Weather Sunny
Position still 1st
1 1/2 hours slower than target
Day 2 for the team
Steve and Tom got an early start this morning and the rest stop reports a
5hrs 50 minute stop for Tom, “a little short”. Steve’s was OK so we’re on
target for a morning start.
Landcrew - The waiting, Oh the waiting …….. watch the clock, watch the
website, read a book ….wait some more
With Kobi and Pip starting to climb the walls it was time to get out in
the rain for a drive to try and see the guy’s from the top of the hills
beside the river ……. Up from Carmacks
11am - Lynton, Pip, Christine, and Kobi headed off from the hotel up the
river to try and spot the guy’s from a vantage point prior to their
planned check-in at Carmacks. If your following the maps we drove from
Carmacks up the Robert Campbell Hwy to Little Salmon – we had an awesome
vantage point over about 10 kms of the river. The hills on the side of the
river are very steep and high so we found a number of locations where the
road was high enough to see the river and Kobi did a climb up one other
mountain to try and get a look for them – no luck. We’ve also been
tracking the guy’s on the results tab of the race website and comparing
their progress to the maps of the river. So we struggled to find them at
the spot the GPS tracker was telling us they were. With a little pannic
and a little excitement we headed back to Carmacks bypassing a long
stretch of the river we could not see and hoping they were ahead of
schedule …. Again no such luck. So Kobi drove back to the hotel and picked
up Fiona to come down to the river for some lunch.
1pm - Kobi and Fiona arrive back at the river for a lunch stop, and decide
to go for one more look up the road from Carmacks to try and catch a look
at which teams are on their way down the river. With one last check of the
race website before we head out we see that the following teams are
passing our vantage points …. Ok so back in the car.
A very thorough search of what we could see of the river gave us a
sighting of the leading Canoe and the big voyager – so quick in the car
….. where are Steve and Tom??? More starting and stopping and one last
final look out with a view south down the river. We pull up a spot high on
a look-out above the river and sit tight …… no more than 2 minutes go past
and there they are about 5 km’s up river from the Carmacks airport. With
lots of Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi we got a wave from Tom and an answer
to a call on the UHF radio.
Kobi – Hey how’s it going… over
Tom – Great ……. He dosen’t say much
Kobi – You going great, how’s steve and the boats
Tom – Great …. Not much more
Kobi – Are you pulling into Carmacks
Tom – Great …. Oh umm yes, I need a spoon, I’ve lost my spoon
Kobi – What …a spoon ……??......To eat with or from Mum …….I hope you
realise that if you get a spoon then in accordance with race rule 21 every
other team member gets offered a spoon …. OK I’ll ask Mum if she’s up for
it.
Tom – Great …... ….. out
Kobi – All right we’ll see you in about 40 minutes at Carmacks….. out
Fiona – he never says much does he ……..
Kobi – nup!!
While this was happening Steve used this valuable time to put in a couple
of strokes and keep things moving. We watched them paddle around the next
bend
2 pm – back in the car for the run down to Carmacks
3 pm – Steve and Tom paddle into Carmacks, pull up to the pontoon, and
take a much earned rest and a quick motivating chat to get ready for the
next leg of the race. As land crew the team can’t do anything to help, so
we have to stand back and let the guy’s do everything themselves.
Steve and Tom got an early start this morning and the rest stop reports a
5hrs 50 minute stop for Tom, “a little short”. Steve’s was OK so we’re on
target for a morning start.
Landcrew - The waiting, Oh the waiting …….. watch the clock, watch the
website, read a book ….wait some more
With Kobi and Pip starting to climb the walls it was time to get out in
the rain for a drive to try and see the guy’s from the top of the hills
beside the river ……. Up from Carmacks
11am - Lynton, Pip, Christine, and Kobi headed off from the hotel up the
river to try and spot the guy’s from a vantage point prior to their
planned check-in at Carmacks. If your following the maps we drove from
Carmacks up the Robert Campbell Hwy to Little Salmon – we had an awesome
vantage point over about 10 kms of the river. The hills on the side of the
river are very steep and high so we found a number of locations where the
road was high enough to see the river and Kobi did a climb up one other
mountain to try and get a look for them – no luck. We’ve also been
tracking the guy’s on the results tab of the race website and comparing
their progress to the maps of the river. So we struggled to find them at
the spot the GPS tracker was telling us they were. With a little pannic
and a little excitement we headed back to Carmacks bypassing a long
stretch of the river we could not see and hoping they were ahead of
schedule …. Again no such luck. So Kobi drove back to the hotel and picked
up Fiona to come down to the river for some lunch.
1pm - Kobi and Fiona arrive back at the river for a lunch stop, and decide
to go for one more look up the road from Carmacks to try and catch a look
at which teams are on their way down the river. With one last check of the
race website before we head out we see that the following teams are
passing our vantage points …. Ok so back in the car.
A very thorough search of what we could see of the river gave us a
sighting of the leading Canoe and the big voyager – so quick in the car
….. where are Steve and Tom??? More starting and stopping and one last
final look out with a view south down the river. We pull up a spot high on
a look-out above the river and sit tight …… no more than 2 minutes go past
and there they are about 5 km’s up river from the Carmacks airport. With
lots of Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi we got a wave from Tom and an answer
to a call on the UHF radio.
Kobi – Hey how’s it going… over
Tom – Great ……. He dosen’t say much
Kobi – You going great, how’s steve and the boats
Tom – Great …. Not much more
Kobi – Are you pulling into Carmacks
Tom – Great …. Oh umm yes, I need a spoon, I’ve lost my spoon
Kobi – What …a spoon ……??......To eat with or from Mum …….I hope you
realise that if you get a spoon then in accordance with race rule 21 every
other team member gets offered a spoon …. OK I’ll ask Mum if she’s up for
it.
Tom – Great …... ….. out
Kobi – All right we’ll see you in about 40 minutes at Carmacks….. out
Fiona – he never says much does he ……..
Kobi – nup!!
While this was happening Steve used this valuable time to put in a couple
of strokes and keep things moving. We watched them paddle around the next
bend
2 pm – back in the car for the run down to Carmacks
3 pm – Steve and Tom paddle into Carmacks, pull up to the pontoon, and
take a much earned rest and a quick motivating chat to get ready for the
next leg of the race. As land crew the team can’t do anything to help, so
we have to stand back and let the guy’s do everything themselves.
Kobi.......
Tom and Kobi at Carmacks
Steve and wife Pip at Carmacks
3.30 pm – Christine is seen on the Carmacks pontoon offering out spoons toother teams.
The Guy’s pull out and paddle off down the river, the rest stop totalled
no more than 5 minutes. We waved to them from the Carmacks Bridge and then
followed them along the road by the river past the hotel until the road
and the river parted.
6.30 pm – after a 30 minute drive to “five finger rapids” the landcrew
walked down the 150 steps and the short bush trail to the vantage point
high above the canyon where the river boils, and the guy’s need to tackle
the bumps.
Steve Five finger Rapids
Fiona at Five Finger Rapids
Video of Tom at Five Finger rapids
(notice the boat coming in to film Tom at the bottom of the rapids usually there would be no one there)
(notice the boat coming in to film Tom at the bottom of the rapids usually there would be no one there)
7 pm – the land crew make a call not to follow the guy’s to Minto as we
risk them stopping to camp before we get to see them….. we call it a day
8 pm – Christine is seen in the Bar of the hotel offering spoons……… and
advice to Canadians on why Crocodile Dundee is a better Australian icon
than the Steve Irwin.
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