When Tela flew into the mountain bike to sea kayak transition about 8 minutes behind schedule I knew something was wrong. My first indicator was when Team Fanatik, our closest competition in the Whatcom County Women’s Division, was called up in front of me.

Tela came in hot… too hot… she flung the wrist band toward me, I fumbled, and watched it fall to the ground. It was only a matter of seconds lost, BUT, these were crucial seconds. Team FanatiK’s paddler, Carolyn Watson, had left at least four minutes ahead of me on a course shortened due to big wind. I had less than 3 miles to catch her.

The Ski to Sea is a seven leg relay, beginning at Mount Baker, and ending on Bellingham Bay. Cross country skiers, downhill skiers, then runners, cyclists, canoers, mount bikers and finally sea kayakers wind their way down through the race course which ends in Marine Park in Fairhaven. This year’s Ski to Sea was a matter of going with the FLOW and the BLOW; literally.

Dangerous flows on the Nooksak resulted in the canoe leg, or any leg for that matter, being cancelled for the first time in the history of the race. At the same time, down on the bay, race officials were forced to create a modified short course due to high wind speeds that created conditions too advanced for the majority of the 441 paddlers lined up at Zuanich Park, ready to race. The course would keep us close to shore, and angle us into the wind – a much more stable angle than the standard course which would have the wind at our beam for the first three miles.

The cancellation of the canoe leg was a major disappointment to everyone who had trained so hard all spring for the event, but was necessary for the safety of the racers. I felt especially bad for Veronica and Char, the canoeists for my team. They were as strong as I had ever seen them… definitely Top Gun potential. But, on top of that, their strength on the canoe leg would have given us a bit of a cushion over the other women’s teams we hoped to beat. Our goal was to be the first Whatcom County Women’s Team, and the second women’s overall behind Boundary Bay; the 9-time Women’s Open Champions.

As the teams weaved their way down the mountain, the race came to a halt as the road cyclist handed off to a member of their canoe team. This paddler was assigned to run the timing chip to the transition, where the chip was swiped, the teams time was noted, and a two-hour layover began. This 2-hour layover was to keep the race timeline on track… but, gave a huge advantage to teams who had weaker canoers.

Down at the start of the mountain bike leg, team members were assigned new chips. And, after their layover, were called up by team number and sent off to race. Well, there were some bugs with this system, and we were missed . Other teams had similar issues. Racers were sent both early and late. In the end, the time chips would do their job and straighten out the actual times…but, on the race course…it was downright confusing! Tela realized she had been skiiped pretty quickly, but, enough time passed to allow our competitor, Team Fanatik to pass through.

Back at Zuanich, I was in race mode… music playing on my headphone, knowing Tela was supposed to start her leg at 1:47 and arrive around 2:20. If I had had my phone, I would have gotten the urgent calls from all my teammates telling me of the screw-up, and that we were, in time, ahead of Fanatik.

But, as Fanatik was called ahead of me, and the clock kept ticking… and no Tela arrived, I could only assume Tela had a gear failure. I was wound up in a bundle of nerves… I had promised the team we would recapture our title… and I thought I was watching our trophy slip away from us.
Looking back, I am glad I didn’t know the screw up…because by the time Tela rode into the transition, I had a fire lit in me… I was pumped. I sprinted to my boat, yelled at a couple lookey loo’s in my way on the path and ran my boat to the dock with the help of my friend Danielle.

There was a new leash rule this year, so as I fumbled with my ankle leash, a race volunteered said calmly, “Just taaake your tiiime”, I think I bit back…”THERE IS NO TIME!!!”, or maybe I just said that in my head. Strapped in, I hit the water like I was in a 100 yard sprint… and never backed off. Weeds clumped on my rudder, waves broke over my bow… I just focused on passing everyone I could… including Team Fanatik. Passing Fanatik didn’t slow me down, I wasn’t sure if any other women’s teams had slipped ahead.

A picture of Hayden taped to my bow kept me focused… I wanted to make my baby boy, in his bright red Team Kulshan t-shirt, proud, and my parents who were running crew, and my team who would be gathered at Marine Park, and Brandon who was always the first to spot me by my stroke in the distance. I felt the pressure of the entire race as I anchored the team into the finish. As I approached the finish 3 miles later, my boat came to a dead stop in the eel grass when I was still waist deep. I chucked my paddle, ripped off my ankle leash, and waded up to the beach… and hit the sand at a dead sprint.

Three hours later; with Brandon MC’ing the awards ceremony and me playing ‘Vana White’ and handing out plaques to division winners; Kae, Beth H and her son Quinn, Beth W, Marti, Veronica, Char, Tela, and me and Hayden were presented the Whatcom County Women’s Cup the second year in a row. And, about ten minutes later, the final Top Gun award was handed out.
Brandon had given nothing away… no hint of WHO the female Top Gun of for the kayak leg would be. I listened somewhat detached, “And, finally, a second year in a row, three months after giving birth to MY SON, the Top Gun in the kayak leg is Heather Nelson”. I grabbed Hayden from my Mom sitting near the stage, and gave him and Brandon a big, wet kiss… and, I admit, I got quite teary. In my dreams I would recapture my Top Gun title… but, didn’t put too much emotional attachment in that direction
. I could not have done it without Brandon’s support, and little Hayden’s precious, innocent love. And, the whole weekend would have been nearly impossible if my folks hadn’t come up from California to help!!!

Team RE/MAX, Brandon’s team, was 12th overall. Brandon was the 5th fastest kayaker overall behind Dion Maxwell, Ian McKenzie, Robert Clegg and Joost Zeegers.

In the women’s race, Sarah Hopkins, Kathleen Petereit, Danielle Burnett and LeAnne Robinson rounded out the Top 5.

~In the Spirit of Compassion and Adventure~

Heather, Brandon and Hayden