I look over at them in their game. I notice the first four to my right. They are intent on the first turn buoy and not distracted. They are waiting for the Course Marshal to turn the card. The hold their breath waiting for the band to snap. Boats are fully loaded.
I make a decision that I will meet them on the track and dominate their track lines. I will pass every single one of them I tell myself. That is my goal. I am going to let myself go.
I thank them for my race ahead. In my mind I run a quick win on fast forward.
The rubber band snaps. They are off on that wonderful âwot wot wotâ sound with the tell-tale whitewash that is the signature of thrust and super stock power.
As they race away, I start my Jet Ski loaded sideways on my hip to not overload the back pressure of the exhaust and drop the hull into the water.
I pull my throttle drawing a left knee into the tray, I stand up and tuck down and I pin it to win it. Iâm tracking over their wonderful trailing jet wash wakes. I race as if there are 11 race boats at my side.
They have all crossed the first inside line buoy and are fighting for the hierarchy structure on the track.
I ride my race on my terms. I unleash permission and I let my race boat do its job. I donât interfere. I let my boat do all the work and I stay in step with it. My breathing is calm and steady.
I am in that space of wonder. That internal mind. That hidden area that is given permission to awake where before slumber was comfortable and convenient in the middle of the pack.
The track is tight, with a lot of buoy turns and laps. I pick off every single racer on the track one by one. I win the race. From dead last I was number 1.
I knew I was going to win that race. In my mind, I had won that race before I started the boat. I cannot say that about any other race I had been in prior to this one.
I am a bit surprised honestly I am doing this. I never imagined I would pass this many race boats or even have the talent to do so, let alone competitive horsepower.
I won that race because of my sister racers. They also won with me.
If that call was not made against me, I would not have tapped into the hidden mind of permission. It was this race that I became an Apex Predator. I finally figured it out in my head! But it took the color of red to guide me and a failure.
I learned from that race a valuable lesson: Give Yourself Permission
This lesson is mindset through spirit. I teach this capability to my Rescue Water Craft students. One must wnat it and not be afraid to succeed.
It can be used for anything in life. Not everyone has it or wants it. This is something developed inside the internal will of a human who has a hunger for greatness. It is a passage.
My sister racers are my champions. They are my personal race heroes.
Without them I would be nothing. With them I am something.
They are part of my team, not adversaries. If we are not pushing one another towards greatness we are holding one another back and that my dear friends is the most selfish act of all in competition.
Keep in mind that we also had up to 4 log jumps and sometimes mini ramps on the closed course race track. Not like today where race tracks have reduced women's stand-up racing to a token of risk in a reverse discrimination against everything us first generation racers fought for. And loved!
We weren't afraid of ramp jumps or log jumps, they were equalizers of talent just like the slalom event.
Racing today is a fragment of the raw excitement it used to be. We can thank promoters and track design for that disaster. Runabouts do not belong on our closed course tracks. Yes, quote me because evidence is my master and it should be yours as well. And the evidence does not lie, but people do.
Runabouts are best suited for endurance and offshore race events due to mass weight, distance of travel and speed vs risk and safety. I'll save that for another story.
Moral of my race story:
Racing isnât fair and neither is life.
We earn our effort and sometimes itâs taken away. But we keep on keeping on.
We respect our competitors and honor them.
They are us and we are them.
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Posted: June 23, 2019
Content Creator of Rescue Water Craft and Personal Water Craft boating international education standards: Shawn Alladio is the worldâs foremost authority and leading subject matter expert. She cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.
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