March 15, 2001
http://www.santa-cruz.com
| A contestant paddles his way through a Manresa State Beach wave in La Selva Beach during a preliminary heat of the World Surf Kayaking Championships on Wednesday. Sentinel photo by Shmuel Thaler |
The World Surf Kayaking Championships is taking today off to allow surf kayakers who battled furious waves Wednesday to recuperate from sore shoulders and bruised bodies.
In round two of the five-day-long World Surf Kayaking Championships, local Dave Johnston lost his chance to hold on to his title as the best Men’s International Surf Kayaker in the world.
He tore ligaments in his back while competing Tuesday. The lack of full motion in his back hampered his performance in Wednesday’s tour on the waves.
But Johnston, the owner of Venture Quest Kayaks on Beach Street, isn’t completely out of the running for a title in the championships.
While enduring the pain during Tuesday’s round, he qualified to seek the No. 1 spot in the High Performance category of the contest.
The competition will resume Friday at 8 a.m. at Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz.