GODZone 2015 - A report by team Bear Hunt

GODZone 2015 - A report by team Bear Hunt
(reposted from https://www.facebook.com/BearHuntAdventure/posts/461561750668554 / https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aXpZZTxhn3xf7c1nGAWzNsSq5yIcXBO9LZejZgaicIg/edit )

Normally we like to report on all aspects of our race including the preparation, the racing and reflection. However, this one was so epic that we weren’t really racing by the end, so instead we present to you a leg by leg journey (or bear hunt?) through the course.

Leg 1, Mountaineering 22km

Ian’s time: 6:00

Bear Hunt’s time: 7:26

The start was in a stunning location below a waterfall and the adventure managed to start some 10 minutes before the race, as we had to wade a stream to get there. Really? wet shoes already?

We positioned ourselves a few rows back, knowing that we would not be going out with the leaders, but also not wanting to box ourselves too far out of the top 20. The gun went and we jogged the first 100m to the start of a walking track, managing to largely avoid getting stuck in the bottleneck. We worked hard up the first climb through beautiful beech forest, occasionally getting passed by teams and also passing the odd team, but generally pretty happy with our position in the field.

As we climbed above the tree line there was a sense that we were in spectacular surroundings, but the views were almost non-existent as we ascended into cloud. The conditions became noticeably colder and we all put on jackets, then pushed on past a hut, passing a lot of teams that had stopped there. We continued up in further worsening weather, having to slow down occasionally to find the way. Soon before reaching the Brewster glacier, we saw the lead teams retracing their steps, as necessitated by the course. Seagate were in front with a comfortable gap and looked to be moving ridiculously fast. The terrain was steep, with short rock bands interspersed among button grass. In this area Mark had a slip. He was not injured, but managed to break his walking pole, which was most unfortunate given that we still had a LONG way to go in the race.

The highlight of this leg was meant to be a short climb and descent on the glacier, but upon arrival we discovered that our “mountaineering” leg had been cancelled, and instead we were directed to complete a small circuit scrambling over rock terraces at the foot of the glacier next to a spectacular alpine lake. No doubt the views beyond were breathtaking, but visibility was still limited. A long traverse in horrendous weather followed, but we made good time to the top of the tree line.

From here the slope steepened significantly and we had to negotiate a number of small cliffs, often trusting our lives in the vegetation, but also comforted by the fact that every surface seemed to be covered in moss pillows. On the steepest section at the bottom of the mountain, Charlotte found a good route through a small canyon and we made good time into the first TA.

Bear Hunt at the start. Water on the lense already.

Bear Hunt near the top of the tree line on the way to the Brewster Glacier, sitting somewhere around the top 20. Big mountains and cliffs everywhere.

Bear Hunt walking around the foot of glacier in foul weather.

Bear Hunt just above the tree line, about to descend very steeply through Beech forest to TA 1.

Leg 2, Whitewater Canoeing 22km

Ian’s time: 3:00

Bear Hunt’s time: 3:25

We were passed by a few teams, including fellow Canberrans Stromlonauts in the first transition, but once underway, the canoe leg was largely uneventful and super fun. We had fast flowing water the whole way and countless grade 2 rapids which were fun to negotiate. On the calmer stretches we took advantage of the fast flow to snack on the move, trying to get our energy levels high for the upcoming mega trek. We also passed team Cure Kids for the first time, a really friendly team that we would see repeatedly throughout the race.

In the second TA we saw the Stromlonauts again and were also passed by a few more teams as we were again slow to get organized. The results don’t reflect this however, as we forgot to sign in when we arrived. Instead, we signed in when we were pretty much ready, then signed out again soon after. Amusingly, the GODZone website mentioned  our super fast “sub eight minute” transition, which was comparable to the time that teams like Seagate and Columbia actually took.

Leg 2 offered easy fun travel in fast flowing grade 1-2 whitewater. Crossing the river at the start of the next trek was a tad interesting.

Leg 3, Alpine Trekking 56km

Ian’s time: 16:00

Bear Hunt’s time: 32:05

The next trek leg looked to be an epic, and from the outset it did not disappoint. We had to start by wading across the river we had just been paddling down. We joined a few other teams in faffing around looking for a good spot, before deciding to just go for it. We got across the first part of the river OK, but the second part saw us briefly swept off our feet and having a short swim before making an eddy on the other side. This mishap proved to be good strategy in that it stopped the other teams following us, and we set off to start the trek on our own.

