14 Beaches Ocean Race - Gold Coast Australia - 12/08/23

A couple of months ago, I decided I needed an event to attend to put my winter training into practice. The next race on the Australian Ocean Racing Series calendar was the 14 Beaches. Being held on the warm, sunny Gold Coast, it was a no brainer. I entered, headed over last weekend and met up with race organiser and highly regarded coach, Julian Norton-Smith (Paddle 2 Fitness). After having great paddles on pristine water with Julian and his squad on the Thursday and Friday, we raced Saturday. With better wind than forecast (very similar conditions to West Oz were produced when the wind blew from the NE), the course down the coast from Kurrawa Beach to Bilinga Beach provided consistently good bumps. Despite waking up unwell that morning, I still had an enjoyable paddle and it was awesome to be out there. The race was fantastically organised and the committee were more than happy to reverse the course to suit the wind conditions on the day. Add it to your list of 'must do' races, it was great.