HUGE SUCCESS
The Lighthouse to Lighthouse Race (L2L) was a great success yesterday on many diffferent fronts. The Surfski Divison had the largest field of approximate 50 surfskis including the seven and 14 mile races. Included in this field was some of the top paddlers in the country and the top female paddler in the world(Michele Eray) as well as some newcomers to surfskis who got there first taste of surfski racing. It is a great mix of paddlers of all skill levels enjoying being on the ocean in the fastest craft that you can paddle. The fastest paddler today was Reid Hyle of Florida who clocked a time of 1.41.54 almost two minutes over second place finisher Borys Markin both in Stellar SES’s.
Corrected Results, September 10, Single Surfskis
Reid Hyle 1st Place
Jesse(3rd),Reid(1st), Borys(2nd), Photo Vadim Lishchuk
Reid and Borys at Finish
(photo Vadim Lishchuk)
In only his second time this year paddling in the ocean, Jesse Lishchuk placed third in the men’s divison. Jesse is a junior K1 paddler that has logged in mega flat water miles and is headed to the World Marathon Championships in Denmark. See below links for more info on Jesse. Jesse’s father is Vadim, a professional photographer, who often provides us with the best video of our local races and of Jesse’s races. Vadim had nine cameras on nine different boats yesterday including Reid’s, Borys’, Jesse’s, mine and many more. So stay tuned for this exciting video as well as Vadim’s photos below
More info on Jesse below.
.http://www.teamusa.org/Athletes/LI/Jesse-Lischchuk
Jesse Lishchuk, 3rd place
My Pictures taken by Betsy Echols and me.
https://plus.google.com/photos/111670948231605580163/albums/5921388630271908161
Vadim’s Super Duper Photos!!!!
Vadim Lishchuk getting my camera mounted. Thanks for all the great Pics!!! Photo Wesley
Beata (2),MIchele(1), Mary Beth(3)
Stellar sponsored the race providing cash prizes to the top three men, top women, and top paddler(Dana Gaines) in the 20plus divsion(V8,18S,Eze). The top woman was Michele Eray(3rd overall) who recently moved to Oklahoma City from South Africa to start her new job as the USA Canoe/Kayak Sprint Performance Manager. http://thegremlin.co.za/plettenberg-bay-news/wordpress/2013/09/05/michele-eray-tasked-with-producing-us-champions/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PlettenbergBayNews+(Plettenberg+Bay+News) Michele is the top woman surfski paddller in the world just coming off winning the World Championship in Portugal a month ago. Many of us got a chance to meet Michele after reading about her for years.
Michele Eray,Top Female paddler in the World joined us today. 3rd Overall
Photo:Vadim Lishchuk
You can’t have a successful event without expert race management. This was led again by Gary Williams, Wayne Lysobey, along with the many volunteers. So a big round of applause for these guys that did a wonderful job. The venue is ideal for a race: ample parking, restrooms, long wide beach, protected start, easy on/off interstate 95, quick race results using RaceMenu, sponsors are encourage to participate like Stellar(Dave Thomas). Nelo and Elite OceanSports(Mark McKenzie) were also there representing their brand of skis. Of course the food and drink is very good as well.
Michele,Dave Thomas(Stellar), Gary William(race director), Photo Vadim Lishchuk
North Shore Boys, Mike McDonough, Kirk Olsen,Bill K(1st tandem), and Greg Lesher(6th) after the race.
Bill K and Timmy Shields had a super race.
The race course also makes this race a huge success. It begins with a half mile protected flat water start just to get you warmed up before rounding a Sprite Island and into the small chop of Long Island Sound. After this we are treated to the first of two Lighthouses,(Pecks Ledge Lighhouse). The second lighthouse is Green Ledge Lighthouse at mile 7 that had confused moderate chop beginning one mile before the lighthouse. The course this year was straight forward except for the divers that roped off a section of the course just as we turned at the lighthouse. I guess they never got the message that we were having a race today. On the way back, we got about 2 miles of downwind that provided some respite from the upwind grind of the first 7 miles. So today we had a little of everything: flat water, small quarter chop, moderate confused washing machine chop, downwind, and more quarter beam wave on the way home to make for a very interesting and rewarding race.
Quite a few paddlers had exceptional race including Reid, Jesse, Eric Constanzo, Big Jim Hoffman, Chris (webmaster), and Kirk Olson to name a few. While I was disappointed in my time, I still had a great time racing, socializing with paddling friends and I was glad my wife joined me for the race. My highlights of the race was one of the most forceful braces I have ever put down in a ski. I was looking over to my right at a OC1 that was catching a few runners at mile 9 when I was caught off guard before I put down the recovery brace. I knew I was going over but the Hawx stayed on the chine and righted itself! The second highlight was holding off Mike McDonough in the last mile of the race. The third highlight was seeing Chris at the finish line knowing he had a fantastic race. I was behind my normal racing buddies but could see Chris pass most of our group at mile four and continue the push in his new comfortable Huki S1XL. Chris also raced again today and finished second to Greg Lesher at the flat water race, The Great Stone Dam Race. Greg had another excellent race coming in 6th.
Eric Constanzo
Jim Hoffman, photo Vadim Lishchuk
Chris, Yahoo!!
It was also great to met Mark Mckenzie of Elite Ocean Sports who made the trip up from South Carolina. Rewarding for me personally was to see two of the guys I had given lessons to earlier in the season do their first real ocean race. co congrats to these guys. They know who they are. So if you are reading this then you are reliving your great time you had at theL2L or you are reading this and thinking you missed all the fun. So don’t miss out again, get a ski and come join us.
Michael Alexeev, Mark McKenzie, Wesley
Jesse in Hawx, Mark McKenzie in Hawx at start.
Mark M, Chris, Mark C, Reid,Tim, Wesley
Wesley at finish. Photo Vadim Lishchuk
L2L by Wayne Lysobey, Co-Race Director
There once was a race called the L2L
Paddlers and rowers took off at the bell
Men and women got tougher
The more it got rougher
Cause this year some waves were bigger than hell!
There once was a race called the L2L
For those in whom toughness and spirit doth dwell
The waves they got steep
Some on faith took a leap
And we all got back safe with stories to tell
There once was a race called the L2L
With paddle and oar our craft we propel
The incredible pace
At the front of the race
Not many on earth can excel
There once was a race called the L2L
Which I did once again in my sliding seat shell
I put on my pontoons
Since I’m not quite a loon
Behind in big water my competitor fell
There once was a race called the L2L
A celebration of life that conditions can’t quell
It was really a blast
Though the day cannot last
So till next year we bid you farewell!
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