2010 Lighthouse to Lighthouse – by Wesley Echols

Sean Brennan Smokes the Field
Tom Kerr in the Top 10
Chris Chappell, One Year Milestone

It was a beautiful day to be in Westport, Connecticut, one of the wealthiest communities in the United States and perhaps, the best venue for a surfski/kayak/rowing/OC with a long sandy beach, public restrooms, easy access on and off I 95, lighthouses, expert organization by Wayne Lysobey, and the weather seems to always cooperate.

With almost 100 paddlers registered, including 24 of the top surfski paddlers on the East Coast, the depth of paddlers was almost on par with the Blackburn Challenge. Chris Chappell and I met Sean Brennan (former Olympic sprint paddler) at the porta john, pre race. I asked Sean what type of boat he would be paddling and he said with a casual yet confident, easy going manner, “Surfski” At that point I realized I had seen his name on a results page or group email and knew he was one of the top paddlers. I asked him what his strategy was and he said “just go out and have a good race and see what happens”.

Well, what happened was he and Craig Impens literally exploded at the sound of the horn, so astonishingly fast that I commented to Tim Dwyer, 30 seconds into the race, “ my gosh, it is unbelievable how fast those guys are”. Not too far back was Joe Glickman and Cory Lancaster. After the race Joe told me Cory was right behind him until about mile 5 or so before the Lighthouse when he dropped Cory. Cory went on to a 4th place finish. Meanwhile Sean was leading the pack and finished with a Lighthouse Course Record for any craft at 1:47:19. His name will be engraved on the Cup Trophy as all winners are after each race. Joe managed to stave off Craig (1.54.19) for a 2nd place finish at 1:54:05.

Minutes behind the leader, the second pack of paddlers made up of Joe Shaw and Marcus Demuth who took a wide line to the lighthouse, were slightly ahead of Mike Tracy and Tim Dwyer, while I had been dropped at mile 4 by Mike and Tim but at this point only one minute behind. We all converged at the lighthouse with Mike, Tim, and Marcus within close proximity heading for home. I passed Joe Shaw just past the lighthouse and maintained my lead on Joe as he rode my wash from mile 9 to mile 13.5 when I dropped him sprinting toward the finish. Similar to the Double Beaver, Marcus rode Mike’s wash for the last half of the race while only tapping Mike’s boat 4 times vice 25 times at the Double Beaver. Marcus was able to sprint past Mike within a half mile of the finish for a 5th place finish with Mike coming in 9 seconds behind. Tim closed the gap on Mike and Marcus in his first race in his V12 to within a minute to take 7th place.

Approximately 3 minutes behind these guys rounding the final turn home at mile 13, was me, Joe Shaw, and Roger Gocking (fast touring winner). Joe took a slightly better line heading toward the beach with a boat length lead while Roger on my left was slightly ahead of me. I increased my pace to gain on these guys but out of nowhere on my right was hard charging Tom Kerr. I tried in vain to keep pace with Tom but he was too strong and finished 19 seconds ahead for Tom’s best race of the season for a 8th place finish in a highly competitive field.

This is the second back to back race Tom has done extremely well in. He finished within seconds of our group at the Jamestown Revolution Race. With all Tom’s training he should have a good showing at the Mayor’s Cup and having gotten a taste for international paddling at last year’s Dubai race, is gearing up for next year’s Molokai. Tom also completed the U.S. Surfski Championships this year.

It was a year ago on this beach that Chris Chappell, paddling partner and web master for our site, discussed the SurfskiRacing.com for the very first time. Chris completed his first kayak/surfski race at last year’s Lighthouse and has now completed eight surfski races this season and is in 6th place for NE Surfski point series. While still getting use to paddling in the ocean bumps, Chris’s flat water paddling has not gone unnoticed. Chris routinely races on the Charles River in Boston every Wednesday evening with a highly completive group of flatwater specialists, continuing to improve his flatwater skills powering his Ted Van Dusen designed Mohican (recently nearly breaking 39 minutes in the 4.95 mile course). It is just a matter of time before Chris is able to transfer his power on flatwater to the ocean in his new to him V10.

For next season we should have even more surfskis at the Lighthouse to Lighthouse Race. Finally thanks to Wayne, Gary, and Michele and their crew for putting together another fantastic race for all of us to enjoy. ~ Wesley