chrisb wrote:Did you guys complete the race on a tandem board? How big is the board and where do you each position yourselves eg. one prone while the kneeler paddles?
oh for god's sake.
When you do team paddle board races, you take turns. You have an escort boat. One paddler is on the boat, the other is on the board. The boat can't be ahead of the paddler except when a changeover is happening, which means the boat circles well ahead and the other paddler jumps overboard and waits in the water for the on-board paddler to get there. They then swap, the new paddler takes off, and the boat circles around and picks up the guy who just got off the board.
We were paddling a stock ocean racing board, 12' long. Unlimited racers use anything over 12, usually 17 or 18'. Teams aren't allowed to use unlimited boards.
The way Tom and I did it, I started and did 40 minutes, then Tom did 30, then we did 20 each for a couple of hours till we were well past halfway, then dropped to 15, then 10 a few times, then 7 a couple of times, then 5. Then I did the wall section, about 10 mins, and Tom went to the beach, another 10 mins. The idea is to get warmed up, hold a solid but relaxed pace through the middle, then try to build through the hard shit as you come toward Oahu where there's currents and crazy backwashes off the cliffs and all that.
Near the finish line I jumped off the boat and got on the board and we paddled the last 20 metres together, that was the only tandem moment.