Zaterdag

Saturday/Zaterdag

 

The morning after the strange Dutch Spiderman singing and night-time ice creams and a slight lie in, the sun appeared in Dokkum the last of our cities on the epic journey. Everyone was in good spirit and the feelings of having almost made it through the week were clear. We made our way over to the tent for the last morning of bananas, egg and bread. People were extremely focused and goals had been set, Ben especially seemed very tuned to get 10^th place, where my goal was to beat him by at least 3 seconds to justify the day before and also to beat roger in the over all rankings ( I needed 3 minutes which was a tall order ) The area was full of boards and competitors as day 5 had a lot of people racing just the final stage, all fresh having not raced all week.

 

The start line was the largest of all the days so the chop was limited some what but a bridge very close to the start bottlenecked the pack. With my goals in sight I set off trying to trail Ben, I saw a chance to follow Tolo ( aka Tony Stark ) and so I sped off. After a mile of high pace and Tolo trying to shake me with hard back strokes it settled slightly, I kept checking back and the pack was never far behind. I eventually saw some team riders on K-15’s and tucked in behind them but the work rate was very tiring especially as the morning was getting hotter and hotter. Luckily I had some K-15 drafting training after the rest post on the 3^rd day so I kept close and gave it my all and we started to make a gap behind us and close in on the 2 packs in front, the leading pack being Bart, Casper and Peter ( although they were a long way off ) . As the pace dropped the other K-15 would take over and keep up a fast pace, slowly but surely closing the gap. We eventually caught up with the pack of 4 but it broke free on a corner where the K-15 turning was worse, we carried on but slowly the gap grew again, however another team rider was pulling a pack of 5 ever closer, not wanting Ben to catch up on my hard work I took the lead of the pack powered by some madness of hidden power, The K-15s liked it as it gave them both chance to recover but also keep the gap from the other team, The sprint couldn’t last and catching the group of 4 wasn’t happening but at least it helped strengthen our chances of keeping the cluster behind us away. The K-15’s took over again for the last 2-3k to the rest post, When I arrived Todd was shocked to see me so far up the field, I even for the first time saw Bart and Casper there refuelling, By the time I was half done Ben showed up and he asked about my time, I didn’t want to tell him because I could see his determination to catch it up but I did eventually. Dan and Roger turned up and so far my targets were in sight, so I made a new goal, A top 10 finish for the final day Stage.

 

The K-15s were let off 8 seconds ahead of me and were fresh, it was extremely hard to catch them, I used everything I had to claw my way back but it took almost a mile of hard sprinting, once I had caught them I managed to start my watch, I couldn’t chance the missed paddle stroke prior to that. Even though it should have been a slight rest drafting behind the k-15s their superior glide made it tough on the ace pro, I was sweating more than I ever have in my life and it was so tiring. The gap of 4 was still always in sight but never really catchable but the group behind was definitely making ground, on a long straight about 3km from what I guessed was Leeuwarden the cluster behind was maybe 10-15 seconds behind us, I was buggered if I was going to let them pass me when I was this close to a goal I never believed possible. The hammer went down and with each stroke I started to pull passed the K-15s who then slotted behind me happy to save some energy for a sprint of their own. Out of the draft I was easily using 30% more effort and I wasn’t sure how long it would last but even if it was enough to discourage the cluster behind it would do. The K-15s were trying to keep me motivated clearly happy with the increased speed. As I was nearly drained I had to start shouting and releasing a war cry to release any extra adrenaline, it seemed to work to an extent although I soon burnt out, I was slowing so again let forth a great bellow and kept going, I realised that one of the K-15s couldn’t keep up with the pace and this helped spur me on a bit more also. Now just the 2 of us heading through the final last sections of Leeuwarden even he was struggling to keep pace with me, with all the people lining up along the streets and bridges shouting encouragement it helped keep me going and in return and war cried back at them. I rounded a bend and could hear Amanda on the PA system and I knew I was close although I could still not see the finish, I knew I was close and a years hard training had almost paid its dividends. I came round a corner and could hear the build up of noise, loads of supporters on a bridge and just the other side of that the 2 yellow finish buoys which meant only 1 thing, the end was in sight. Where the extra 2 gears came from I have no idea but again despite being empty I got faster, the K-15 pulled out from behind me trying to pip me on the final stretch but not on my watch! I finished 8^th and the team rider came over and congratulated me and told me I had just won him and his team the trophy by 5 seconds, I was so relieved, buzzing, exhausted, proud, emotional and did I say exhausted yet? I got to the edge of the bank and collapsed.

