Float the Boat 2010

I know, it's been a while. It always seems to be a while. Fact is, I spend a lot more time than I plan on every single time I post something on here. I'll work on it in the future.

This past Saturday (Jan 23th), Float the Boat finally went down. After being snowed out, then subsequently rained out, it turns out third time's the charm. The weather turned out good enough, with cool temps, a little cross wind, and drizzle that disappeared right before the comp started at 10.

Besides being my first outdoor bouldering comp, this was also my first trip to Boat Rock. The type of climbing there is very similar to most climbing in NC and SC - that is it say, slabby. Really slabby, with hard-as-balls top outs. Not my style, to say the least. Despite this, I managed to have a pretty good day, sending some classics such as Yellow Arete, Firewoman Sit, and Lost Digits. I even surprised myself and sent some slabs!

Although this was a comp, I knew it would be a while before I made it back again, and projected accordingly. By accordingly, I mean I threw myself at stuff I had no real chance of climbing in less-than-ideal conditions. I wasted about 2 hours not climbing Paint Can, Lost Boys Throw, Venom, and Anti-venom. Because of this, I ended up with two V2's still on my scorecard. Not exactly ideal, and I ended up middle of the pack in the Men's Intermediate class, 9th out of 19 climbers.

The rest of our group did much better. George won the beginners class, Brad faired better than I, and Brian (one of Brad's friends I met Saturday) got third in the beginner's. Big props to all of those guys. George climbed his ass off.

Overall, Float the Boat 2010 was awesome. I got to explore somewhere new, meet and climb with several cool people (most of which I called by the wrong name), and in general have a kickass time.

 Best of all, I got to take home a new water bottle and block of chalk. WOOP!