I ran my own race. I ran my own race. I think I should be able to say that twice, maybe even squeeze out a third time.
As the regatta chairman 7 years now, I do sometimes think of it as my race, or more to the point our race. The L2L is the race of our growing team of volunteers. Friends, family, the kayak community, and more and more, the Norwalk River Rowing Club.
In the real and broadest sense, the L2L event is an open water community function. It is getting a global village feel to it. And, we always keep the fun in function!
I could write pages about the volunteers. Kayaker Robin Francis brings her kids down to help us. Angelica, 17, has helped for four years now. Mac, 12, has helped 3 or 4 years also. Mac learned how to open clams this year from Ed Stillwagon, world’s best shucker. I could go on and on. Maybe I will at the end of this story…
Gary Williams, regatta chairperson and kayak official is also manager of the Achilles’ Program. From Gary:
Also, this year we are joined by three boats from the Achilles International Kayak Program. Achilles has had a great season and are bringing several Achilles athletes to the L2L that successfully completed the Mayor’s Cup in NYC earlier in the season. They will be paddling tandem sea kayaks with an experienced kayaker accompanying each Achilles Athlete for the race. The goal of the Achilles International Kayak Program is to expand participation in competitive kayaking events for paddlers with disabilities. Athletes come from many backgrounds including the military but the program is open to all Achilles members. If you are interested in helping them in this endeavor, please stop by the Achilles tent or speak with Gary Williams.
Achilles athletes, swapping fish stories? “John, it was this big” said Dick
photo by Robin Francis
My race. Yes, I ran my own race. Kept my own pace. I did not go out too fast. I was near the back of the pack by the first mile, that first leg, due south to the back of Cockonoe.
Flight “B” had all sliding seats and HPK’s. (High Performance Kayaks). Sliding seats on 1 end of the starting line, and about 20 HPK’s on the other.
Seems like some races you let your pace be dictated by the competition. This can spur you on, or wear you out and discourage you.
I rowed my own pace. Ran my own race. At the start, I had been near Peter Oudheusen from Greenwich in his yellow Echo 18. I’ve been in few races with Peter starting back in Apponagensett where….
Well, better get back to the L2L. Gary Piantedosi and Jim Gorman had Alden Stars. Sounds like they did not have much rough water practice in the Stars. They have been rowing the sliding seat Whitehalls in some races this year. The solid and seaworthy Whitehalls might have been a better choice for the L2L.
The wind was a shifty character that day. NE mostly, going more East and then, ESE. On Long Island Sound we get our roughest weather out of the east. It was flat water at the start, getting rougher as we moved toward Cockonoe. Not real easy rowing, waves off the starboard stern quarter. Surfskiers are pretty good with that, and even better with the real following seas later on.
It gets a little fuzzy, who was where when, who was flipping where, who I passed or who passed me.
But I did notice I was moving up in the pack. Leslie was holding her own in the Echo. The Echo 18 was a great boat for that day. Better in a quartering sea and general rough conditions then most open water shells. Leslie wanted a seaworthy boat for her first open water adventure. I steered her towards the Echo 18. Maryellen from Echo concurred, and brought a boat down for her.
I was catching up to her around Pecks Ledge Lighthouse. It was rough there. Not quite a good following sea. Not for a rowing shell anyway, I think the surfskiis were cool with it. I have an oversize skeg. “Made it myself and I love it”, as the old Popular Mechanics magazine was famous for saying. It helps with the following sea.
Bill Russell had a standard size skeg on his Maas 24. I had siliconed that in for him after his skeg loss in the Hudson (another story). Bill did pretty well in those Hudson waves skegless, I was impressed. Different waves, different stories though. In the L2L, Bill missed having the oversize skeg. We sometimes put Maas Double skegs on our boats. Or in my case, since my Blackburn skeg loss, a homemade skeg, nicknamed The Shark Fin.
Between the south end of Cockonoe and Goose Islands is where it really started getting dicey. The rower in the blue rec racer shell flipped around here somewhere. There was a boat or two closer to him than I was, but about four of us paused. Me, John Greenley, Bill Russell, maybe an HPK guy. Like I said it gets a little fuzzy. Pretty soon the safety boat, Hank Ellet, in my Boston Whaler is heading over. (Hank, did you find a rock with my 3 bladed depth finder? Seems like a new crinkle in the prop now. It was already banged up anyways)
“Safety boat coming, we’re good to go”, I shout out. Competitors start competing again. The wet rower is climbing back onto his shell.
I noticed Bill Russell further out than I was. Looked like he was struggling. I hugged the inside of the course the whole race. Found some slightly kinder, gentler waves that way. I started picking up some surfing, some boat run from the waves and kept the boat speed up, maybe on 4 out of 5 waves. That was good enough to be moving up the pack here. Every 5th wave or so there would be some missed water or a stroke with just one oar in the water. We scullers do not like to do too much rowing with just one oar in the water!
Can you quote yourself, or quote someone else quoting you? Should you use some special quotation marks?
“”You must adapt to the waves, the waves will not adapt to you” said Wayne Lysobey”” said Marlene Royle in her story : “On the Rougher Side” from Rowing News.
I was adapting better than some here. Tough rowing. I noticed I was catching up to Leslie in her Echo 18. She was in even closer, toward Pecks Ledge Lighthouse. First time she has ever been in conditions like that. She had the right boat for it. Leslie races her skinny shell on the flatwater circuit. She was looking for something with more depth, more dimensions, more adventure. She found it. Leslie had her open water baptism in one the more challenging L2L’s we have had.
