Mandurah Duel 2012

Sunday 15th January, Pat, John, Dave, Tony,Vic, Bill with Anita & Jill (the support crew) drove to Mandurah to compete in the Ocean vs Estuary Duel. This was their first year competing as last year this race had to be rescheduled 3 times due to weather conditions. They eventually found the rigging area which was in the canals near the Dawsville Cut. Space was tight as not only were there OC6's but sea kayakers as well. With not much time to spare the boys headed out to the start line.
7 OC6's were competing in 2 divisions (mixed & men's). Once the flags went up a group headed along the coast while the Geo crew decided to follow the Mandurah crews (local knowledge?) out to sea. The conditions were fairly trying with a fresh sea breeze running and choppy waters. Bill had to fight to prevent the canoe from capsizing while there were numerous times when the other paddlers had no water to pull due to the swell.
As the canoes were converging at Halls Head to head into the Estuary the boys were putting in to chase down the Mandurah's mens team while Cottesloe were closing in fast on Geographe. It was a hard slog to the finish line but even though they weren't able to catch Manduarh they were able to keep Cottesloe at bay.
Finishing 2nd in the mens division by 8 seconds and 5th overall in a time of 1hr 16min 39secs was a tremendous effort by the boys!!