 

 After a few minutes I sorted out my bag and got changed into my Team GB shorts and got the union jack out and attached it to my paddle, got the camera and went to the finish line bridge to wait and cheer on Dan when he came round the corner for the final stretch. The atmosphere was amazing and I still couldn’t believe I finished such a difficult challenge, I knew that everyone else that had taken part shared just how much pain and hard work both physically and mentally had to be put in, and that when I got home and mentioned about the race most people wouldnt be able to relate to it and it would get lost and out of context if you hadn’t been there and made it through, I put that thought to one side and cheered Dan across the line, time for the last massage and then the beer could commence, and it tasted bloody good, the reward for hard work, extremely hard work. It was great to see the joy and achievement on everyone’s faces, everyone having different goals to overcome but realising they have achieved them. The awards got underway in the brilliant sunshine and it was great to be a part of it. The BBQ took ages and I was hungry for anything other than pasta, The beers flowed almost a little too well, receiving a beer from the team guy I helped to victory and also Mr Mistral ( Rom Loopik ). Ali, April, Mark, Paul, Dan, Tiffany and Ben all came over and we had a good ole traditional English BBQ picnic by the canal, Todd also joined in once he had finished doing his good deeds.

 

 Paul went to do a paddle clinic with a very nice Dutch girl and after half an hour or so he came over and told me to get some beers, im sure he didn’t mean to say it how he said it but it came out like boy get me some beers, I bit my tongue and stayed calm. It kind of worked out ok though as 10 minutes or so later Tiffany ran over in her bubbly way and shouted BOAT TRIP!

We gathered everything up including Paul’s beers and boarded Brutus the Party boat Whoop Whoop!! I did feel rather guilty about headed off with Pauls beers but as I had drunk a fair bit already my morals had slipped somewhat. It was pretty cool heading round Leeuwarden without having to paddle, Tunes blaring and still on a high from the race. Todd then stepped it up a notch and got up on the bow to do some Bow surfing, he took his shirt off and then April joined in and the 2 of them surfed those Dutch tunnels like pro’s. On looker’s in the café’s just seeing 2 crazy Americans dancing away having a good time on the bow of the party boat. The shots then began to flow and then Tiffany joined in as well doing a Titanic esk theme with Todd, it then stepped up a notch BAM as Tjitze had the titanic song on his I-phone, It was all great fun and when we got back Paul was waiting for us, well waiting for his beers, ooopps, and Dan and Ben got back from collecting their cars from Ed’s parent’s house. The evening was coming to an end so I got a few more beers from the tent as they were closing down and we headed back to the boat. Todd, April, Dan, Ben, Tiffany, Casper, Mike and Ed all sat round in the boat and chatted, it did take long for Tiffany and Ben to head off on yet another boat trip though. Casper and mike had some troubles as their car had been stolen while they were away, similar to what happened to them in Hamburge at a previous event which sucked but both remained fairly chilled out. We talked about how the event went and things to perhaps evolve on and general good/bad points.

 All I know is, I Have to go back and do it again for sure!!!!!

Additionally i would like to thank everyone that made this event possible, everyone that had donated to Help for Heroes, wished me luck or offered me advice, Thank you so much.

