DART-nuun News
presented by nuun

Friday April 13th 8am
From: LaGuna Seca, Fort Ord Public Land Montery, CA

Itâ??s was a beautiful cool early morning in Monterey Bay at the start of the Sea Otter Classic adventure race, hosted by Thule. The sun was rising just as the racers were finishing all their last minute preparations. It's perfect conditions for a race start!

Racers were handed maps roughly 5 mins prior to the gun going off at 8am. The race started with a 1-mile (round trip) run down the white sandy beaches ending at the start of the kayak launch. Team Sole was the first team to the kayaks with both DART-nuun teams closely behind. Team Sole lead by Karen Lundgren in their Sea Scape 3 was first to launch followed by the rest of the teams in the race. DART-nuun exercising a delay strategy left mid pack in their kayaks. The water is calm and glassy with perfect 6inch swells. Not to be confused with 6ft+ like DART-nuun experienced a few weeks ago in Baja, Mexico. This is perfect kayaking conditions for all. This section is 8 miles long with only 2 CPâ??s.

The 2 DART-nuun hosted by Thule teams consists of:
- Ryan VanGorder, Cyril Jay-Rayon and Jen Ratay
- Glenn Rogers, Aaron Rinn and Jen Segger

Both DART-nuun teams had a very strong paddle finishing neck & neck 2 mins behind the lead. It seems that their strategy worked. Teams carried their kayaks up the beach to transisition to bikes. Team Sole was first off the water. Sole with a quick TA headed out 2 mins ahead of both DART-nuun teams. DART-nuun lead by Glenn Rogers headed out first with the other team lead by RVG and Cyril next. As these two teams charged out of the TA in hot pursuit you can hear Cyril yelling â??big gears guyâ??sâ?¦big gearsâ??. They were hard chargin..for Sole!

The lead teams are moving fast. I tried to catch up with them at CP 5 but these top teams were long gone. Top 3 teams are Sole, and both DART-nuun teams.
As I sit here at CP14 huddled in the bushes not to let racers see me, Iâ??m hoping for some action soon. Hopefully, this rusty navigator is not in the wrong spot!
The race is moving fastâ?¦..

Written by Jennifer VanGorder via report from the field: somewhere in the bushes, soon to be at the finish line, Erik Nachtrieb
Time written: 11:39am

Labels: Real Time Race News