Reef Madness 2015 – The Madness Continues!

by Tsunami Ranger Commander Michael Powers

Editor’s note: Thanks to TRs Michael Powers and Jim Kakuk for the great photos!

Winter storms pretty much destroyed our beloved kayak ramp and access to Miramar Beach out front – so for a while a race this year seemed impossible…

But by popular demand, the ramp was rebuilt and the race went on! Here is John Dixon getting the Advanced Elements SUP he won for placing first in the Tsunami Rangers race on Sunday. He paddled the 7 mile course in an Epic V7 (an incredibly fast surf ski-type kayak made in South Africa), in a record time of 1 hour and 2 minutes.

As TR John Lull’s band The South City Blues Band was AWOL (the drummer was out of town) we had a great new band this year, King Cajon & The Country Gentlemen (www.kingcajonband.com)  to play for the after party.

Another exciting development – NBC TV filmed the race with their drones. Everyone was excited to see  footage of the kayaks charging together into the Miramar surf on television. Then after the race, the drone cameras documented the party (next year be sure to wave, you might be on national TV!) The award ceremony was climactic when a $1200 Advanced Elements “Stiffy” SUP wwas be presented to the winner of the race.

Here are some photos to give you a sense of how this year’s event shaped up:

The arrivals:

We’d never had one of these before:

Tsunami Rangers, as always, represented!

And of course, TR John Dixon in his epic Epic:

Next year I hope you’ll join us at the best kayak race and party on the planet (okay, I’m biased, but you know what I mean!)

 

 

 

 

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