Vrijdag

Friday/Vrijdag

 

Last of the long days and surprise surprise 05:50 start, whoop! Like clockwork we got our morning meals sorted and back for prep. The start today was Interesting, again with a turn almost straight away, I got a much better start today and started to draft early on, then did a sprint to gain a few places and back to a good pace draft. The morning was finally in my favour with the wind on my back I made good use of my large frame sail. Today saw us tackle the first and only Lock on the whole tour that we had to deal with mid race (the rest stop was also one i believe) and we were introduced to Klunen, 5 of us came into the lock at the same time and so i realised i would have a few seconds to take on some water and gels before we set off again the other side to pushed on towards the rest stop. There was a section that was a long straight and fairly wide compared to previous days and this provided an epic down-winder with 6 of us in a row all plaining along at the same speed, a Mistral, 2 K-15’s, a fanatic fly race my ace pro and another board that escapes me at this moment in time. The morning kept going from strength to strength with a battle on my own pushing to catch the mistral/Von Orange guys from Spain/NL. I had spent some of the morning section with Ben Swails and we were catching the group in front until we hit a turn that put us directly into a head wind for atleast a mile or so, as Ben slowed i tried to claw us closer, i overtook and began to get low and dig deep to catch up the gap.  I managed to claw away from Ben and catch the pack and was with the Mistral board until he came a cropper on a shallow corner. I carried on the last few miles singing away to myself and generally making the most of it trying to catch Antonio and put a bit of distance between myself and Ben who came in with Mr Mistral at the rest post.

The afternoon started slow but I picked up following a fly race for 2 miles, he couldn’t quite catch Antonio in the distance so I said id give it ago and try and catch him for us, I sprinted off but the guy on the fly race found to too hard to follow the Ace pro with my paddle wash. I eventually caught Antonio and drafted him for a good 6 miles or so before Ben and the fly race caught up. We all Paddled as a group towards the end but when we hit the outskirts of the city (Dokkum) we past under a bridge and someone shouted 5km to go, Ben found a second wind and burst into a sprint, I dug deep to follow and was praying for the end to be in sight to give it my all for the last section. We rounded a corner and I saw yellow to one side, thinking it was the finish line buoy I put the hammer down only to see it was a little yellow boat!!! After 1km the buoys were in sight but I couldn’t quite pip Ben over the line, he finished 3 seconds ahead of me.

There is a good vibe around the camp at the moment as everyone is glad tomorrow is the last day and much shorter. I had a good massage although I wasn’t in much pain, afterwards I went over to speak with Nynke about dan and she said he was due in at any moment so we walked over to the bridge by the finish line and waited for him to cheer him across the line. Ed, Dan and Ali all came through to great applause. Apparently Dan wasn’t feeling well at all at the rest post but again pulled through. We had a walk into the city to look around, I got a few trinklets to take back home and then it happened. Despite being told by Todd I wouldn’t be able to get any till around Christmas my nose found me what id been waiting for since I was last in Holland, I FOUND OLLIEBOLLEN WHOOOP WHOOOP!!!! After we got back Tiffany invited us all up on deck to have some bree and goats cheese, it was a cool chilled out evening and was a welcome change from the usual Pasta which no doubt was on the list for dinner again. At dinner ( yes it was more pasta ) Ali won the fastest female on tour, Coolbeanz an award for team GB which wasn’t bridge hitting. After dinner Dan, Tiffany, Ben, April and myself walked into town to meet up with Paul, Ali and her otherhalf. We saw roger in town, who didn’t beat me today muhahaha and also Erna in the ice cream shop. We went for some drinks and spoke some Frith en flopen fluffen and got some late night ice creams. Dokkum was a quaint little city and well lit at night. As we were walking back we passed some local old people singing what strangely sounded like Spiderman theme tune….. We headed back to the boat a little bit weirded out and went into the kitchen for a chat with everyone. It was refreshing to see how down to earth Bart ze Wart and Casper are despite being great athletes, the last day tomorrow and that beer will taste sweeeet!! I had pollished my board so i was bound to be even faster again the next day, it works, faster every day. 5 hours 18 minutes 28 seconds for me today, 23hrs 40 mins 26 seconds so far.