Soon after we came to another “manned” river crossing, which simply involved ferrying in a guided raft. We had a few more wades before starting up a steep hill in search of a track that would take us through the first part of the leg.

At this point we made our biggest nav error of the race, allowing ourselves to be misled by another team, despite suggestions from multiple team members that we should stick to our own plan. The other team appeared as though they may be on a “track”, so we decided to leave our bearing and follow them. It didn’t quite match up with what we were expecting, but Mike convinced himself that it was right and followed it for a while. Before we knew it, there were no other teams in sight and our track (a cattle track) scattered out in all different directions. It took us an embarrassing two hours to correct our mistake, and it was dark by the time we managed to get ourselves back on course.

Once on the real track, we made good progress, occasionally having to stop and explore when it became indistinct. At one point we caught and passed several teams who had gone the wrong way. Eventually we made our way to the Alburt Burn, the river that would guide us up into the alps and the most challenging parts of the trek.

To get to the Albert Burn track, we first had to cross at another “manned” crossing. A few minutes later we were on the track and crossing back to the side we had started on, “how strange?”. Slightly further on we passed a team going the other way. “Didn’t like the look of it?” we enquired. “It looks pretty treturous”, they responded. We continued on, not able to comprehend what they were saying. It was pretty steep, but how treturous could a well marked track be? Soon the track came to another river crossing, and we realized what they meant. The water was flowing super fast, we couldn’t see the bottom, and immediately downstream were nasty looking rapids. Too bad we’d decided against carrying a throw rope.

We had a quick look around for an alternate place to cross, but we were hemmed in by canyons immediately upstream and downstream. A quick debate followed and we concluded that if we were unable to cross the river, we would be best off on the other side, because the track spent most of its time over there. On the other hand, all the routes on the far bank looked near impossible. Massive cliffs, topped with dense scrub came right to the water. However, at that moment we saw a team come into view, slowly sidling the foot of the cliff on the far bank. Clearly it was possible to rock scramble and wade at least part of the way. We turned back to our previous crossing (as the team before us had done) and on the way passed a number of teams going the other way. We warned each one of what lay ahead, but like us, they all decided to go and inspect for themselves. A couple of hours later we were back where we wanted to be and making our way along the track, but we later learned that some teams (including Stromlonauts) managed to make the crossing…just.

Bear Hunt make a significant nav error. The track we walked on isn’t marked, but you can see where we eventually found our way back onto it. If only we’d stuck to our bearing.

Bear Hunt make good progress once they find the track. You can see the nav error in the top right of picture. Interestingly the race course is indicated along the river rather than the track, but very few teams chose to go that way (Seagate were one of them).

Bear Hunt have to retrace their steps to avoid a dangerous river crossing, costing around 2 hours. Some teams made it across, but there were reportedly some near misses.

From here we followed the track, slowly but surely, hoping it would lead us on at sufficient pace to get through the leg before the following night. It was occasionally hard to follow, but we managed to avoid wasting too much time. Just before dawn we passed several teams sleeping in a hut, but opted to carry on without sleep as per our pre race plan. After dawn, Max managed to disturb an entire herd of wild cattle, which ran wild, crashing through the bush, then charging past us on the river bank for a few minutes. It was quite frightening, but thankfully we managed to stay out of their way.

After this point there were a few more river crossings and the track steepened significantly, then steepened some more, and then somehow it managed to steepen even more. The scenery was unreal,  but it was a little scary at times and much faith was put in the vegetation. Progress slowed significantly, but the presence of sandflies helped to keep us from stopping. It also became apparent that our original navigation plan of simply “following the creek” would be impossible, since the creek was by this stage a more or less continuous waterfall.

Bear Hunt nearing the end of the Albert Burn track. The place where we retraced our steps can be seen in the right of picture.

An alternate route was fairly clear on the map apart from one section just past the end of the track. It was unclear how we would negotiate this section, as both sides of the creek appear to be bound by near vertical terrain. The views were stunning, but it looked super tough and spirits began to sink under the mental strain. This was also the longest period in the whole race that we went without seeing another team.

The track ended just above the tree line on slightly more level ground, giving views of what lay ahead. Our navigation plan generally worked well, but we were fortunate to be able to follow other teams through the trickiest section. It culminated in an ascent of a VERY steep grass slope by the side of the creek (by now a deep canyon which we couldn’t see). To us Australians, it may as well have been a vertical cliff, and it’s fair to say we would have negotiated it very slowly had we been there on our own or at night..

The GodZone photographers snapped some excellent shots from a helicopter as we were passing through this section. Can you spot the teams?

