2011 S.O. Nationals

[Haüenstein]

Here's a question for the ladies who have been to Wakefield before.
I've been working on "selling" this event to my wife. Mary's not impressed with the beautiful house I'm renting for the week of the nationals. She's not thrilled with all the boat racing and events we plan to attend. What she really wants to do is go shopping. Are there any shopping malls or tourist trap areas to visit in the area? Some places where my wife can go to spend all of my hard earned money. (LOL)
From what I can see on the internet, it looks pretty sparse up there.
I hope somebody can give me something to work with here.
Thanks!

It's funny you should pose this question right now, as I just had a conversation about how Wakefield is one of my wife's favorite race venues—"it has everything but shopping." It's actually a really pleasant place to visit. Sure, it could use some more restaurants, but you've got your ice cream shops, a few excellent bars, and then Indianhead has the swimming pool, sauna and racquet club. There's a lot of pretty, natural crap to look at in the area, too.

You might find some shopping, as it were, in Ironwood.

We spend the other 51 weeks near shopping anyway. (I'm not sure that's a winning argument for you, though.)

Best of luck!
Mike H.

[blueskyracer]

Jeff, save your breath and maybe your marriage. This is gods country, land of trees, lakes and open spaces. Do a Google map, you see all that green, that's national forest............... miles of it. If she drove west 120 miles she can shop in Deluth. If she drove east 119 miles she can shop in Marquette. I feel your pain Jeff, I had the same conversation with my wife a few weeks ago. It looks like a stag race week for me........oh well

Sam,
87-M

Jeff, we moved to gods country to get away from the stop and go traffic and shopping malls. Now if we have to go to the big city it is 100 miles away. A two hour drive on clog free highways is nothing. All the scenery is good for the soul once in a while even for a city person.

[smelt farmer]

better yet than shopping, if the wind blows. there are two golf courses within 15 miles of sunday lake. ryder cup teams, left coast
and right coast teams.
smelt farmer

[ram95]

Jeff... we're working on a better deal for ya up here in Maine...the Real God's Country. Bring yer wife along for THIS ride. We're gonna run the marathon of marathons right up here on the Ken E Bec. While yer running the crap outa yer Ropp your wife can be a few miles away shopping down in Freeport at LL Bean and all the other "outlet" shops that have made us famous. Then she can go to the Augusta Mall at night while yer having some serious brew down here in Richmond at the Old Goat Pub, rockin with Nicki Hunt. Then on Sunday, after breakfast at Bakers, your wife can head a few miles away over to Mardens in Lewiston... where the saying "I shoulda bought it when I saw it at Mardens" has a real ka-ching ka-ching meaning to it. That place is like no place else - trust me. You never know what the heck they are going to have from g-strings, to diamonds, to Bass-Machines Tohatsu gearfoots. And, we have Moxie beverage to sip on while yer gassin up. Yeah man.... this is gonna be a hootenanni!!! To heck with Wakefield.

[Islandmon]

[QUOTE=ram95;169802]Jeff... we're working on a better deal for ya up here in Maine...the Real God's Country. Bring yer wife along for THIS ride. We're gonna run the marathon of marathons right up here on the Ken E Bec.

Ok I'll bite, what can you tell us about this "marathon of marathons".

Thx,

Sam

[ram95]

Pub development stage

[QUOTE=Islandmon;169809]

Jeff... we're working on a better deal for ya up here in Maine...the Real God's Country. Bring yer wife along for THIS ride. We're gonna run the marathon of marathons right up here on the Ken E Bec.

Ok I'll bite, what can you tell us about this "marathon of marathons".

Thx,

Sam

At the moment, it is in the "Pub" stage, but...., it would probably start in Gardiner Maine, run South down the Kennebec River, past the Richmond waterfront,continuing South along the West side of Swan Island to Pork Point and a left-turn back upriver a little-ways to the North to the breakwater and a right-turn into the Eastern Kennebec up to a turn-a-round just past the Bridge in Dresden Mills; then back down to the entrance of the Eastern and a right-turn back North up the Kennebec on the East side of Swan Island, a left-turn in thru Little Swan past the eagles nests and rock ledges, continuing back up the Kennebec river to Gardiner. Need to Google-earth it.