Leslie course was inside of mine, next to Goose Island. You know, the island with that old small stone shack on it known to some as the Rat House. Something to do with the armies’ research on rats back 75 years ago. Or so local lore has it.
Leslie had that look of concentration and concern that I think all, or most of the sliding seaters were wearing now. I figured that with NE waves it would be a little calmer if we could catch the lee of Goose after we rounded the point.
“Leslie. After that point, go starboard a little. It should be a little calmer.” I suggested.
It was a little calmer, but not much. Another mile until Copps’ Rocks. I picked up more run here and pulled ahead of Leslie. I was looking forward to rounding Copps and making the real downwind leg, 4 ½ miles to Greens Ledge Lighthouse. I was thinking there will be some happy surfskiers here. They love the downwind legs. Me too!
I got through Copps Rocks, dead on my GPS point. I was happy to see the next bearing come up, now I could swing my stern into the wind. Now is the time for all good surfers to get run out of those waves. Waves that can be your friend. But a friend that can turn on you. I can surf my boat better than some. Organizing and being head honcho for the L2L comes with some stress. The waves were my stress reducer more than my stress maker. I admit feeling proud of myself for maintaining a calm mind and body through some challenging conditions. Tension can really sap your strength. I am sure it helped being on my home turf. And, in this case, my home surf! I love that feeling of the waves picking up your stern and pushing you forward, sliding down the wave. I love the sound and the feel of the bow sometimes plunging a few inches underwater, and then popping up again, shedding water like a submarine. Then you grab another two oarfulls of water and try to catch the next wave.
I made some hydration stops along the way. Better not to wait too long to do that. Stop, squeeze out some sports drink, splash the hands in the water, grab the oar handles and it’s off to the races again.
“Heh Peter, how’s it going?” I said to Peter O in yellow Echo. I started off the race next to Peter. After a half mile, he had a good lead. My surfing in my longer boat made up that gap by the time we got close to Greens. For a few minutes, you would think we were just socializing and having a nice row together. The lead boats were retuning now, so we had to keep an extra good lookout. Four or five surfskiis passed us going in the opposite direction. Where were Rich and Jeff, our fastest rowers I wondered? I looked off shore and saw Jeff pretty far out. Going back on the outside route, looking for some extra current. Rich went that way too. Sometimes some of the OC-6’ers like to take that route. Maybe they get some current edge sometimes. I don’t think it was an advantage this year. It was calmer closer lot shore.
Me at full compression at Brown’s Point, midpoint of Sheffield Island
Photo by Hank Ellet
Close to Greens I was thinking- enjoy these last few waves, it’s gonna be a head on slog on the way back. I rounded Greens, stopped and hydrated. I was feeling pretty good. Good thing, I knew I needed plenty of energy for the fight back through the waves. I wondered if I was in third place for my division now. It was hard to tell. I wasn’t sure where Jim, Gary and one or two others were. I was enjoying the competition and the love hate relationship with the waves. My HR never was out of control this race. It was difficult to push yourself to your conditioning level. Mostly it was a wave race.
“Go Roger” I yelled over to Roger Crossland in the NYC Men’s OC-6. Roger was first paddle or steersman. Not sure what the OC-er’s call it. Blake Conants’ Manu’iwa men’s OC-6 was really cooking ahead somewhere. Why wait, I’ll tell you right now Blakes team took fastest time of day and a new OC-6 course record. They were off Sean Brennans’ course record setting HPK run last year by only 6 seconds.
After passing Copps again, I watched Mary Dowd and Pam Ellet gaining ground in the 2x. They passed somewhere around Cockonoe.
Mary Dowd and Pam Ellet gaining on me by Pecks Ledge Lighthouse
Photo by Hank Ellet
The last leg, from Cockonoe to the finish, was easier than last year. Easier on my legs too. I crossed the finish. I stopped and kneaded the cramp in my leg. It seems like mile 14 is where I typically start to have cramping problems. Fortunately, in the L2L that was at the finish.
I had some sports drink. I got my boat into to beach, got out into the water, and stumbled around on my feet while my beautiful and charming wife Bev helped me carry up the boat.
Good time for a beer and a cheeseburger. Life is good. I have a mug that says that.
“Good race Wayne. It was around there <Goose Island> I stopped racing and just started rowing, just to hang on. I really missed that skeg!” said Bill R, later at the party.
I say it’s not the size of your skeg but your skegmanship that matters.
Well, honestly, the bigger skeg is a great help with following seas. I just couldn’t resist the size of your skeg remark.
I was happy to get a 3rd place medal to hang around my neck. Medals don’t come as easily as they used to.
Rich K was 1st in our division. Jeff Nelson 2nd. Rich was 2nd fastest boat of the day in his one of a kind “Rowhican” sliding seat rowing shell. Rich works for Ted Van Dusen, boat builder, and did heavy modifications of a Mohican kayak to build the Rowhican.
Another great day for the L2L. Many happy people at the beach, with many stories to tell!
Long Live Open Water
~Wayne
And thanks to:
bevbillellengarymichelejeansaracoopmalcombillmikepatmonicafranni
hankdavelesmaclauramemaryellenuscgactdewestportparksandrec
nrramaxbobjeffbuckyvivkiesnormanbobbyzacherinmariselchristineand
everyoneiforgot
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