Donderdag

Thursday/donderdag

I had a restless night sleep as it was another hot night on board with some strong winds blowing through outside. The boat woke up at 05:50 and this morning I wasn’t as eager to wake up but needs must, my fingers and shoulders were aching but only 2 long paddles left before the easier last day. Another peaceful stroll into the tent this morning to get the same old breakfast and morning rituals out the way, then back to the boat for the final prep and back to the start line. Everyone lined up at the start line at Workum with 5 minutes still to go and it seemed to take an age. With 3 minutes to go Roger just fell in and 1 minute later the greenpeace boat knocked another guy on a Von Orange board off just behind me.  A Messy start to the race in the narrow canal and a corner very quickly into a bridge which luckily they had opened up, we raced along a stretch of narrow canal with many bridges all raised for us. I had a much better start today and it helped I got in a train with Laura, Ben, and Anne-Marie, and it just kept going, Laura didn’t let anyone pass all day to take over, that or we just couldn’t catch her, what a power house!! After a few miles Dan and another joined with Ed and we had a long snake in affect moving at a good pace. Around 5 miles in and all in a good rhythm we got held up by a boat trying to get through a bridge, we came to a stop and I used the time to take on some refreshments, refuelled we just squeezed past the boat with very little room to manoeuvre, as I past the bow of the boat another boat was very close on my port side too.


 Just before the 7 mile stage we ducked under a bridge but I heard a massive thud and then splash, I turned round to see Dan in the water, I called back to see if he was alright but he didn’t answer, he was floating the right way up though so I had to keep going on the gravy train. As we carried on I couldn’t help but thinking I hope Dans ok and hasn’t passed out some where. At the first stamp post just before the rest post I was behind Ed, he dropped back just after the bell for some reason, im not sure why but maybe due to his hands hurting as he was covered in blisters, Not wanting to lose the train I dug deep to try and catch up with Anne-Marie. Just after 12 miles the pace quicked and I looked up and to my surprise we were at the rest stop, it was kind of a pain because I was just getting into a good rhythm and not ready to stop so soon. I had barely stopped and I saw Dan arrive covered in blood, it looked horrendous but he was only 2 minutes 20 behind me so it must have spurred him on.

 The train of Laura, Ben and Anne-Marie had left and I was trying to chase down a K-15 Team member, After 2 miles I managed to catch him and started to settle into a rhythm but then i got some problems of my own, I couldn’t get any drink as my Hydration pack had twisted, Luckily I had my bottle in my pocket of my shorts but it meant to had to stop and lose the train just to drink. It wasn’t long before we caught up with Laura,Ben and Anne-Marie, and we dropped in behind and got a slight rest but not much, Without any drink the afternoon was hard and the heat was increasing, I had lost my hairband at the rest stop when the stopwatch got tangled up and I asked Todd to just rip it out, with my hair down I started overheating much quicker. Knowing we had a much longer afternoon than other days did not bode well especially as I was carrying 1.5 litres of water that I couldn’t drink so it wasn’t getting lighter as I got tired and also was mentally demoralising. Any time I wanted a drink which was in limited supply I had to pull alongside the K-15 and stop, grab the bottle, drink, put it back and dig very deep to catch back up, almost countering the energy gained by drinking. Everything was aching and my willpower was fading, I hoped Dan was ok. By the second stamp post I felt slightly better with the support there but it didn’t last long, the thing keeping me going was the fact I hadn’t seen roger all day, bonus!! It didn’t last though, a few miles into the shipping lane Roger powered past with Tony Stark ( Tolo )and Ed. The 3 of them broke up the chain and it was hard going to keep behind the K-15 through the chop. Finally I saw a building with Franeker on and I knew it wasn’t long left. I finished with 5hrs 23mins 11 seconds and dan with 5hrs 35,40. Dan then went to hospital to get a few stitches under the care of Anne Marie’s mum. Dan also won the day special prize for his run in with the bridge but was back on the boat after dinner so I stepped up and claimed his prize for him. I polished my board and headed back to the boat to chill out, Peter made me some thee so I jotted down the days notes had a chat and then got everything ready to the last long day tomorrow, Whoooppp!!!!!

