The Narrow River Race is a small race as far as numbers but it brings out a great effort.  It is a great tune up (9.71 miles) for the ROTC in a few weeks.   Tim, myself, Dave Grainger are doing the 19 mile with the 6 portages while Fransisco and Chris are doing the 6 mile.  It was a beautiful day to be paddling anywhere in New England.  Temps in the 40’s with a wind of about 10mphs and sunny!   So all 6 of us lined up and on Bob’s(OC1) mark we were off.  Chris in his vibrant orange Mohican took the lead with Tim(V12 Ultra) and me Stellar SES Ultra a few boats lengths behind.  Dave in his Mohican would follow as would Francisco in his SE Stellar Excel.  Tim and I settled in for the first  2 miles watching Chris open up more of a lead.  Tim and I rotated drafting for 6 minutes, 2 on, 2 off.  Just after the 1st bridge, I told myself, I have to maintain contact with Chris so I increased the tempo to the turn buoy trying to catch Chris.  This opened up a gap on Tim.   During this stretch we watched the University of Rhode Island Rowing team who were on the same course though wide left, glide through the water on their 4’s and 8’s.

As we made the turn,  I closed the gap on Chris but it would take me another 20 minutes to finally catch him.  So 50 minutes into the race I bumped his stern as we headed down river heading toward the ocean.  The water level was high today which made our times almost identical to last year.  Once I caught Chris, I eased off slightly not wanting to blow up.  Chris settled in behind me, not letting me get more than a boat length ahead.  During this time, Tim closed the gap on us and by the time Chris and I turned on the stick flag reversing our course up river again,  Tim was only 30 seconds or so back.  I was able to negotiate the 180 degree turn fairly cleanly unlike last week when I did not get my bow headed up stream quickly enough and I got pushed side ways headed toward to ocean 500 yards beyond the flag.  Francisco made the same mistake today and lost time.   Only a few years ago Tim capsized here.  The current whips around the flag!!!  This course is far from benign.  Pick the wrong line and end up in shallow water carring your boat.    Fransisco discovered this today also.  Years ago Ken Cooper dropped the 3 minute gap he held on me having to get out of his boat on a sand bar.

As I came out of the turn,  I knew I had 2 bridges and 2 miles to go, so I up the tempo knowing Tim and Chris would not be far behind.  I was able to gain about a 45 second gap on Chris up to the 1st bridge and Tim was not far behind Chris.   On the final leg I looked around a few times to my right and did not see Chris or Tim.   Then with 3/4 mile to go I looked over my left shoulder and there was Chris gaining on me as I was running out of steam.   I pushed hard the last mile while Chris had his max HR on this last mile while I had my slowest.   It was only fitting because I was all but maxed out when I was trying to catch Chris 60 minutes before.   I was able to hold Chris off and Chris held Tim off by 10 seconds.   Dave Grainger, looking fit and happy turned in a good time.  Dave even had his surf boat jammed in his Honda Insight just in case he wanted to catch some waves off Narragansett Beach after the race! Fransisco, always ready for the adventure has improved with every race.   I will have a follow-up article on Fransisco in a few days to give you more insight to what Fransisco is capable of.   Bob Wright(OC1), a local science teacher, shared with us that he started a kayak club for his kids last year and his kids are really “into” it!!!  We need more Bob Wrights in the US to fuel the aging paddling community.

1. Wesley Echols,  Stellar SES Ultra, 1.25. 41

2. Chris Chappell, Mohican, 1:26: 42

3. Tim Dwyer, V12 ultra, 1:26: 55

4. Dave Grainger, Mohican, 1:33:48

5. Francisco Urena, Stellar SE Excel, 1:37: 52

6. Bob Wright, OC1

https://picasaweb.google.com/Surfski14/NarrowRiver2011#5591128740695714402