2015 Sakonnet River Race

Great Turnout and Fun!

As the host of the Sakonnet River Race, I was checking the forecast daily. On Thursday it was forecasted to blowing 15-20 with gust to 30, Friday’s forecast slightly less, and Saturday morning a small craft warning. I have changed the course many times over the years of this race due to conditions. For the uninitiated, the Sakonnet “River” is no river. It is a tidal strait of 14 miles connecting the Atlantic Ocean to Mount Hope Bay. My plan “A” was to head down to a cove tucked inside Black Point of 11 miles. Then I decided three miles of a 20 mph upwind grind on the last leg was no fun. So I went to plan “B” and shortened it to mere nine miles, 3 miles upwind, 4.5 downwind, 1.5 upwind. That worked!

See all of Betsy’s Pictures below.

https://plus.google.com/photos/111670948231605580163/albums/6157653229531926545

Half of field on start line

We got off to a rolling start into the wind headed toward Island Park Beach. The front pack got off to a blazing start with Jan, Mike Dostal (newer surfski paddler, but former Elite Lightweight rower, and overall winner(K1) 2015 Essex River Race) pulling away in the first mile from the second pack. Greg(2nd), always takes a mile to get warmed up but then the twin scroll turbochargers are in sync as he passed every one in the hunt for Jan and Mike. Greg can be seen shivering before the race and after the race. My suggestion to Greg whose body fat is probably around 4%, is bring the Concept 2 down to warm up on along with Mike Dostal. Heck, maybe even Roger Gocking and myself could take a couple of pulls. We know our way around an erg. On second thought a jacket maybe easier. See Greg’s and my write up on World Indoor Rowing Championships on this site. https://surfskiracing.org/2015/03/crash-bs-rowing-to-nowhere/, https://surfskiracing.org/2015/03/2015-world-indoor-rowing-championship/.

Greg, Jan, Eric top three on the podium.

The second pack was made up of Eric Costanzo(3rd), Chris, Bruce, Joe, Andrius, and Matt. Predictably the pack broke up on the downwind leg with Eric and Chris taking the most outer line. Chris made up a minute on the 1.5 mile upwind leg on the others. Mike pictured below had a great start but new to the conditions and in a new borrowed boat(mine) spent some time out of the boat. Just a learning experience for Mike and Ben Pigott who live inland so ocean paddling is new for them. Both are young and have big engines so all they need is more bucket time and experience. We have all been there.

Mike Dostal in new SES, had tough race but persevered.

Joe, Andrius, Jim on downwind leg. Sakonnet River Bridge in background

Jan, fresh off racing the Kayak Leg in the famous Sea to Ski race in Bellingham, Washington, was the first to the 3 mile turn winning the Stellar Sponsored Hot Spot award of $50.00. Jan has taken up the mantel where Borys left off last year. While Jan is not quite as fast as Borys, he is dominating the local races and is the at the top of the leader board in the standings. My first remembrance of Jan was at the relocated East Coast Surfski Championship held on the Seekonk River years ago, due to an impending hurricane. Jan was immediately ahead of me for most of the race in his bright red Nelo with a too long rudder and no weed guard. It took Jan a few years to get his “surfski bucket time” being a long time K1 paddler but now over the last two years he has performed very well in local and national races.

Jan taking it home. Black Point in Background that we avoided today.

Second Pack coming home. Eric(SEL) Andrius, Matt, Joe Shaw

Second Pack coming home. Eric(3rd), Andrius(4th), Matt(5th), Joe(6th)

It was an exciting race for everyone with a combination of conditions. The top 3-10 places were roughly within two minutes of each other. My race ended up being almost a training like paddle with 10 year training partner Tim Dwyer. We were together the whole race with me a few boats lengths ahead for most of the race. Tim got two boat lengths on me just before the last turn that I never made up. Thanks to everyone for coming!! A special thanks to Betsy, my wife, Tim H(scoring) and Robin for the fruit salad.