Thursday, May 17, 2007

Days 2 and 3

Hi there, Amy here again with your information on days 2 and 3 of the race. I had to wait to hear from the Goddess Jen-O (Head Timer) to find out about start times for these days before telling you all about it.

Both these days feature a water crossings. Both days start at 10 AM! Remember, the Goddess Jen-O is a Goddess. She have the ability to change the space/time continuum. So, what she says goes, even if it is different from times posted elsewhere.

At the end of Day 1 the racers head home for a nutritious dinner and a good night sleep--after all, these are artist/athletes. Right? This is the triathlon of the art world right? In reality, many of the race teams have a big party to celebrate the end of the first day. Wouldn't you after surviving (we hope!) Dead Man's Drop? The rules state that there is no alcohol on the course, but that doesn't mean the racers (over 21) can't have a beer at the end of the day--and many of them do. These parties leave the racers well rested and alert for the water crossing the next morning...


DAY 2

We begin with the first water entry. For many of the sculptures this IS the water test! The first machine goes into the water at 10 AM. It usually takes about an hour and a half for all of them to get into the bay. The water entry is at the Eureka Municipal Dock by the Warfinger Building. This is often one of the most exciting places to view the race.

The machines go up the Bay (toward Arcata) along the Eureka waterfront. The boardwalk is another great place to view the sculptures on the water. Racers are often cheered on by a flotilla of smaller craft, the Madekat (with the Queen's Cruise) and even Pirates.




The water take out is at the boat ramp under the Samoa Bridge. KHUM will have race M.C.'s at both the water entry and take out to facilitate the public having fun and cheering on the racers.

Once the machines leave the water it's a road race for the rest of the day: down the streets of Oldtown, down Broadway, through the Palco marsh, and finally on the freeway and roads leading to the second night camp out at Crab Park.

PLEASE NOTE: For the safety of the participants, the race is CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC once the machines get on the highway. We have had too many close calls! Drivers get easily distracted by the big machines and sometimes they forget about the pit crew and peons on bikes. Please, if you must drive past the machines, take the far left lane and BE CAREFUL!

Also, the finish line at Crab Park is CLOSED to all but participants, reporters with kinetic credentials, and officials. This is an ecologically sensitive zone with limited access and parking. We all do our best to leave as small a footprint as we can. Just listen to the reports on KHUM and we'll even post some photos for you.

The NEXT public view of the race is the FINISH LINE in Ferndale on day 3.

DAY 3

begins at Crab Park with a Lemans start (racers line up and run to their sculptures) and then we hit the water.



The mouth of the Eel River is really, really wide and has treacherous and changing currents. The racers must find their way not only across the mouth, and over the sand bars, but also to the entry to the Salt River (it looks just like a lot of over rivers and creeks) to Morgan Slough (AKA Captain Morgan Slough) to the tricky, narrow, muddy take out.

From there racers will pedal their way through the Ferndale bottoms to the Humboldt County Fairgrounds. We will wait there (assuming we are early enough) for the conclusion of the Ferndale Memorial Day Parade.

Once the stage is set up (literally) we will be let loose for a chaotic scramble to the GLORIOUS FINISH LINE.



Come and join in the FUN. That's what the race is really about any way--Having FUN! The kinetic teams will each get their turn on stage (in front of the Hobart Galery) and there will be plenty of GLORY for all with the new Rutabaga Queen and her (or his) royal court. There will also be music and many Ferndale businesses have BBQ and other food for the crowd. The finish line closes at 4:37 and then we go to the awards banquet at the Ferndale Community Center (Fireman's Pavilion) The public (YOU) are invited. The banquet is by donation...More on this later when I talk about the awards. As you might expect, they're not normal either.

Viva la GLORY!

Amy

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! Amy's racing?! Tell us about your sculpture...is Alexander on it? See you Saturday on the Plaza!

Anonymous said...

Looks like this race will well covered, as usual.

Anonymous said...

This is a nice blog. I like it!