Narrow River, Wide Turn Out!

The 8th Narrow River Race was held yesterday with a big turn out for such a small race. We had many first this year. We had our first SUP Paddler Carly Tilotson from Duxbury, Massachusetts make the trip down. I must say it was nice to have a young, fit paddler amongst our group. Tim and I had a few emails with Carly. She was unaware of how fast skis are to SUPs but Tim and I encourage her come any way. She paddled hard said she was glad to make the trek down. Naturally, I said if she ever wanted to paddle a ski, I have a garage and basement full of them.

Carly all smiles.

The other first was we used PaddleGuru for registration. Greg Lesher set that up and it was nice to see who was coming. We we will use this for registration for the Sakonnet Race, Ride the Bull, and probably for Double Beaver and Paddle the Bay as well. Registration will be up in the upcoming weeks for these races. Our races are low cost affairs. If there is a charge, it is to offset the cost of putting on the race, like rental of a porta john, food, etc. Joe Shaw was complimentary of our low cost efforts at our lunch gathering at Oak Mill Tavern.

Big Crowd

With this in mind, all paddlers for are required to keep their own time. I am always amazed, actually a pet peeved of mine, that racers don’t record their on times. As low cost events to competitive racers, we don’t have official time keepers at the finish. Race directors like myself, Tim, and Greg work hard at putting on these races over the years. So please bring your watch or GPS to our races and use it. Be respectful for the time we spend on setting up the race and be respectful of the other paddlers that record their own times. Greg spent more than an hour trying to figure out the correct times. There is no need for this.

For those that don’t record their own times, their conversation goes like this.

-Myth, I don’t really care about my time. Just put something down.

-Myth, I just care about how I place, not the time.

-Myth/Fact. I don’t own a GPS, I forgot to turn it own.

-Fact, everyone cares about their results when posted.

-Fact, I get an email the next day saying their time was not correct.

-Fact, I ask them if they recorded their time. No.

-Fact, racers complain to others their time was not correct. Did they record there own time? No.

-Fact, they did not write their own time down in the note book.

Lastly, if you need suggestions on a GPS, Chris Chappell and I have used or owned virtually every Garmin or Polar over the years. If you are a luddite, then buy a large face Ironman Timex with for 70.00 and a 10.00 self adhesive mount from Sea to Summit and just record your time. Still can’t make a decision, then go to DCRainer Maker, the guru on everything related to data for athletes. Even at the larger races, if you record your on time, you can show the race director, your time on your GPS if there is a discrepancy.

Okay, back on track now. Thanks for your patience.

Other Narrow River First

Greg Lesher wins while newer racers Mike Dostal and his training partner Ben Pigot take 2nd and third respectfully.

Ben 3rd, Greg 1st, Mike 2nd. left to right

Chris Chappell and Leslie Chappell, the husband/wife duo, place 4th and 1st in their class.

Leslie and Chris Chappell

Not a first, but Joe Shaw paddled his K1. Many of us used to paddled K1’s on this course. It has been a few years since someone paddled a K1.

Kirk, Bill K, Josef, Jen, Leslie, Ben, Mike, do the race for the first time.

Greg makes a wrong turn on a buoy, but everyone follows the same line so it works out.

4 Women race: MaryBeth, Leslie, Jen, Carly

Race course altered since sand bar at mouth of river moved.

Big Thanks to all. See some folks at the Sharkbite in Florida, and most of you at the ROTC in a few weeks. Results are in the SurfskiRacing Race Results tab along with the current standings.