Paris Nautic Crossing 2012

Going to Paris in december may sound romantic to some people… But not to me…After spending a wonderful week in Puerto Rico and a full year on the road I just wanted to go back home in the Canaries and surf.
But there was still this last race in Paris.
I have had a hard time to get my motivation up…Tired, jet lagged… I was happy to go to the Nautic Expo to get together with all the Bic Sport Team and spend time at the Bic Sport booth but not too excited to wake up at 5am for the race in the river…And even less excited knowing that after the race on the Seine there was another race in the pool of the Nautic and that counted for the overal ranking… and it was going to be runned on inflatable 12’6 boards. It may be fun to watch for the public but it is ridiculous from a competitors point of view as the pool is too narrow to turn the boards. I have heard that next year it will be compulsary for competitors to do this pool race but it will not count in the ranking (it will only validate the results of the race in the river). I hope that the organizers will be smart enough to do this as I believe that the fun and the show can only get bigger if they do so.

Anyway… Here I was in Paris…5am Sunday morning waking up for the last event of the 2012 season…
With a very tight pre-race schedule I didn’t find time to get a good warm up. As the race started I was just not feeling good, I actually felt a little bit left behind (and I kind of was !)
I figured I’d feel better after 10-15mn of the race so I took it easy and tried to stay with the leading group. Eventually I started to feel better as my muscles were starting to get warm. Better balance, more power, I was enjoying paddling again !
As I took the lead of the group I started to feel in control and confident that I was going to win. It has been tough and there was no room for mistakes, my friends Gaetan and Yoann were right on my heels. It has not been an easy win at all.
I have been very happy to win as this was a perfect end to my 2012 season !

As for some stats, this was the last of 24th event of my 2012 season.
In total I have registered in 32 races (some events have 2 or more races) and I won 21 of them !