez responded to news of the first-place finish with, “They did what?!” But this was only a sign of things to come. In their subsequent races, the Hui Wa’a Novice Crew went on to place in every race they entered for the remainder of the season, dispelling any fears that their first performance was merely a fluke. The team exhibited a fantastic mix of cohesiveness, athleticism, and determination that belied their inexperience and physical size. The novice team also showed a unique brand of humor, bringing a lot of fun to their practices and competitions. There's good reason for high hopes for this winning crew's future!

Long-Distance Season Results:

Aug. 2 – Aloha Festival, Alcatraz Challenge – 1st Place Men’s Novice

Aug. 16 – Kilohana Klassic, Redwood City – 3rd Place Men’s Novice

Aug. 23 – Tony Goral Memorial, Santa Cruz – 1st Place Men’s Novice

Aug. 30 – Lake Tahoe Criterion – 1st Place Men’s Novice

Sept. 13 – Angel Island – 1st Place Co-ed Novice, 2nd Place Men’s Novice

A big “Thank You” goes out to the entire Hui Wa’a corps of paddlers for giving their time, encouragement, and words of wisdom to the novices throughout the season. Special mention goes out to Anny Choi, Cindy Lee, Danny Izumi, Dave Jensen, Henry Adams, Kurt Belluomini, Mike Ng, and Thelma, for their support in coaching and steering the crews during practice and in competition. The novice program would not have been nearly as successful without the extra time and energy they spent with the novices.

Great job to the Novice Crews for an impressive showing this year!  - Eric Nguyen

The 41-mile Molokai Hoe race from the island of Molokai to the island of Oahu is considered the world championship of long-distance outrigger canoe racing. Ninety-six crews from around the world completed this year’s event, held on October 12.

Although BIAC/Hui Wa’a didn’t send a crew of its own, our paddlers were well represented in other competitive crews entered. Dave Jensen raced with Vancouver, British Columbia-based False Creek Racing Canoe Club. Dave’s team finished 13th overall and was the first mainland North America team across the line. Chris Cornejo raced with the southern California-based Kalifornia Kahanamoku masters 35+ team. Chris’ team finished 20th overall and 2nd in the masters 35+ division. Alan Clark raced with the Kalifornia Kahanamoku masters 45+ team. Alan’s team finished 42nd overall and 2nd in the masters 45+ division.

Other finishes from Bay Area teams include San Francisco Outrigger at 56th place and Kilohana Outrigger (our neighbors in Redwood City) at 66th place.

Complete results can be found here.

An article from the Honolulu newspaper can be found here.

Photo: BIAC member Dave Jensen (in 5 seat) helps propel False Creek Racing Canoe Club to 13th place overall in the "world championship of outrigger canoe racing" (photo thanks to PacificPaddler.com).

The Catalina Island races are considered the US Championships for outrigger canoe racing. On Saturday September 6, the women and co-ed crews raced 27 miles from the mouth of the harbor in Newport Beach to Avalon on Catalina Island. On Sunday September 7, the men crews raced 31 miles from Avalon to the finish, four miles inside the harbor in Newport Beach.

In order to fill three complete 9-person teams (two co-ed teams and one men's team), we borrowed paddlers from other West Coast clubs. Our co-ed teams finished in 3rd and 7th place. Our men's team finished in 10th place overall in a very competitive men's field and 2nd in the Bradley class canoe. This is the first time we have made it into the top 10 in the men's race.

Complete results can be found here.  - Dave Jensen

Race results and other info on the WaveChaser Paddle Series can be found here.  - DJ

ROWING NEWS

On October 18, 2003, eight women and a coxswain from the Advanced Women's Sweep program represented BIAC at the XXXIX Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, MA. Billed as "America's Fall Rowing Festival," the HOCR includes thousands of rowers from around the world, with participants ranging from novice college rowers to elite national team representatives. The BIAC team rowed in the Women's Club Eights, a category that included 47 boats from both club and college programs. Despite some setbacks during the race, the team finished ahead of its position last year, placing 30 out of 47 in the 3-mile race with a time of 18:43 (a heartbreaking half-second behind the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and a mere 1:40 off the time of the event's winning boat).

This year's HOCR boat, coached by Mike Johnson and coxed by Rich Tzeng, included the following BIAC oarswomen:
Stroke- Kristin Henney
Seven- Fiona Ashley
Six - Victoria Szabo
Five- Karen Osman
Four- Jessica Boettner
Three- Jenny Antons
Two- Ally Boccieri
Bow- Bethanie Bayha

Running the RedHead Regatta this coming Sunday, November 9, will require more than 40 volunteers. So far, a good three-quarters of those slots are filled. But more fun jobs are still available, and no experience is necessary (although a few more launch-certified people would be especially useful). The responsibilities will, for the most part, be limited to the day of the regatta (Sunday, November 9th), plus a brief volunteer meeting the day before to review who's doing what. For more information, or to sign up to help, please contact Erik Pearson or Laura Foster. Thank you!!!

- Laura Foster

We're heading up the tee shirt sale at the Redhead this year and I need all the help I can round up. Please offer to lend a hand -- the official tee shirt is so awesome (see the logo above), so we'll be deluged with sales, I predict. Please email me. - Nora Cain

COMING EVENTS

  • November 9 - RedHead Regatta, sponsored by BIAC (water access at Maple Street facility may be restricted due to use of floating docks for regatta)

GO BAIR!