Editor’s Note: The story of the race continues with this write up by Commander Soares which appeared in the August, 1990 issue of Bay Currents. Some of the photos were pulled from 1989 and 1991 since we couldn’t find enough images from 1990.
The Golden Gate Invitational
by Eric Soares
Five years ago we called it the Golden Gate Kayak Race. Then we added the surf zone sprint and relay and replaced Race with Meet. After we lost our American Canoe Association sanction and insurance last year we changed the name to Invitational. Some of California’s best and boldest sea kayakers were invited and showed up on Sunday, June 10, 1990 at Rodeo Beach to get stomped and have a good time.

This year’s theme: Tsunami Ranger sez, “No Herberts, man!” (A Herbert is an uptight, petty, naysaying, ass-covering bureaucrat from a planet in the original Star Trek series.) Last year’s event “never happened,” but this year’s was a Happening. Not only were we blessed with no Herberts (thank the Goddess), but the events were FREE for observers and participants. And, no one had to complete any useless liability waivers. Racers accepted responsibility for themselves, as it should be.

Conditions Normal – Wild and Windy
At 12:30 p.m. the wind was only 25 knots with seas at four feet. The surf zone sprint started right on schedule. The object of the sprint is to take off from the beach in your kayak of choice, burst through the steep shore break at Rodeo Beach, round a buoy (stationary kayaker) outside the surf, zoom back in, and run your boat ten meters past a line in the sand. No one cares how cute you look in the surf, only how fast you go.

Here’s what happened.
When Creig Hoyt yelled “GO,” five kayakers hit the surf. While Walter Weed was falling off his surf ski, Glenn Gilchrist took the lead all the way to the buoy. He went wide around the mark and Jim Kakuk and I slipped by him and into a tie for first. A wave came along and Jim and I surfed it. John Lull inched by Gilchrist and took the next wave toward shore. Kakuk and I both used the secret Tsunami landing to beat each other. We simultaneously surfed our kayaks right up to shore, released our seat belts, pitchpoled into the sand, leaped clear of our boats, and scrambled up the beach to catch them. Unfortunately for me, our kayaks crossed each other. As we struggled to disengage them, I fell down and Kakuk freed his boat and ran across the finish in first place. I followed him over the line with Lull nipping at my heels to claim third place.

The surf zone team relay was canceled because we couldn’t convince enough brave souls to
go up against the dauntless Tsunami Rangers. However, seven kayakers in singles and five
tandem teams lined up to compete in the grueling 8-mile race around Point Bonita to the
Golden Gate bridge and back. Here’s what happened.
One Tough Race
Since Dave Whalen and I were sporting minor injuries, we volunteered to lifeguard at the Channel and Point Bonita. Whew. Got out of that one. By 1:30 p.m., the wind had picked up to 30 knots and the seas had grown even more squirrelly. Alex Oppedyk, race winner in 1988, started the boaters when a big wave set came through. John Hayle and Creig Hoyt in a double were the first through the breakers, followed by everyone else. Veteran John Weed (the only person to win this race twice) took off last, as usual. Wily Weed wished to while away wistfully while unwanted waves waxed and waned. Then he set off to chase those demons in the sea.

Meanwhile, things were happening at Point Bonita. Daphne Hougard, in her first Golden Gate race, capsized, reentered her boat, borrowed a pump, cleared the water out of her boat, and continued on. All this without lifeguard assistance. We couldn’t catch up to her! Arno Rohloff’s rudder got jammed, so he landed on the lee side of Point Bonita and fixed it. Whalen and I convinced him to forego the race (he couldn’t possibly catch up) and join the lifeguard corps. He graciously accepted. After the racers made it to the Golden Gate Bridge and headed back with the three knot ebb, they faced steep waves and a “fresher” wind. Yes, the wind speed increased to a steady 35 knots with frequent gusts up to 45. Racers faced the strongest wind conditions yet in the history of the race. Only the first race in 1986 was more gnarly, and that was due to the 8-foot breaking seas. This year the seas rose to only six feet.

Still, the conditions took their toll. Banzai Bozos Jim Wilcox and John Nagle, in a Tsunami X-2 double, capsized three times. Luckily, they were paddling a washdeck boat and were able to climb back on and continue with just inconvenience instead of life and death. Jim Kakuk and Haruo Hasegawa, in another double, swore they were going backward instead of forward. Limbo time. Ha ha. How slow can you go? Racer Jim Michaels called it quits at Point Bonita, after paddling seven lo-o-o-o-o-ong miles. BASK’s John Lull, paddling his trusty Coaster, trudged on behind tandem kayakers Walter Weed and Glenn Gilchrist. They were all thinking, “Will this ever end?”

Meanwhile, at the front, Hoyt and Hayle still enjoyed first place. They slipped inside the rocks at Point Bonita and jumped even farther ahead. Slackwater Yacht Club teammate Mitchell Powers attempted to catch them and win overall but couldn’t. John Weed stayed right on Powers’ tail, but couldn’t quite catch him. Cathy Andrews and John Holland, the only mixed doubles team, followed fellow Sacramentan Weed around the point and back toward Rodeo Beach. Less than a mile to go. Spectators on the beach craned their necks to see who was in front. Speaking of necks, Hoyt paddled with a hurt neck. He’d been in traction for the past month. “It’s a new type of conditioning,” Hoyt said. “It’s called traction training.”

The Finish
Well, traction training worked. Hoyt and Hayle, who led the pack the whole time, finished first in one hour and 36 minutes, the first time a double ever won first overall. Mitchell Powers came in nine minutes later to capture the singles title. He was followed 30 seconds later by John Weed, who claimed second in singles. Andrews and Holland landed next for second in the doubles category (first in mixed doubles). Wilcox and Nagle came in a few minutes later with a unique swim-in finish and grabbed third place in tandem competition. Hal Casteel, a dark horse, earned third place in singles. The remaining racers landed with varying degrees of success. Everyone agreed that John Lull made the most spectacular surf landing. I followed, in last place, to land on the beach. Hougard, a newcomer to the sport, may have placed last, but she raced valiantly. She is the second woman to ever finish this race in a single (the first was Connie Sinclair a few years back).

All things considered, this year’s Golden Gate Invitational was one of the best. Everyone who participated was a winner. Creig Hoyt hosted the racers’ awards party at his houseboat and everyone got jazzed drinking the prizes (Brown Derby and other fine beers) and watching Andy Cominos’ action-packed video of the race.
Will we hold the race next year? Who knows? If we do, you are hereby invited to get stomped and have a good time. Now, the only question is, “Are you a Hoyt or a Herbert?”
As it turned out, the race was in fact held in 1991, but not at Rodeo, and it was a doozy. Read all about it next week in the fourth installment of the History of the Tsunami Sea Kayak Race! Thanks for reading and happy paddling!
Nancy: Nice continuing saga of the Tsunami Ranger Extreme Condition sea kayak race.
Thanks, Jim! Couldn’t do it without you!
Your welcome Nancy, many more photos to come – soon.