A team (or are they ants?) ascends the very steep slope along the side of the creek, just after the Albert Burn track had ended. Despite appearances in the photo, the sides of the creek are sheer cliffs..

Eventually the steep slope gave way to a magnificent flat alpine valley. We plodded along, following the other teams while taking in the breathtaking views.

At the end of the valley we had to climb another super steep grass slope and at one point Max had a very near miss when the ground gave way causing him to slide. It took him a few metres to stop, by which point he was very close to a steeper slope into an even steeper creek, a fall down which he may not have survived. Scary stuff!

We pushed on, a little shaken, and fortunately the terrain became slightly less extreme. We wasted little time at the chalet at the top, opting to start our descent immediately, but wasting some time over indecisive route choice. The rest of the descent was largely uneventful, but it was hard, very hard. Loose scree gave way to wobbly, trippy tussock, which gave way to even more trippy burnt out tussock, which eventually led us to a track…of super slippery mud. Nonetheless, we made reasonable time down here, keeping pace with the teams around us. By the time we reached the bottom most of us had sore feet and Max was suffering from the beginnings of an ankle injury that would plague him for the rest of the race.

From here we  had a couple of exciting cable crossings across rivers. The cable crossings themselves were a little nerve wracking, somewhat resembling what might be found on a high ropes course, and were well complimented by the river below, which was loud and furious enough to strike fear into anyone.

After the crossings the track sidled along a large river, but often climbing steeply and traversing across dangerous drops. We passed some sections nervously, not trusting our footing in our fatigued state. The second night descended upon us and we decided to stop for our first sleep.

Waking up was hard, really hard. Charlotte and Max seemed confused by the alarm and Mike recalls becoming aware of the worst leg pain he’s ever experienced before realising where he was and trying to will his legs to move. Somehow we managed to get out of the tent, and before we knew it, we’d packed up and were on our way again. Fortunately it took only a short while before we could walk normally again and we continued along relatively easy track all the way in to the next TA.

We arrived at TA in fairly high spirits, happy to have such a difficult leg behind us, but also knowing that we’d been pretty slow and ready to hear that we were near the back of the field. Surprisingly, the TA official told us that we were doing pretty well, and that only 18 teams had left transition up until that point, with a half dozen more camped there as we spoke. Having only just slept, we had no intention of stopping and started our transition.

Despite our best efforts, we were slow yet again, with two teams leaving while we were getting ready. One of those teams was Stromlonauts, and we were amazed that we’d seen them at every transition without ever actually seeing them on course.

Bear Hunt follow two other teams through the beautiful alpine valley.

Gorgeous view along the valley.

Another near vertical section to exit the valley. Bear Hunt followed these teams up the spur between the two creeks (waterfalls). Max had a very near miss about half way up.

Bear Hunt make it over the high point of the trek, then survive the long steep descent before crossing over the wild river on an exciting cable bridge.

Mike on the cable crossing over a roaring river.

The full trek leg, certainly epic. Our nav error and the section where we doubled back can be seen if you look closely.

Leg 4, Whitewater Canoeing and Coasteering 41km

Ian’s time: 5:30

Bear Hunt’s time: 8:18

The next canoe was a surreal experience. We’d been told that everyone had to have their headlights on while paddling. That sounded fine in theory, but in practice the headlights weren’t sufficient to see very far on such a large river (we could barely see the banks) and only served to create glare and ruin our night vision. This was especially bad in the back of the boat (the steerer’s seat), where all that could be seen was the person in front, surrounded by a cloud of glittery blackness. Damn reflective clothing! This made route finding very difficult. It was hard to see when the river turned or split into different channels, and even harder to see which channels were deep enough or had the highest flow. On a few occasions we found ourselves trying to paddle upstream, which was very confusing for the tired mind. By morning, Mark was falling asleep, but a few nodoz followed by a spectacular sunrise gave us the energy we needed to paddle to the end of the stage.

Once out of the boats, we moved onto a short coasteering section around lake Wanaka. Max was having a lot of trouble walking due to his ankle pain, so we took most of the weight from his pack. As we progressed through the coasteering, we were forced to wade and scramble regularly as the shore became hemmed in by cliffs. Eventually we decided it would be more efficient to swim, though this decision was probably a bit late. We stopped to put our packs in dry bags, and then made fairly quick progress to the long swim. It was mid morning by this stage and the swim was cold, but not that cold and we made it through without any significant dramas.