Woensdag

Wednesday/Woensdag

Another Boiling night onboard the boat but I did manage to sleep through until that is when the boat woke up at just before 6 am again, not at 06:45 like my alarm was set for, Pah. We took a stroll through Sloten in the early hours to the breakfast area at the restaurant. The board was still there outside which was a big relief. Eggs, fruitbread, tea and banana’s for break this morning and then I prepped a lunch bag, I didn’t take quite as much this time as there just wasn’t time to eat it all. We headed back to the barge and got the last of the morning prep sorted. At the Start again I was fairly slow but faster than Tuesday again not trying to burn out. As we pulled out of Sloten and back onto the lake I was glad the wind there was not as bad as the previous evening. Trains formed early on and I jumped on a gravy train with Laura, Ed, Anne-Marie, Ben and Roger, and the day was under way. There was a cool section through the forest which was fairly windless with the shelter of the trees but it did have plenty of pond weed. Support on the bridges was fantastic and a great boost even if it was in Dutch and i couldnt understand a word of it. After another lake the train broke and I was following a mistral board with Anne-Marie in tow.

Miles passed by and pain was well set in. At another Lake I was separated until I got caught up by roger on a Von Orange board and the tour pair Erna and the other chap, i tagged on the back and started to make good progress again. Anne-Marie slowly came back into sight again until she joined on. My muscles were burning and just before lunch I almost got flung off my board as I went over some rope which was just below the water line between 2 posts, so the group was slightly apart as we pulled into the rest stop. Dan was just leaving the rest stop as I arrived so I knew I was around 15 minutes behind him, he was doing really well. Another majorly rushed lunch and back to it but feeling slightly better on the restart compared to Tuesday. Anne Marie was in sight and slowly but surely I was catching her up. After 2 miles I caught her and she let me past and began to draft me and others weren’t far behind either, I soon tired at the front and Erna and her friend passed as did Von Orange and Anne Marie, I tagged on the back trying to draft the ace pro but it was very hard work, i tried to distract myself away from the pain but taking in some of the scenary when ever i could. If it wasn’t for the views I don’t think I could have stayed there, A tough pace was set and Ben Swails came into view in the distance every now and then. Head winds and side winds blasted us for a few miles, Around 7 miles in I was burnt out and the pack pulled away, I took on some water and tried not to get too disheartened. I did however catch a break. Anne marie got weed caught around her fin and the pack held up to free it and lost the rythem, seing my chance I dug as deep as I could to catch up and just managed it but at great cost. I managed to hang in on at the back for all my remaining strength.

 At the stamping post i rung the bell but the Von Orange board had a large turning circle and couldn’t turn fast enough and ended up colliding with Mr ?, trying to avoid them I forgot to shout my name and number and I had to turn and shout back. More pain and head winds but Workum was in sight, On the final 200 yards I made a dash for it but only just piped Roger across the line. I hope he wasn’t to bothered, I did clean the back of his board due to how much paint I transferred from drafting errrors as my consintration dropped due to exhaustion. Another well deserved massage  sorted everything out, We headed back for a shower and to wind down. After I had settled we headed back to the boards and I went to polish my board ready for another day. We had dinner followed by the days presentations and then went to check on Aprils board, it seemed as though my ding putty was needed. We headed back to the boat for final prep ready for day 3. Another 45km tomorrow WHOOOPP! Hopefully tomorrow goes well, I finished the day in 6 hours 21 minutes 37 seconds

Dinsdag

Tuesday/Dinsdag

After a very hot night onbaord we woke up at 6am, despite our alarms being set for 06:45! The boat was waking up, after 10 minutes lying there it was clear it was 1 up, all up, We went to the breakfast tent and I forced myself to eat some food despite not normally eating so early on in the day, made a small packed lunch ready for the rest stop and then headed back to the boat to get the days necessities seen too.  My nerves began to kick in as I realised it soon wouldn’t be long till the event would start properly and 5 days of pain would start. We got our GPS and stowed them inside our hydration pack pockets and then went to the Skippers meeting where we would hear the difficulties for the day other than the obvious long distance challenge. After being told it was a Non Dutch day we headed back to the boat for last minute checks and adding on the go faster greenpeace stickers. It was time to take to the water but just before that happened a few good lucks were exchanged between us then we set to water 10 minutes before the race proper.

