Safety came first in decision making

There was late snow at the lower elevations even in the week before the race and then warm sun on race day. The result was that the Nooksack River was high, swift and dangerous. We sent our Nooksack River expert, Thom Pritchard, out on the river Sunday morning and his conclusion was that the most experienced canoeists could probably make it without overturning, but that the novice and less experienced canoeists would have great difficulty.

Fred Knight and his staff from Search and Rescue agreed. It was a very tough decision, but it was the right decision because safety must come first. When I arrived at Riverside Park in Everson I expected to meet angry canoeists who felt that they had trained for nothing. What I found is relieved racers and their spouses thanking me for making a tough decision that may have saved their lives.

I appreciate all of the comments and “thank yous” for the decision.

At the same time the wind and shifting tide was making Bellingham Bay more dangerous than usual for kayakers.

Our Bellingham Bay kayak expert, Larry Bussinger, made the decision to shorten the course and keep the kayaks closer to shore in more sheltered waters. He could have also canceled the kayak leg but felt that the safer course was the right decision.

I believe he also made the right decision. The less experienced kayakers should appreciate the cautious approach he took. Both Thom and Larry are very competitive racers so the decisions they made may have hurt their chances of helping them win their divisions, but they put their own competitive ambitions behind the safety of others.

The week before the race I developed a plan to continue the race if we had to cancel the canoe venue. This was to give all canoe teams a two-hour canoe time and start mountain bikers exactly two hours after the end of the road bike venue. This way each team would keep the advantage they had earned in the first four legs of the race, and when a team finished first in their division, they would know they won.

This would have worked except that we had a computer problem in Everson so we could not e-mail the finish times for the road bike as soon as planned. We thus had to start some mountain bikers at times that were sent by radio and they were not as accurate as we would have had using the timing equipment. We do have total elapsed time for each team, and if a mistake has been made, we will fix it.

One thing the 2008 race verified is that we have the right people in the right positions and they are willing to make the tough decisions for the safety of the others.

I want to thank all of the racers and their families for participating in the 2008 Ski to Sea race. I also want to thank the many volunteers, sponsors, media and law enforcement agencies for their help making the 2008 race such a success despite having to make some adjustments due to unusual weather conditions.

The race committee enjoyed helping everyone have a great time and we are already under way planning for an even better race in 2009.

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