The next TA was very comfortable. There was lots of space, soft grass, no rain, AND THE GROUND WAS DRY. This was the first time in the entire race that we’d had dry feet. We had another slowish transition, but once on the bikes Charlotte and Mark turned  up the pace, occasionally making it hard for Mike and Max to stay in contact. A short while later we arrived at Wanaka, and decided to ride straight into town to get some hot food. After a quick bite, we rode to HQ to get the maps for the second half of the course.

The many different river channels were difficult to navigate cleanly at night.

The coasteering leg was pretty cruisy, but certainly interesting swimming and scrambling around the cliffs toward the end.

Leg 5 ,Mountain Biking 137km + map collection and 2hrs preparation

Ian’s time: 13:00

Bear Hunt’s time: 33:44

Mid race map prep was new to us, and it was hard, really hard. While none of us were that sleepy by adventure race standards, the process of looking through maps and trying to route plan 300km worth of course stretched and strained our weakened minds. Furthermore, the upcoming stages looked super hard, making the entire experience really demoralizing. Mark kept declaring how ridiculously hard it looked and then we discovered how ridiculously hard contacting maps is when you’ve barely slept in 3 days.

Eventually we made it out of Wanaka and started what looked to be a truly epic ride. It would kick off with a 700 vertical meter ascent at a steep but rideable gradient, then continue to climb over undulating terrain, with some short sections off track for another few hundred vertical metres.

It may have looked epic on the map, but that was nothing compared to reality. We rode most of the climb pretty well (though Max sometimes struggled on his 1x9 setup), passing a number of teams who were pushing their bikes, but soon heavy rain and strong wind set in and the track turned to an unrideable mud bath. To make matters worse, it was also quite cold, and we wasted a lot of time stopping while one person after another decided they needed to put on more clothes. Things were pretty miserable at this point, but we seemed to fare better than most of the teams around us, possibly owing to our experience trekking and xc skiing in cold, exposed environments.

When we hit the undulating terrain, things got really tough. We could roll the downhills, but the muddy ups were technically challenging, and repeatedly getting on and off our bikes was taxing. The sun was setting, but the weather had started to clear by this point and we were being passed back by some of the teams that had been struggling previously.

Once dark set in, it was a long, cold, hard night. So much pushing through the darkness, and our bikes seemed to weigh twice as much as normal with all the mud that was stuck to them. Max’s navigation was spot on through this section and we passed a number of teams who seemed unsure of where they were.

We continued pushing and riding through the night until we could barely push anymore, and Charlotte in particular was struggling to stay awake, whimpering as she trudged on at a snails pace. Despite being on a very high, exposed and cold part of the course, we made the decision to stop, as we still had some climbing to go and it would be some hours before we reached more sheltered terrain. Charlotte, Mike and Mark slept well, but Max will probably be buying a new sleeping bag before racing in NZ again. Regardless, we all froze the instant we got out of the tent. This hampered our ability pack up efficiently, but we still managed to get moving in reasonable time.

We continued pushing and riding through the (very) cold early hours of the morning, and finally started the long descent just before dawn. Sunrise was spectacular again, and made the hellish night worthwhile, rewarding us with more stunning views. The descent was steep and technical and Max and Mike, normally confident on the bike, were shocked when Charlotte left them behind. Even Mark got dropped at one point when he had a big crash which left his face and helmet covered in mud. At the bottom of the hill we came to Meg hut, where we discovered that Cure Kids and another team (probably Hast Eagles) had been lucky enough to have a warm sleep. As we started up the next hill we also saw Stromlonauts coming up behind us. We’d passed them during the night when they’d had to make an emergency stop to prevent hypothermia.

The rest of the ride seemed to drag on forever, taking us the entire of daylight hours. Most of the climbs (and there were so many) were unrideable and the descents were rough and steep. Normally this would be fun, but by this stage we would have done anything for a long gradual descent to help the kilometers tick over. At some point late in the day, we realized that we would struggle to make the 2am short course cutoff at the end of the next kayak. This started a discussion about whether we should even try to make the cut off, given that Max was struggling to walk and it was likely we would not be able to finish ranked on the full course. Mark was also suffering with a sore knee, and later confessed that he’d been planning to drop out after that stage.

Eventually, just 20km from the end of our 150km ride, we hit easy terrain and decided (too late) that we should at least try to make the cutoff. We got into TA just after dark (9pm) and then proceeded to have another very slow transition. An hour and a half later we were in the kayaks, with a reasonable chance of making it according to the TA officials.

