The Achilles International Kayak Program has participated in the Mayor’s Cup practically since the start of the event. In the last couple of years the team has grown, but in 2008 and 2009 we suffered the wrath of the weather gods along with everyone else. This resulted in only our most experienced athlete Michael Blair getting on the course with Mark Ceconi in 2008, and Marcus Demuth in 2009. While each race ended with a great result for Achilles and Michael we wanted more. With the event moved up to August – 2010 was to be our year.

This year we recruited a team of five Achilles paddlers, four hand-crank marathoners: Michael Blair, Dan O’Connor, John Devine and Ricardo Corral. In addition, we were joined by Marcel Lignon, a French national. John Montalvo was also training with us but was not able to compete, after suffering an unfortunate injury. Our guides this year were mostly returnees from 2009, myself, Robin Francis, Phil Warner, Jim More. Marcel brought his own guide Patrick Daniele. Our team was set.

We have been acquiring equipment this year and now own 2 Current Design Unity tandems, paddles, and other essentials. The remainder came from our guides and from Charles River Kayak in Newtown who are always ready to pitch in and help. Our equipment was loaded and we were ready to go.

The run up to the race enabled us to train with some of the team, but nothing close to the training regimen most Mayor’s Cup entrants put in. With a fledgling program we are drawing on strong athletes with some paddling experience, and building participation organically from within the Achilles ranks. Most of the team this year came from the Achilles Freedom Team, made up of military veterans. So with the exception of years of paddling experience, these guys meet the bar as far as Mayor’s Cup entrants are concerned: very strong, can take direction, can take a beating and keep going, and all come to the table with a very high ‘fun’ threshold!

The night before the race, we all met at the Cornell Club for dinner. Marcus Demuth and other Achilles management joined us, and we spent the evening together going over the final preparations. We covered the course milestones, expected conditions, equipment allocations, and watched as wide eyes grew wider. Jim More covered the weather tide predictions around the island ,and Marcus Demuth filled in with the 200 ways to die under a pier on the Hudson. For my part, I spent the evening trying to translate this all into French for our Gallic friends, finding my vocabulary limited when it came to ‘treacherous, entrapment, dehydration’ etc. Thankfully, I brought a whiteboard and drew pictures my kindergarten teacher would be proud of.

We met early morning and spent the pre-race hours outfitting the boats for the team. Each of our paddlers has individual requirements according to his or her disability and we do our best to pad the cockpit for comfort and to aide stability. We do this with precision tools – a box cutter, duct tape, and high density foam. My local upholsterer thinks I am starting a competing business with all the foam I have been acquiring. However, we are getting pretty good at it, and had no sores or fit issues at the end of this race.

For practice, we were intending to get on the water early before anyone else but the morning progressed a little slowly and the window closed on us. The most we could do was paddle in a circle before the start to get warmed up and ready, then we were off.

Getting Ready for the Start

I was paddling with Dan O’Connor; a big, ugly, bald Marine of 63 young years. Dan was the type of guy that sent the enemy into retreat just by showing up. He had paddled some, and I was pretty sure we would do OK so long as he did not have any long held grudge against the English. From the back seat of the Northstar Pro, my immediate focus was to get us working as a team, identifying our abilities and limitations and planning accordingly. Going up the Hudson was a blast. Dan found a style that worked for him and I was feeling great. We found some good fast water and I worked on a good line for us. At the GW Bridge we found some wake and kicked up 9.6mph on the GPS! Who needs a skinny ski when I have a 95lb glass assault craft to surf!

At the turn into the Harlem River, we were holding 3rd place in the division and feeling good. Then as we exited the spans and took a feed we had our first challenge. Dan’s fluid tube was kinked and he was getting nothing. The likely issue was some idiot (me) had him stow the bag behind the seat and feed the tube and bag through his skirt; out of reach to a guy who had hands like a bunch of bananas and fairly filled the cockpit. Crap. However he had a reserve water bottle so I had him use it while I thought of what to do. The Harlem River was long, longer than I imagined, and we proceeded with the diminishing flow down to more open waters of the East River without further incident. As we paddled past Ward Island we were ‘encouraged’ by a lively group on the bank that left Dan wondering which side of the river the patients were located. This was where the abuse started, and from there it never stopped.

Mike and Phil at the Finish

Hell Gate wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t great either. We had no issues with stability and we had sufficient ballast with 400lb of flesh on board. The issue here was momentum. The short chop was stopping us dead at times, and our lack of true rhythm made acceleration tricky. I also couldn’t see Dan’s face but seeing as he stopped talking, I think this was his first encounter with ‘conditions’. We took a central line from Roosevelt Island down to the Williamsburg Bridge, thinking the faster water would offset the headwind. I was ducking down behind Dan anyway so I didn’t care so much anyway. Then we hit the bridges. We passed through the right span of the Williamsburg and I took the same line through the Manhattan. This was pretty exciting stuff and was the source of the ‘I screamed like a girl’ quote from Dan and several complete ‘air strokes’ from me as we crested some 5’ tidal swells. Paddling hard out of this section to the Battery had me concerned again about Dan’s fluid situation, but not enough to stop us to do something about it with all the commercial boat traffic around. We had an uneventful turn at the Battery with the exception of taking a tail wash from the water taxi that blew us 15 ft. laterally, and Stefani Jackenthal completely off her ski on our left. We back paddled for a moment, but she was back on board in a flash and ‘outta there’.

Robin and Ricardo Powering to the Finish!!

We moved out of the chop at the Battery and found some quieter water for us to fix Dan’s fluid problem. This,, my friends is where the wing paddle excels. Reaching my Fenn 4 forward I had Dan place his empty flask on my blade. I retrieved the cradled bottle and filled it enema style from my fluid bag before reversing the procedure and passing it back to him at full stretch. It was a nice break and good to get Dan hydrated for the slog up the Hudson.

The trip upriver was much as I expected. Very variable current, patches of weirdness (at one point I had us at 6mph against the current after 24 miles), otherwise we were making slow, but steady, progress north. As we passed each landmark, I shouted the mileage to Dan as encouragement. At the 72nd pier with the finish in sight, Dan exploded and swung his blade like a Marine possessed and we passed the line with style at a respectable 5:36 time and 3rd place. Booyah!

Ahead of us were Mike and Phil, Robin and Ricardo, behind us were Jim and John. Marcel and Patrick made a courageous attempt and wise decision to pull out after making it half way around. Every boat made it back, and no notes needed to be written; a good day in anyone’s book.

The team demonstrated what I know to be true: that these athletes are no less able to compete than others on the course on Saturday. They dealt with the distance, the conditions, and the constant encouragement from the back seat with grace, and came home with respectable times. Frankly, from the skirt up, you would not be aware of the disabilities these guys have. I am proud of every boat and look forward to our next event together as we prepare for 2011.

Gary Williams
Achilles International Kayak Program