Today’s race has many story lines:Great surfski turnout, race tactics, seeing familiar racing buddies, demoing boats, flattest water ever. However, what really sticks in my mind today was a story about duty, hardship, perseverance, and the human spirit. With an earlier start time and different parking venues, I chose to spend Friday night at the Essex River Motel so I could get a prime parking space with all my skis. So this morning at 5:30, I walk out of the motel and see that Gary Williams was also getting an earlier start. We talk a few minutes and proceeded to get the prime parking spaces. At this point I introduced myself to Kevin Cooke, Gary’s kayak double partner. Kevin tells me this is only his second time in a kayak and Gary chimes in he already has an excellent stroke for a novice. I can confirm this after seeing Kevin on the race course. Talking a few more minutes with Kevin, he shares with me he is an Army Ranger veteran of the Iraq war. Kevin reached out to Gary to see if kayaking would be something he would enjoy. Kevin is enjoying kayaking due to his perservance, spririt, amazing pain threshold, and through the great organization Achilles International and volunteers like Gary. Kevin despite his serious injuries sustained when a IED exploded while on duty in Iraq and with Gary leading the way, had a great race today. It was a long day two days for these guys traveling from Connecticut on Friday night, having a flat tire, then having to get it fixed after the race before traveling home. Needless to say I was impressed with Kevin’s performance and Gary’s untiring spririt for being so gracious to help members of the Achilles Team! www.achillesinternational.org These guys were the best Winners today!!
Surfski Race
There was an excellent turnout today, 25 surfskiers. We had just about all the surfski paddlers in New England minus a few. Unlike last year, today’s race conditions were flat as the Charles River! I chided Bill Baker that he could have paddled one of his K1’s today. Chris Chappell decided to use his Mohican vice his surfski. It was an excellent choice of boats. Tim and I,(winners of last year’s race in 25mph winds) were hoping for another day like last year while Eric and Chris(Rotc 6 mile winner) and others were hoping for calm conditions. After a tip from Bill K. I lined up next to Rod McClain. Within the first half mile Rod was pulling the pack with me next to him and Chris over to our right. Rod efforts were short lived. Chris pulled away by a boat length as Hugh Pritchard was riding Chris’s wash. Eric McNett was biding his time riding my wash. Chris and Hugh increased their lead over me and Eric by about six boat lengths. Then I put in an interval to close the gap pulling Eric with me. Eric said after the race he was appreciative I was able to close the gap otherwise the outcome may have been different. So rounding the island, all of us were following Chris wondering if Chris was leading us to the rocks, over the weeds and into the buoy! The rocks almost got Chris as he and I swerve to avoid them. Eric seized on this moment and broke free with Hugh hot on his tail. Once around the island Eric and Hugh opened up a gap on Chris and I. Chris rode my wash as we decided what line to take in the confusing high water of the river. I pulled for a half mile then Chris put in a surge to pull along side of me. Then Chris put in another surge, me riding his side wash. Then another, Ouch!! With all the surges we were closing on Eric and Hugh despite them taking different lines. Eric was leading at this point and then stopped to let Hugh pull. With half mile to go, I thought Chris and I were going to be able to catch them but they took a different line on the last “S” curve and put a few more boat lengths on us. Hugh clipped Eric by a few seconds to win. Chris, the big guy, had one more surge in him and dropped me in the last 40 yards to finish 2 boat lengths ahead of me. So I believe 1st thru 4 places were separated by 40 seconds. Tim Dwyer with no help of wash riding, was about a minute off the pace. After three flatwater races, the Narrow River, ROTC, and Essex, I am ready for some ocean fun!
Below is Jim Budi’s summary of his race. Jim won the Fast Single Kayaks(FSK) class going away in 54:59, 8 minutes ahead of the second place finisher. With his time, Jim would have placed 18 in the Surfski Class. Pretty darn fast. Jim built his boat off a John Winters’s design. I first met Jim at the Bird Island Challenge last year. Next year, Jim has got to use his ski, he bought from me so he will be even faster!!!!
Jim Budi’s Summary
The starting line was dominated by Epic 18x’ s. The field was small and missing last years first and second place finishers.Didn’t trust the calm demeanor of the Essex River at the start remembering last years down stream 35 mph gusty surprise. Sorta guessed in 2010 that things might get sloppy when only one out of 14 FSKs was without a spray skirt. That was me.Tide gave us a nice push and I lost a wake rider as we maneuvered through the large fleet of 30 something sea kayaks. This led up to the interesting play on the confluence of currents right before Cross Island. Jumped a weed line into a fast current by the point there. So reassuring to hear Mr. Van Duesen’s cleverly designed rudder system going “click, click” as it shed the debris.The ride was fast and calm through the straits where last year I had buried the bow and broached under the bow of a double rowboat. Hugged the shore hoping to make use of any lee from the current that Cross Island’s East side afforded. After a few barely submerged boulders winked up at me way too intimately, I changed course to a track a man named Tucker in a sea kayak was on. Tucker either knew the water or was paddling with more reckless abandon than I was. No scrapes or cracks.On the return leg, I didn’t understand why the boats in front were deviating from the rhumb line left and right until the stripper was on top of the grass flat. John Winters gives a fine technical description of what happens to us in shallow water (The Shape of the Canoe). But it was Ben Lawry’s and Steve Rosenau’s instruction on shallow water acceleration that helped me get the boat up four tenths of a mph. Nicest surprise in the race. Had tried this unsuccessfully before in “suck” water before my paddling bud, Bill Gardener, taught me what shallow was in a scary ride in an OC2. It felt like we had gotten up on a plane.Not sure what gave out first, the weed shallows or the engine, but it was back into the humble role of a FSK as the surf ski fleet started to edge by on the home stretch.The biggest disappointment in the race, besides that my GPS’s idea of boat speed was way less than mine, was that the man in a red OC1 who helped right me after last years capsize was not there to get the South Carolina White Shrimp and Swordfish steaks I brought him.
Eric who was the first surfski to cross the finish line, won the $100.00 donated by Stellar Surfskis and Kayaks. Each surfski winner of the SurfskiRacing.com Series is awarded the $100.00 to go along with the points and the overall winner of the series gets another few hundred dollars as the Series winner. I won the prize money for the Snow Row. For this race Eric received 12 points, Chris 11points, me 10 points. The series is for local surfskis paddlers. Official times will be posted as soon as we get them.
Don’t miss the next race, the Sakonnet River Race. This is a 12 mile race that can be flat, very bumpy, or downwind. Regardless it will be fun. There is huge gap between this race and the Blackburn so if you want to get in a great 2 hour race to help you in the Blackburn then come on down. Experienced kayakers and rowers are welcomed.
https://picasaweb.google.com/Surfski14/Essex2011#
2011 Essex River Race – SurfskiRacing.com Race Series Results
Note: WSB T-Rex & EFT do not qualify for Surfski series since open cockpit boats
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