First light after a hellish night, just after the high point of the leg. It’s cold.

A long bike leg with some big hills. The circles represent the checkpoints along the way. The first climb out of Wanaka was largely rideable until the next checkpoint, but almost all the uphills from there until the 3rd last checkpoint were unrideable due to the steep gradients and muddy conditions.

Leg 6, Kayaking 28km - Wed 2am short course cutoff at the end of this leg.

Ian’s time: 3:30

Bear Hunt’s time: 11:41

In daylight, with good conditions, completing the paddle in four hours would have been a breeze, but in the dark, with a strong headwind, it was way out of our league. At one point we asked Charlotte the time and were astounded when she said we’d been going for 3 hours. We hadn’t even gone 10km, the watch must be wrong! We genuinely convinced ourselves that we’d somehow reset the time, though it was still obvious that we weren’t going to make the 2am cut off. Nonetheless, we were determined to keep going, as we knew we’d be forced to take a 6 hour break when we got there, and a stop was doubly unfavourable as Mike and Charlotte literally had no dry clothes.

We tried and tried, but the sleep monsters hit us hard. Communication was all but impossible. Our hearing was shutting down, or was it our speaking, who knows. Either way, it seems we all experienced a similar thing. All we could hear was the quiet murmurs of our team mates. Occasionally someone would ‘yell’, “what!?”, but most of the time we were just content to not hear each other or to be ignored when we tried to say something. Somehow we managed to keep navigating well enough to proceed, but we had to give up when we tried to find one of the CPs on the shore. We knew we were pretty much in the right spot, and we knew the CP was on a watercourse. The only problem was, all we could see when we looked at the shore was sleep monsters. How could we identify a water course when all we could see was a giant wall of faces looming over us. The brief stop here sent Mike hypothermic and everyone else soon started to follow. We dragged ourselves onto shore and struggled to pitch our tent on the rocky beach. Shivering, and barely able to think, we changed into dry thermals and crawled into our sleeping bags, or at least Max and Mark did. Mike and Charlotte had reached a new low, having to strip naked, their sleeping bags being literally the last warm, dry things they had left.

An hour and half later, just at first light, the alarm went off and the team set about the slightly awkward logistics of four people packing up in a 3 person tent when two of the people are completely naked. Mike took on his greatest ever physiological challenge by jumping out of the tent first (naked), into the cold and then forcing himself into into his (almost literally) frozen clothes. A few minutes of packing up camp, interspersed with running around and jumping like crazy people made us warm enough to no longer be concerned about hypothermia, and soon after we were back in the boats. We found the remaining CPs easily in the daylight and made our way onto TA, where we again saw the Stromlonauts who were just about to leave on the short course ride and almost exactly 6 hours ahead of us. Tragically, they’d missed the cutoff just 7 minutes.

This kayak leg looked easy on paper, but strong head winds and the darkness made it quite challenging. The number 34 jersey shows roughly where we were forced to sleep so that we could find the control.

Shortcourse 6 hour mandatory stop

Bear Hunt’s time: 6.5 hours

One would expect a 6 hour mandatory stop to comprise a 1 hour transition and 5 hours of sleep, but this TA was almost too comfortable. We’d slept recently, the weather was nice, there was a cafe near by and for some reason we decided we needed to dry all of our wet gear, despite the fact that most of it would not be needed again in the race. We missed the 6 hour mark by 15 minutes, wasting more valuable time and with only 1.5 hours of extra sleep to show for it.

Shortcourse Leg 8, Mountain Biking ?km - Skipping full course leg 7

Bear Hunt’s time: 21:53

Now on the short course, the task ahead looked much less daunting. This ride was long, with lots of climbing, but it was apparently largely on a known cycle route and all the gradients looked rideable. We went pretty hard out of TA and kept the pace on until the foot of the first big climb, another 700 vertical metre ascent. Here we slowed right back to minimum climbing pace, trying to conserve energy to ensure getting to the top in one piece. On the way we passed Hast Eagles, who had stopped for a rest, but they passed us back when we stopped at the top to use the toilet at a hut. From here a long, gradual descent saw the kilometers tick by nicely, but there was still plenty of challenge with dozens of creek crossings to be negotiated.