The start was Messy, the sheer number of boards in such a confined space caused for a lot of wash and the swell made balance more of a key issue rather than speed off the line, Trying to conserve energy and not burn out too soon my pace off the line seemed pretty tame but still with some enthusiasm getting caught up in the moment of a mass start. After 2 miles or so and just coming towards to edges of Leeuwarden small groups formed and the pace settled a bit. Drafting started and it became clear it was going to be a long hot day ahead! I had Paddled away from Dan but it wasn’t long before he showed up, maybe 5 miles or so. I had started to draft behind Von Orange and a lot of scenary passed me by. Dan joined the group and fatigue started around 8-9 miles. Von Orange stopped for some bars/gels and we carried on, it wasn’t until the custom 16ft trimmed to 14ft passed and took the lead that drafting was back in progress. Various team boarders passed us and also the odd tour until 2 tours joined our line and now we were 5. After a few miles I took the lead and set the pace, but this was still too slow for the tour people and they headed off into the distance, I was unable to catch them. After awhile we lost the custom board after he got weed caught around his fin, Von Orange came back strong and again we followed, his cut off tail made for easier drafting. After 12 miles I fell back and couldn’t catch Von Orange and dan, I slogged through until the lunch break which was hectic. It took 3 minutes of the 15 just to land through all of the boards and it soon became clear 15 minutes is hardly time to recover. I met up with Dan who was a good 4 minutes ahead, I did what I could to refuel, sorted my hydration pack and restocked gels and bars aswell as don my gloves to try and even out the pains on my hands. I was late in the water 16mins 34 due to finding out where to leave the bags, to top it off the board was facing the wrong way and the head wind slog started. On my own and feeling pretty beaten I just kept paddling, people were fading out of sight and working which way to go was very disconcerting. After 4 miles or so I took on some extra fuel and I was really struggling, Luckily Tony Stark as I began to know him as, a Fanatic Fly race with loads of Ion stickers on came past, So the Ion Man became Tony stark my hero of day 1, who says there no such thing as super heroes anyway….  I drafted him with all my remaining power until we caught up with dan who also jumped onboard the express train. We kept in convouy until the horrid lake. I had used most of my water just before we entered the lake but with the end in sight, a small spire of a church just off in the distance over 3 miles away I burst into a sprint, I didn’t know where the energy came from but it was there so I used it, figuring my board had the best chance to pull away on this section through side wind and chop I dug deep and started to pull away. It was working well until about half way across then I got hit by a great deal of pain and exhaustion, paddling on one side on already tired arms was a killer and the gap faded and soon Tony had overtaken, it did fuel me to carry on and I was determined to beat dan even if it was just 1 day. I almost caught Ion Man on the last stretch before the line but he had a burst of speed left also. I finished the day in 6 hours 37 minutes 11 seconds with dan just a minute behind me, we had made it! 1 day down, 4 to go.! The massage was well needed and certainly did the trick for me. Leeuwarden to Sloten with a rest point in Sneek. What a hard day SUP!!! More to follow.

Maandag

Monday/ Maandag

After a long day at work on Saturday we set off from Torquay ready to catch the ferry Sunday morning at Harwich. The drive was fairly uneventful apart from I was being the DJ and keeping Dan amused with plenty of 80’s cheese and various dire songs. A few miles from Harwich we found a layby and the first of 2 horrid sleeps in the Peugeot commenced. In the morning we travelled the last few miles to the ferry port and the English drive was over. We waited in the queue for an hour or so and then cars started to get loaded, our queue took forever too move, in fact other people were over taking us and going on in front, not fair!! We decided we would try that as well and realised 2 cars infront was a van and there was no one inside, hence our lane not moving, ops….