[BabcockBros38A]

to answer sam

I think Alex may have just finished draining another jug of Stoli as well as a few goat head ales! He is referring to the Marathon that used to run on the Kennebec River. From the landing in Gardiner, Maine the course follows the river and goes about 27 miles to Bath, Maine, turning at the Carleton Bridge. Bath Iron Works, (Builders of some of the finest Warships ever to serve the U.S.) will be off your starboard bow, your right side for all of you inlanders!!!! Then its back to Gardiner. 27 more miles. The river is a tidal one so you will have an 8 knot current. It hasn't been run in decades. A non APBA event had been run in the 80's This ran from Bath down the Kennebec to open ocean. this was about 32 miles total length with 3.5 miles actually in the Atlantic. It was open to largers boats , BUT, once Racer Allen brought up his DSR with 55H and won the event. He had to circle Seguin Island, (the course turn for a while until another boat came there as the fog had dropped in!) he followed until he had clear skys and went on to win. The organizers changed the rules the following race to not allow race boats.




Pete

[Islandmon]

Alex / Pete , thanks for the reply. Sounds like a heck of a ride. Keep us posted as there are several marathoners here in Mich and surrounding states that might have interest.

Sam,
87-M

[jeff55v]

Thank you everyone for your responses to my question concerning shopping places my wife would enjoy. I hope nobody misunderstands my question. I agree that northern Michigan is one of the most beautiful and pristine parts of the country. (I'd move there if I could) And I'm sure it's a great race site! But my wife on the other hand, is more into the shopping side of things. I will keep working on this "sell" to my wife.
Alex, I'll give you a call sometime about that marathon.

[Raymond]

Can someone help a new racer that has never been to a National Event understand the general event time lines of a National Event?

We understand that many of the day-to-day details have yet to be decided but we are looking into making our travel and lodging plans and need to plan accordingly. We are generally curious how these events pan out and more specifically we would like to know if the 30th and 7th are considered ‘on the water event days’ or are they listed more as travel, setup and teardown days?

Does anybody know where exactly on Sunday Lake the races are held? Is the race site pet friendly?

[trapdoor]

Well for years several of us girls would go to Ironwood and Hurley to shop and have lunch. We also made a trip up to Bayfield, Wi. It was so much fun shopping all day at that quaint village and the view of the Apostle Islands while we ate lunch was terrific. Granted none of the above cities is Wakefield but they are close side trips that can be done in a few hours. The Bayfield trip does take most of a day but still is quite doable. i am sure Mary would have fun unless she only likes malls.

MaryEllen

[sam]

I don't get the shopping at malls thing ... even the famous GUM mall on Red Square in Moscow has half the same stores as the mall down the street from me here in Annapolis at roughly the same prices. 6 other local malls ... 90% to 95% the same stores in each. Is one McDonalds or Starbucks really better than another?

[PopPop]

Gum

I don't get the shopping at malls thing ... even the famous GUM mall on Red Square in Moscow has half the same stores as the mall down the street from me here in Annapolis at roughly the same prices. 6 other local malls ... 90% to 95% the same stores in each. Is one McDonalds or Starbucks really better than another?

I don't know about shopping there (at GUM) but it is something to see. Many of the shops are simply branches of stores in Paris and Rome. Now Red Square and the Kremlin are certainly worth the trip.

[dholt]

Ray,

I don't have a calendar in front of me...so not sure which day coincides with the dates.

Date of Wakefield is Aug 1-8.

Monday is sanctioned testing. Racing starts Tuesday. Usually wraps up Saturday...with Sunday as an option in case racing gets behind due to weather.

Each day usually has elims and some final races mixed in. If time permits, the next day's schedule may slide forward...the race committee is wise to get ahead whenever possible. Inevitably with a week long event, you're going to have weather delays.

Driver's meeting is Monday night.

That clear things up for you?

Oh yeah, there's a party of some sort every night of the week.

[ram95]

The Russians are coming

OK OK.. I just spoke with "Glasses".... he's going to provide Security so we're going to haul our 'junk' up to Wakefield this summer to enjoy "the pristine wilderness" etc. Hope the weather is decent. We're making reservations now.

Alex

Mad Russian Racing.... coming to a peaceful lake near you!