The 1998 TCSKA Race and Roll Event will be remembered for quite awhile. The event was pushed back to October 17th so that Bill Newman could participate while he was working on researching paddling routes for a book. We all met at Thomas Beach on the south side of Lake Calhoun with cloudy skies hanging over us.

The first Race and Roll Event activity would be a two-mile race across the Lake. While the competitors warmed up, I finished cutting a unique knee tube for a club member's cockpit. When I readied my kayak for the race, I noticed Bill placing his secret weapon on his boat. Bill was placing tape over the skeg box of his kayak so that water would not recirculate in it while he paddled, thus causing his maximum hull speed to be lowered. Sarah Frueh shouted out the count down while Chad Brey, Al Kasinskas, Bill Newman and I waited on the starting line, and with the word "Go" we sped off. John Ware hit the start button on the official stopwatch for the race. As we paddled away at our maximum paddling speeds, Chad Brey broke away. Then we all redoubled our efforts. I always teach students not to paddle at 100%, but we were all going to do just that for two miles. At the halfway point I was the first pivot around a large buoy that was the halfway point of the race. I turned the kayak 180 degrees and headed toward Thomas Beach. As I set off, Chad came into my field of vision along side of me. Nearing the beach, Chad and I were side by side until the shallow water slowed us down and caused acramp to develop in John's abdomen. As our kayaks came to a stop, his pain slowly faded away. We decided to stay in our kayaks while we re-energized for the next event.

After we recovered from the race, the rolling event took place, and I was the first participant to roll. We all would have one minute to do as many 360 degree rolls as possible. I had decided to wear no bulky clothing that would add water resistance to my torso while rolling. I plunged into the water with my first roll, and when I finished my first roll, I stopped. The water was cold enough to make me forget about the competition, but I rolled two more times and stopped due to the ice cream headache I was getting. Bill Newman met the water temperature challenge by rolling six times well before his full minute was over. Chad Brey was the final rolling contestant and pulled off three rolls well before his full minute was over.

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