Holyoke Race-Mohicans Shine, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th

With my choice of an ocean race or a flat water race, 90% of the time I choose ocean hands down. However, with my newly purchased Ted Van Dusen Mohican, I could not wait to race the Holyoke 6 mile on the Connecticut River hosted by Mark and Alicia Wendolowski. So Chris Chappell(Team SurfskiRacing.com) and I met at the park and ride in Worcester and drove down with both our Mohicans strapped on my car. We had also heard that Michael Milenkov, a regular at the Charles River, Wednesday evening training races, also just got his new Mohican. The “Mohican” show down was on! Ed Dvorchak was also paddling his Mohican.

Mohican, Pure Flat Water Surf Ski

Before I get ahead of myself, Kurt Kuhnel in his Van Dusen K1 Mohawk was the hands on favorite to win which he did opting to go with the Mohawk over the old Mil surfski he paddled for last year’s race. Kurt even paddled a much harder line opting to stay out in river current to avoid any chance of running a ground in the shallows like Mark Wendolowski did unfortunately. Last year’s winner Hugh Pritchard along with Mark just came off the USACK Wildwater Team Trials where both, along with Chris Norbury, will represent the USA in Wildwater Sprint World Championships at Solkan, Slovenia, June 14th-16th 2013. So Congrats to Mark and Hugh! Hugh maybe the best all around paddler in the Northeast based on his flat water, wildwater, and Blackburn races. We got to get Hugh into a ski!

Kurt, Alicia

Leading up to the race, Chris and I had a serious two hour interval workout in our Mohicans the week before, so I had no illusions about how I would finish in relationship to Chris. I had been working on my starts as suggested by Chris so when we heard the faint shout of “GO” at the mass start of all classes, I was only a half a boat length behind Chris, just like in our intervals sessions. To our right was Mark and Kurt side by side as we headed down stream. Feeling pretty good I was holding my own for the first half mile. That feeling passed quickly as Chris was just getting warmed up while I was already at max effort. By the time we reached the turn Chris had put another 3 lengths on me while Kurt and Mark held a slight lead. Kurt as this point took a safe but harder line and dropped Mark. Chris opted for a safe yet optimal line closer to shore. I followed Chris’s line while Michael reeled me in by mile two virtually one foot from the shore. I was not willing to risk boat damage or running aground, unlike Michael who had no such fear. Michael pass me like was in a sea kayak, “Oh wait we are in the same model boat!” At the 2.5 mile mark, knowing their were shallows at this point, I went toward the middle of the river while Mark mistakenly went toward the shore quickly realizing his mistake. He ran aground and had to get out of his K1 and lost significant time coming in 5th behind me. Coming off the Team Trials and an endurance bike race last weekend, not sure Mark was at full strength because normally Mark is much faster than I am on flat water.

Mark

As the race progressed Chris closed the gap on Kurt slightly by the 2nd bridge turn while typical Michael style just kept on pushing hard closing on Chris slightly and furthered the gap on me. On the final downriver leg we maintained our positions with Kurt first, Chris second, Michael third, me fourth, and Mark fifth. I thoroughly enjoyed the race. Flat water racing in many ways is less stressful comparing it to ocean racing because you can just focus on pure paddling and not staying upright provided you are in a stable flat water boat like the superbly designed Mohican, a pure flat water surfski. It was even more fun today since me, Chris, and Michael were in Mohicans so whatever the results were between us, it was about the engine. Although on the ride home I joked with Chris, ” you know I had my bailer open and you did not, maybe that was the 1.40 minute gap you had on me, or maybe it was that your Mohican was waxed better than mine”. Next year maybe Chris will spot me a minute!