My Fastest 4 miles Ever in a Surf Ski! Wesley Echols

My training this season beginning in February, is focused on the Blackburn Challenge, July 19th. The Blackburn consist of 19.4 miles with a mixture of 3 miles of flat water before you hit the ocean. Miles 13-17 are where your training or lack of training gets magnified in the rolling waters before the Dog Bar, then the 2 mile sprint in Gloucester Harbor concludes the race. For the past few years the race conditions have been flat, but it does not pay to get over confident. Most of us have done training paddles on this course that can be ridden with anxiety including myself where I was in a High Anxiety Stage 2 in my SES a few years back. Tim and Mike Tracy were in a double and we all turned back after doing 6 miles on the reverse course. We got separated early and by the time we got back to the greasy pole beach, the Coast Guard pulled up beside me wanted to know if I was Wesley Echols. Mike and Tim had alerted them while they were making their rounds in the Harbor. My point is, you need to do your training for the Blackburn in distance and rough water paddling. So I have been trying to get my 2-3 hour paddles every weekend since February combined with my other training and races. So today, Tim H, Tim D, and Bob W put in at our usual launch, Bay Voyage Inn in Jamestown, Rhode Island.

We decided to go upwind/up current to the North End of Jamestown which was a 6 mile grind in small white cap conditions(19 mph winds) on the quarter beam until we would turn South and race downwind to the Newport Bridge then to House on the Rocks and back to Bay Voyage. Tim D feeling strong led us to the North End. I was not feeling so strong having paddled five days in a row with 4 of those days doing time trials in my Stellar SES, Uno Max Ultimate, and Fenn Glide. I was excited to be on the water though, having a new Huki S1x Special,a new Garmin Virb Elite, my new Vaikobi top, and my new 100 oz “lumbar” hydro pack from Camelback. I knew I would not need 100 ozs of fluid today but I wanted to make sure it fit in my footwell of my ski in preps for the Blackburn. You want to vet all your gear well in advance of a big race. Before they came out with this bladder, I was using another brand that was really too long to fit in the foot well. It is about time Camelback made a wide 100 oz hydropack. I emailed them many years ago to suggest such a thing. My tiredness today was also overcome by the thought of using my new Garmin Virb Elite and finally having video. While I have take thousands of pictures, my Go Pro is rarely used. The Virb Elite is so user friendly as evidenced by today’s first time use. I plan to use my Go Pro and my Virb Elite on my boats this season to capture more video and pictures. Lastly, my Huki S1X Special performed brilliantly in these conditions. My review is forth coming.

With Tim feeling strong today, he pushed the pace to the North end. I wanted to keep my heart rate between 135-140 on this leg, saving my energy for the downwind leg. Bob was looking strong today having paddling another downwind training run earlier this week. He said it was wonderful! Tim H got reacquainted with ocean paddling today, a good training day indeed. Now for the good part.

We did not plan it this way based on the tide and wind but it worked out superbly, actually even better! Tim and I turned heading South for our familiar training paddle but little did we know we would clock the fastest four miles ever in our skis, ever! Prior to this paddle our fastest time one mile split was a 7:17 pace on this same course a year ago, me in my SES and Tim in his V12. Today we crushed it. We average 8.6 mph or a 7.00 minute per mile pace for 4 miles! With an outgoing tide and winds of 18-20 mph, we were flying and I got it on Video! We rarely get downwind conditions this good but when we do, it is something to be relished. As you can see by the video the waves were modest but very consistent down to the Newport Bridge. I never stalled out once on this leg. I was hoping to have my heart rate displayed on the video however with the camera placed on the stern, I believe the distance was too great to pick up my heart rate on the camera. Nevertheless, I have it on my Garmin 910XT. See my info below.

Garmin Connect Link

This downwind section was such a hoot, but I thought my fun was about to run out as I approached the Newport Bridge. The rebounding waves along with the swift current makes these waters very chaotic. I was within 100 yards of the bridge and was seriously thinking maybe I should bear far right to go under the bridge closest to shore for cleaner water. Then in a span of five seconds I calculated my risk: 1.Would I be able to veer right at these speeds and make it without hitting the piling? 2. Would I wallow in the washing machine waters if my speed slowed? 3. Do nothing and see what happens. I choose option three. As you can see from the video, I stopped paddling for a few seconds ready for a brace just as I crossed under the bridge without incidence. Whew!

So I edited the video down to 6 minutes from the 2 hours of raw video I had, trying to show the best parts without being too boring. This was one of the best paddles Tim and I have ever had! One for the record books.

Below is a link to the My Fastest 4 miles ever!