Junior Kayak Races in Palau...guess who won?

He was determined to make it all the way.

Wednesday, the Royal Belau Yacht Club put on it's first ever Junior Kayak Races in front of Sam's Tours.  Jake, believe it or not, is not very skilled in kayaking so he was a little hesitant to join.  With a little persistence we finally convinced him to try it out.  It was a really fun day.  Andy volunteered to be the buoy the kids paddled around as well as take pictures and I volunteered to help with sign up and basic chicken herding, um...I mean gathering the kids up.  There were four categories: 6-9 years, 10-14 years, 15-18 years, and then doubles, which mostly consisted of the younger kids paired up with an older kid.  The skills varied from non-existent to pretty darn good.  It was a blast to watch.  Everyone had a chance to paddle two races (or 4 if you participated in singles and doubles).  Jake placed 3rd in the first race and 4th in the second race, but due to some kids only paddling in one race and one girl getting disqualified for not following the course, he actually ended up taking the first place prize home (and no, it wasn't because his mom was helping with the scoring...I was actually lobbying against him). He won a $25 gift certificate at a local store here.  Think miniature (very miniature) Walmart.  Jake was a bit miffed that he won, so we turned it into a lesson:  if you don't give up and you try to follow the rules, most of the time, you'll be rewarded.

We had a great turn out and I don't doubt that we'll do another one soon.

The "Winners" Circle

Aside from his racing debut, Jake has been playing with some of the local kids pretty much non-stop and yesterday, Charlie arrived back in town so it was 'game on' for those two today.

After the race, coming to our boat to ask us if he could play onshore.

We have some potential news but I'm going to leave you hanging for a week or so while it gets finalized (how else am I sure you'll come back and read another post?)...

Enjoy the pics!