''The leaders shot down in an unbelievable time of 3hr 40min ... we expected them to take four to four and a-half hours.''
''It was very windy ... the wind was on their backs all the way.''
Yesterday's second leg of the four-day race resulted in a dead heat between Australian and Kiwi duo Matt Blundell and Michael Snell, winners of the first day, and Coast-to-Coast record holder Keith Murray with team-mate Bob MacLaughlin, both of Wanaka.
The 27 teams of two started the four-day, 261km race just above the Albert Town bridge on Thursday.
They paddled 89km from Albert Town down the Upper Clutha River to Clyde and Blundell and Snell posted a lead of about 8min.
Murray and MacLaughlin got into a spot of trouble on the first leg after they broke their rudder and started taking on water. Bates said they had to nurse their kayak down the river for half an hour until they could pick up a new boat and shift all their mandatory gear across.
Yesterday was a ''relatively short'' day, with the teams facing a 54km paddle from Clyde to the Roxburgh Dam.
Though there were no real dramas yesterday. One team, Jo Williams and Jeremy Warnoch, from Wanaka capsized at the finish line. They were fine, Bates said.
Today, the kayakers face ''probably the biggest day'' - a 75km paddle from Roxburgh to Clydevale.
''But it's moving water all the way'' compared with the previous two days with small sections of lake.
Bates expected the teams to separate a bit more on the leg, which would probably take them between six and nine hours to complete.
Tomorrow teams will race 44km from Clydevale to the finish, at Molyneux Bay.