Once we had parked up we looked for the stairs and saw a few people moving towards the “orange Trap” and figured that was the way to go, it almost acted out like an Indiana Jones scene as Dan passed through the door and it started to slide shut, figuring it had a sensor I put my leg in the way, the door continued to close and in a slight moment of panic i backed up and then thought I’m not getting locked down in the cargo hold for the entire trip and slipped through with not a lot of room spare, all I needed was a hat to lean back through and grab. Indiana Jones ain’t got nothing on me!!!

Up on deck I found Walle just chilling, it was really just one of the pay binoculars but it looked a bit like Walle if you have a creative mind…  We headed back inside and the long journey on the ferry started, we watched the news on repeat without sound for what seemed like an age. Soon enough though we had arrived in the target country HOLLAND…

 

 

About an hour into our trip we had to pass over a giant dyke, North sea on one side, a massive man-made lake the other, We pumped up the power ballads and sung on the giant dyke, like you do. Once the other side we stopped in a small town called Kimswerd hoping to find somewhere to eat, we didn’t find anything other than a hotel so we got back on the motorway and finished the last section of the drive to Leeuwarden.  After driving round Leeuwarden with no idea where to go or park we found somewhere and thought it best to stretch our legs and figure it out on foot, we had barely left the car and we had stumbled across the red light district part of the city, one guy even asked if we had any money he could have as he had just been mugged, GREAT start. As we walked past the sex shop windows Dan was really shocked to see a kids toy shop almost next door, as I had been to Amsterdam this didn’t really phase me but it was a new experience for him. We had a walk around and figured it best not to leave the car for too long so close to the seedier part of town so we got a drink in Grande Café de Bass and headed back. We found somewhere free to park, although it turned out to be right next to a nightclub and tried to get some kip in the most uncomfortable car in existence!!!

In the Morning we walked into town to find somewhere for breakfast, all we found was a statue of Tim our boss, or at least a spitting image of him made of stone. As we walked around we found that Monday/Maandag in Holland we like our Sundays everything was closed, or at least until 1pm. We eventually found a place called De Wallrus and had a really nice lunch in the sunshine taking in the fine scenery. We then had a look round for the toilets, and I seemed to remember from before you don’t exactly get toilets but an outside area. We had found the race start and the toilets that would be opened at some point later for the event but still no luck in the city, Luckily on our trip back to the car I took a chance on a building near the canal, It needed a pay to use card and it gave you access to showers and toilets etc for use for canal users, needs must so I brought a card. After we had had a shower dan was waiting for me outside and he had been approached by 2 very nice girls asking if he wanted any spliff, again a bit of a surprise to Dan, it was a shame we were there to race otherwise While in Rome would have sprung to mind. We headed back into town and I brought some clogs and some permanent markers ready for people to sign my Devon Flag if they would. It turned out most people thought it was a great idea and in fact a few were jelious they hadn’t thought of it. We got the car and drove back to the start line and relaxed on the grass while things started to take shape and competitors started to trickle in one by one. A few times people came over to ask if we were part of the starboard race team as they were expecting to drop boards off. The boats started to arrive and it soon became clear I didn’t have a room, despite the mix up we all got ready for the fancy dress tour of Leeuwarden, It helped introduce people to each other as well as give you an idea of how some of the bridges on the tour could pose some problems especially if there were a lot of paddlers wanting to go through at the same time. Todd won the fancy dress competition with his mish mash of outfits turning him into the SUP Warrior. I had no idea it was an event that could be won but still was happy enough paying tribute to WeSups Relay races going in Hawaiian Lays. After the Fancy dress, the room situation was sorted so I started the ritual of polishing my board. An early Night was on the cards as the last 2 nights in the car were horrid and along day was ahead of us, in fact a long week was ahead of us!!!