Well I just want to say congrats again to FCRCC .
It was a tough go and unfortunate for us that we did lose control. In the 250 meter final PR was ahead by 3 seats w/ about 60-70 meters to go when we took a large wave to the side that sent us sliding and we were unable to regain control .The dynasty's are unforgiving and even w/ one of the best steersmen out there and he did everything he could , it was not recoverable .
In the the 1st 500 meter PR beat FCRCC w/ a 1.55 to FCRCC's 1.56 .Every race PR and FCRCC were pretty much head to head but in the final FCRCC laid down a 1.52 to PR's 1.55 taking home the right to the premier mixed .
In the masters PR won every race .Roli put up a good race and the PR crew was tired as most were racing both the premier mixed as well as the masters . PR won using 19 paddlers instead of 20 which definately played a little havic on PR w weight in the dynasty's .The dynasty's are super sensitive to weight distribution as most found out this past weekend .
All in all awesome racing w/ some super fast times . It was a great festival overall and the course is awesome .The only problem was wind on the saturday afternoon which made for big waves .It's the only time ,other than outrigger ,where myself and teammates took waves in the face and I found myself having to hold my breath as they came over the gunnel ..............it was like a repeat of white rock only a little worse.
I did happen to see my fellow forum poster " Guido " on the Roli masters boat. Hmmm , I wonder if that had any influence on his predictions
I would also like to thank all those out of town teams that supported PR and cheered us on the whole weekend...........that was so awesome guys !!! Having teams backing you up the whole weekend was great ...thanks agin for supporting PR ..... it meant alot to us and we felt it .
Well I watched all of the race off races from the sideline and some were very exciting:
a. PR lost the 250m and it was hard to watch. They had the most amazing start and for it to go by the wayside so late was sad. They were not 2-3 seats ahead when they lost control, more like 1 seat but hey for some people length matters

. Not sure why they ran back to the sidelines with there tail between their legs (get the dog comparison) but it cost them any chance of winning premier. This was a great race until the correction.
b. no men's races which was surprising to everybody. I heard that everyone found out that day (Saturday) that there would not be a men's race. I also heard, from a PR man

, that the PR men found out Friday night that they had withdrawn. Not sure that is true but that is what they said. Kind of crappy that FCRCC had to go all the way to Calgary for nothing.
c. women's races were good and it was excellent to see a team step forward to challenge FCRCC women. Hope Kelowna builds on this and competes in 2 years.
d. premier mixed was good to watch, especially the 250m. The 500m was not that impressive (the final). PR gave up in the 500m final (quite obvious) which was sad to see since they did win the qualifier but it was the thing to do since they screwed themselves in the 250m by not finishing. Was great seeing 3 teams competing, clearly FCRCC and PR were the favorites but it was nice to see other teams step up and take a shot.
e. senior mixed in the end was the most closely raced series. Nothing really separated the 2 teams. Roli had the 250m in the bag until they rated up on their finish (bad move Roli), lost it in the last 20 feet. In the 500m PR was out ahead but Roli fought back to only lose by a little. The most amazing part was that I have been to a number of the regattas and festivals and everytime PR raced Roli, PR blew Roli away on the start. Not this time, PR and Roli were matched in starts. Roli clearly changed their start and other aspects, I am sure PR did not think Roli would be a threat. Paddleboy can you confirm

.
Paddleboy weren't you on the PR masters team? If so how would you know they were a boat length behind. Aren't you suppose to be looking in your own boat

. It was interesting your comments about the 19 paddlers. I hear Roli had 6 paddlers who raced even more than PR paddlers (all on the FCRCC premier teams and the festival teams) and then the rest paddle twice a week so putting a team who practicies for 4 years 5 times a week against a team that practices twice a week is not really fair but they were excellent races to watch.
It was interesting to watch which teams were routing for which team to win (if that was the case PR would have lost, sorry PR but teams had something against you this weekend).
Overall, the best teams won and I congratulate FCRCC and PR for jobs well done as there were some amazing races this weekend.