The 20 Beaches Bus Tour - 2009

By Gary David

The (mini) busload of ICC and other Illawarra paddlers arrived at Manly on a still day – the anticipated Southerly wind and swell was nowhere to be seen. This year the race would be from Shelly Beach to Palm Beach – a long slog if the wind doesn’t arrive.

Thankfully just prior to the start time the southerly started to hit. This meant increasing wind and swell as the race progressed.

The start was messy and uncontrolled – it was a difficult task for the starter to control over 200 eager paddlers. Many went off early and started outside the area. Those who went off early took advantage of not being called back – the rest of us played catch-up for the rest of the race. The race was an enjoyable 24k of tail wind and catching “runners.” ICC paddlers completed the course in fine style with results that were all very competitive in their respective categories.

This was the last race of another series where ICC paddlers have competed long and hard with impressive results.

Other than the series results the major highlight of this series was the bus trip to the final race. I would love to tell more – but as we all know “what goes on tour, stays on the bus.”