The cold spring continued, but at least the wind was nowhere near last year’s game changing 30 mph.

Race Director Bill Kuklinski Crosses Finish Line

Once again, HPK was the single largest class in the event – 28 boats total, 27 men, 1 woman. Similar to reports from the front of the pack, there was plenty of competition from the middle to the back of the pack as well. Francisco Urena and I did our seemingly every-race side-by-side from just before Conomo Point until youth prevailed and he pulled away in the last quarter mile. But it wasn’t all grinding away; on the back of the island, we were discussing how stunningly beautiful this course is … and how lucky we were to have missed the rocks on the north east corner of the island. (And this year I took Wes’ advice and got a short weed-free rudder – definitely a plus)

There are some early season candidates for Most Improved Paddler already making a strong case for themselves – in addition to Francisco’s fine performance, Bill Stafford (finally recovered from shoulder problems) and Chris Chappell (3rd place) were well up with the leaders, and well ahead of their pace from last year. And Greg Lesher (6th place on an S1-R) promises to wreck even more havoc at the front of the pack once he gets on a 17″ boat. Overall, the competition gets tougher – I believe four people actually broke Tim Dwyer’s course record set in 2006. (Yeah, the course is about 150 – 200 yards shorter, but I don’t think that really accounts for how fast this race was). If you find yourself farther back in the field than usual, it probably doesn’t mean you’re slowing down – just not improving fast enough!

One note of concern, especially to those of us in the ski community – I heard of a few incidents of overzealous drafting and such – drafters repeatedly bumping the draftee, skis drafting kayaks and boats in other classes, and skis traveling extremely close to dorys and work boats to screen off other skis. None of this is acceptable behavior. In my opinion, if you can’t control your ski well enough to keep from bumping the person you’re drafting, you shouldn’t be drafting; if you’re bumping intentionally, you shouldn’t be in the race. And drafting is only allowed in class, no exceptions. Please keep this in mind for the Blackburn; we all have a responsibility to each other to practice good sportsmanship, and I don’t want to have to disqualify someone for violating the rules.

The post race activity was fabulous; kudos to Nancy Dudley and the Essex Ship Building Museum for arranging the food and the band. And thanks to all of you for helping keep the parking lot clear, showing up and contributing to a great day.

See you all at the Blackburn – hope it warms up a little between now and then.  ~Bill

2011 Essex River Race – HPK Class Results