Ya gotta regatta 2012

I made my way back to Western New York for the great valley regatta for the second time. It is a 6.5 mile canoe "race" with four beer stops, and one hell of a party for 3,000+ people. This year the weather was just about as good as anyone could ask for.


View Great Valley Volunteer Firemans Regatta in a larger map

Once again I tried talking people into joining me, and failed. My sister had an extra person in her boat, so one joined me.

Right at the start of the race there was there was a mandatory portage. This was a real mess and pretty funny to watch. Unlike the beer stops where the parking is pretty spread out, you need to take out in one little area and carry your boat about 100 feet and put back in at a little area.

 This guys ready to party

I attacked the first beer stop. During the short stay there I managed to get five beers. This was a pretty crowded beer stop, and all the suckers going to the taps on the left were getting all foam.

 Leaving beer stop #1

 My craft

Traffic

Beer stop three is always the party stop because of its easy road access

Right next to the taps at beer stop three, there was a stripper pole. It didn't take long for two girls to jump up there, loose their tops and start working the pole.

By the time I left the third beer stop I had given up on taking pictures and I was pretty drunk. By the fourth beer stop I was ready for a fight. Being drunk and surrounded by other drunker people seems to put me in that kind of mood.

-James

Lele Kawa

Ya-Gotta-Regatta

A few words to describe The Great Valley Fireman's Regatta of May 08; beer, wet, cold, beer, girls (in surprisingly high numbers), costumes, beer, canoing, chicken dinner, rain, and did I mention Beer.

My parents have been going to this little annual "boat race" since before they were my parents. This was the first year I was lucky enough to be old enough to consume previously mentioned beer legally and on the right continent. The premise of the regatta is to race down a creek approximately 12 miles stopping at each of the 6 mandatory beer stops, where you must consume no less than one mug of beer.


Well as usually my partner bailed on me (seems to be a reoccurring theme). No problem I would race solo if need be, however it was unnecessary because I rescued two girls from their much overburdened rubber raft. We got a late start (a reoccurring theme whenever my parents are involved) and as a result of combined zero canoing experience of my new passengers and some poor advice to them being shouted by my father, we managed to flip the canoe for the first time before we even reached the start line. Let me assure you snow melt is cold.


We arrive at the first beer stop at about the time it is scheduled to close. We are in luck they are keeping it open until they finish off the keg they just tapped. My group of 7 make up a large portion of the people at this beer stop. The girls change out of their wet sweats into their only change of cloths. I am relatively dry already in my under armor and board shorts.


The next few beer stops are not particularly memorable. Perhaps because by that point my ability for memory had been reduced by the copious amounts of beer and the cold. I do remember the second time the canoe flipped, or more specifically stopped being buoyant. A combination of 3 passengers, wet gear, spilled beer and contain rain caused the boat the gently tip enough to fill up the little freeboard that remained. I consider that this one was an act of God, and couldn't have been avoided.


The last time we swamped also was unavoidable. We followed another canoe through a swift narrow deep section of the creek. The gentleman steering the craft tried to turn too sharply and swamped in front of us. He felt that since he ended up in the water everyone else deserved to be in there with him, and grabbed our canoe as we passed him.


The last beer stop marking the end of the race was insane. There were boats of all type scattered everywhere, all waiting to load into a truck to be carted back to the start. While I waited for my shuttle back up to the top I stood in the knee deep near freezing water for about an hour dragging boats to the few open spots on the shore.


We ended the race dragging the canoes up a mud hill to load onto the truck, where I got my hand closed in a car door, before going to get our chicken dinners.


My description of this event may sound negative, and it is, but it was still a great time and I look forward to the next time in in Western NY the first weekend in May. I recommend this type of event to everyone.


As usually here are some pictures, many of them taken with the Fuji camera with waterproof housing I bought just before the race why I didn't buy it in Hawaii and could have dove with it is beyond me.

Pre Race everybody dry and happy

Overloaded rubber raft
First beer stop , a few beers and one change of cloths laterMayhem at last beer stop

Rockstar Barbie Boat
Unknown girls at unkown beer stop