Wausau Rodeo!

The Wausau Rodeo was a really great time! Lots of fun to be had! The Minnesota girls really represented with Melissa taking a great first place finish! The Michigan ladies really showed how it was done also! This was my first time surfing that hole and I ended up with 6th (out of 7) place. Sunday was the radical racing day starting off with the Boatercross race. I opted out of the race and was going to just run it down with Heather and have some fun when the other ladies showed up and organized a women's Boatercross race. Well since I was going to go down stream anyway...We were off paddling like @*%#. As I approached the gate...Hint..Never line up river left for a race here...I realized that when we got to the dam gate I would be squeezed on the left corner so I back paddled until the main crush went thru. I should have waited a little longer because Laura had breach pinned on the rock. Kari was tight right to me so I couldn't go that way and if I kept straight I would have speared Laura so I opted left and bumped her stern. This pushed her out into the current and shot me between the wall and the rock. It took me a bit to work my way free as any edge dropped would flip you. I finally worked free and paddled to the eddy behind the abutment, took a few breaths and then figured heck...This is a race...Someone had to have missed a gate and took off again. Catching gate 5 was OK but I flipped on big drop and submarined...Waited to roll but it seemed like the boat wasn't coming to the surface. I took a look and saw I was still under quite a bit and yes I swam. But I did get back in and finished the race. Wausau had a team of safety swimmers on duty all weekend. What a fantastic crew of men. The kayakers would head off in a race like a thundering herd and they were followed by a safety swimmer. Much like a shark following a school fish, these men were like rescue predators. On top of carnage the second it happened. What a great job!! The play was great and the people were fantastic! What a great time! I'll be loading up more photos over the next few days. Hope you enjoy them! Thanks Wausau! See you there next year! By the way I'm calling that rock Casanova rock as it got half of the ladies regardless of marital status or age and even a couple of the men.