We past Haas Eagles again just before the second big climb of the ride. This one was a never ending cycle of steep pinches followed by false summits. It was hard and we had to push our bikes on a couple of occasions. A brief ride along an exposed ridge followed before a long, steep and fun descent on good track. Haast Eagles caught us again when stopped to check our nav and rode with us most of the way to the lake shore. They made their mark as the most generous team in the race when they came to our rescue by giving us their map. We thought we’d forgotten ours (it was hiding at the bottom of Mike’s bag) and they took a significant risk by choosing to ride the rest of the leg from memory, though admittedly they were all Wanaka locals.

The remainder of the ride would have been pretty easy under normal conditions, but it was the middle of the night and we were paying the price for not sleeping more in our mandatory stop. The sleep monsters were hitting Mike hard and he was concerned that he might accidentally ride off one of the many cliffs we were sidling. We decided to try an experimental 5 minute power nap to fight off the sleep monsters, but the restorative effect was only brief and we decided to have another 20 minute sleep soon after. We limped our way into transition just before dawn, completely oblivious to what had apparently been very fun and scenic single track.

Our tracker path shows the short course route. We rode from the end of the paddle to half way along the leg 8 bike, skipping and crossing over the leg 7 trek in the process. It was a fun and scenic ride, but still challenging with some long climbs.

The team rounds a bend, getting great views on the first climb of the short course bike leg.

Leg 9, Kayaking 52km

Ian’s time: 7:00

Bear Hunt’s time: 12:42

Following the trend for the race, we had another slow transition, setting off about 10 minutes after Haast Eagles. The lethargy stuck with us into the start of the final 50km paddle and we wasted significant time at the first checkpoint, as we were all too lazy to properly search for the control. After a couple of hours however, we hit crazy strong headwinds and all of a sudden we were much more awake, with cold water splashing in our faces and a significant effort required to make any forward progress.

We paddled toward one headland for what seemed like an eternity and every one of us at some point questioned whether we were moving forwards or backwards. We gritted our teeth in the hope that the wind would ease when we arrived at the bend, but when we got there it became apparent that it did not. We briefly discussed whether to continue, with Mike suggesting that it might be impossible and expressing his reluctance at the thought of paddling through another night on course. However, at that moment Haast Eagles blasted past us, going full pelt into the wind and apparently making decent progress. Their demonstration that it was possible to travel forwards inspired us to go as hard as we could. We paddled at maximum for some time. Indeed, none of us had ever paddled so hard for so long before. However, we were able to keep it up and we’d collected the next two controls in no time.

Now things got interesting with the need to paddle down wind. At one point Max and Charlotte stopped for a quick map check and were surfed by a big wave while they were distracted, tipping them in and very nearly resulting in them losing their boat. They were a little shaken, but some good bracing from Charlotte saw them both back in the boat. A comic miscommunication with the safety boat followed, resulting in the patrollers assuring Max and Charlotte that they didn’t need to assist with the rescue and proceeding to drive off into the distance to search for some other fictional paddlers in distress.

Fortunately, they were able to paddle their flooded boat into the lee of an island where the water was calm enough to safely remove skirts and bail water. The rescue boat showed up again soon after to apologise for the miscommunication and check that we were ok. They informed us that the weather was only worsening, and that most teams had been moved onto a shorter paddle. The rest of the leg was quite exciting, mostly with a very strong tail wind, trying to avoid accidental surfing on the large swell in the gusts.

The final paddle leg. Somehow we managed to have consistent strong headwinds heading to the first four controls, despite changing direction on multiple occasions. The number 34 jersey shows where the winds were strongest and where we discussed the possibility of giving up and pulling out.

Max and Charlotte capsized after leaving Mou Waho island and sheltered immediately south of it to bail water out of their boat.

We had large waves and super strong tail winds from there until after the headland south of Mou Tapu island.

As we approached the finish, the lake widened and the wind dropped, giving us much more control and giving us the confidence to surf (intentionally). It was a fast and super fun way to finish the race and we all climbed out of our kayaks with big grins on our faces, grins which only grew as we crossed the line and realised what we’d accomplished. We hadn’t succeeded in our goal of finishing the full course, but we’d made it into the top 20 and survived over 5 days of the toughest racing conditions we’ve encountered. Physically we were all fine apart from Max’s injured ankle, but mentally we were completely smashed. GODZone 2015 certainly put on a good show, and while we hope to compete in future editions of the race, we were certainly glad that this one had come to an end.

Thanks to the race organisation for putting on such a great event and thanks to all those who followed us and supported us through the race. We’ll be sure to let you know the next time we’re going on a bear hunt.

A significant portion of our team don’t drink, but there are some things you just have to toast. Bear Hunt at the finish line.

GodZone 2015 full course. Bear Hunt at the finish.