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.