Run of the Charles 2017

14th Place-Fun Getting There.

This years race had the largest turnout of surfskis ever for the 6 mile race(32). A few years ago I added it to the SurfskiRacing.com Race Series that increased attendance along with the fact many of us that previously did the 19 mile, 6 portage race, was too taxing. So the pre race lawn was littered with all those beautiful surfskis. This years field was the most competetive as well, hence my 14th place. The winners, Greg Lesher, Jan Lupinski, and newcomer Mike Florio all put in impressive performances while Jesse Lischuck won the overall race in a K1. Ben Pigott got the day off from work and put in a hard effort to take fourth. The second pack made up of Eric, Andrius, Craig, Tim D, Chris, and Ben Randall were all within a 80 seconds of each other. So you can see how the race shaped up with some extremely fast flat water paddlers. I don’t particularly enjoy flat water racing though I have done it for years. It takes more concentrated effort with little margin of error. Unlike ocean paddling, that involves a much different skill set. Having said that, I throughly enjoyed myself, coming in 14th place. No, I was not leisurely paddling on a Sunday afternoon on the Charles. I was working hard but enjoying every bit of it.

Click on the Link below for a short clip of the start.

ROTC 2017 Start of 6 Mile Race

It was a long week for me leading up to the race. Four days at a national sales meeting in Orlando, back on Friday night, paddled 7 ocean miles Saturday, then the ROTC. I had planned on paddling my Van Dusen Mohican that is the fastest pure flat water surfski and the only ski that skims over suck water like a hover craft in shallow races like the Charles. Now that I am “independent”, since leaving Stellar, I can choose my boat of choice for any races. However, once I got to the race, I saw the Nelo 560M SSC layup, 21lbs that Chris had in the boat stands. I had paddled the 560M for about five minutes at Lighthouse to Lighthouse back in September from Elite Ocean Sports. So on a whim, I took it for a spin in warmups before the race and decided it would be fun to race it.

Warm ups!

Anticipating all the choppy water of so many surfskis and a few K1’s, I took off at a moderate pace looking for smooth water since I was still adjusting to the stability of it. Looking ahead I could see the second pack of paddlers before we made the turn in the bend of the Charles. In a half mile, I found my rhythm in this K1 style low volume ski. I saw Bruce Deltorchio and Jim K. on my left and right. I split the gap between them deciding who I should draft off of. I kicked open the bailer losing a few seconds so I dropped in on the stern wash of Bruce for a few hundred yards. I then passed Bruce but Jim was paddling strong his SEL advantage. A quarter of a mile up, I could see Chris Chappell, Tim D. and Ben Randall making the first buoy turn. By this time I had dropped Jim and was focusing on what line to take. The water was deep this year, so most of us followed a line that kept us 20 yards from shore not wanting to battle the suck water.

Chris, Wesley

At mile four I began to tire. I looked back at my log from last year’s race and I noted the exact same line, “began to tire at mile 4″. Luckily this year, Tim H. was passing me on my right so I veered over to Tim. He said ” hop on, and take a pull if you can”. I could not, so I rode Tim’s side wash for a mile before he gained two boat lengths on me as we approached the final turn buoy. Tim increased his tempo for the final half mile as did I. Tim maintained his 11 second advantage for a 12th place finish and me 13th in the surfski field.

Riding Wash on Tim H at mile 5.

My enjoyment of this race as I mentioned earlier was threefold. Number one: my focus is on a few races this year instead of trying to peak for all of them. I could do that in the past but no longer. I need more recovery and I need to put more miles in for those longer races. So I went into this race as a training race. Number two: I am no longer working for Stellar so it is nice to just show up at a race with a boat and race. No demo boats, no obligations, no entertaining the tire kickers. So I am more relaxed! Thirdly: sometimes it is about the boat. Yes, I can say that, having reviewed my large share of surfskis with 6 more reviews pending for this year.

Yosef, Bruce, Chris S. Jan

Chris and Bill K.

The boat was yes, the Nelo 560M. It reminds me of Mini Cooper that looks cute and sporty. Unlike the mini cooper that can’t decide whether it is a SUV or sports hatchback, the Nelo 560M knows what it is. For me at least, it is a pocket rocket low volume ski fashioned with Nelo’s long storied history of K1’s. While I am over the weight limit technically, it performed admirably. The narrow wonderfully comfortable bucket allow me to have much better leg drive than I typically do for my flat water races. Since I seldom paddle pure flatwater, (Narrow River, ROTC, Essex) my flat water stroke needs improvement, particularly leg drive. I actually have better leg in the ocean since I spend 95% of my training and racing there. So my leg drive in the 560m was automatic for me. Couple this with the boat dynamics(two stroke acceleration, remember it is only 18ft) and narrow catch, and level 5 K1 stability with plenty of secondary stability, you got the makings of a hard fought FUN 14th place. This ski allow me to be in sync with all the different facets of paddling. Think about taking a spin in the VW GTI, WRX, or a BMW X1 135xi M sport package and clicking through all the gears until the speed alert of 100mph reminds you to slow it down. You can’t help but have a smile on your face. The 560M put a smile on my face the whole race!