In 2007 there was a group of surfski paddlers including myself that were encouraged to participate in this race by Paul Cordella, a local kayak racer that can be often found on Wednesday nights training on the Charles River with the local paddlers including surfski racer Ellen Stewart who just recently moved to the Cape. I have not done the race since then, but I was looking forward to this year. First of all it is only 45 minutes away in Wareham, Massachusetts and secondly it is a nice course of 13 miles that follows the shoreline out to Bird Island and back. The race also is a fundraiser for the Wareham YMCA and organized expertly by JoAnn Watson. There were three courses depending on your skill level. While it was an early start time of 0800, it is a low key event that was very enjoyable and had all the trimmings of a larger event that is done entirely by volunteers.

While there were only 6 surfskis, it proved to be a very interesting 6. Ellen Stewart in her Green Machine Huki was able to get some time off work and join us. Timmy Shields who has done almost every race this year has got the surfski bug and has fallen into the surfski dilemma, “which ski do I want paddle today?” Bouke Noordzii, a surfski paddler that that lives in Concord, Massachusetts got some time away from his 4 kids and was excited to talk surfskis!!! My kind of guy. Chris Chappell was excited to get a flat day on the ocean after racing in the New England Championships last week. Chris realized that he and Bouke and paddled in last year’s Blackburn at a similar pace. Last but not least, we got to meet Onno Bokhove another Dutchman like Bouke. I talked to Onno about the race and asked him about his kayaking. Below is what he shared with me.

Onno is from the Netherlands and this was his first surfski race. He is the flat water racing coach and member at the University of Twente Kayak club “Euros Kano.” Onno usually paddles a K1 on the calm Twente Canal in the eastern part of The Netherlands, and races 2 to 3 times per year. He prefers races that are 23 to 40km races which often involve portages. Last year he obtained the Dutch equivalent of the BCU3 certification in his (Nigel Foster-designed) Legend sea kayak on The North Sea. Onno has found that the certification has made it easier to arrange paddling as a guest at other clubs while on business trips abroad.

“I chose for the 13-mile Bird Island Challenge because it was later in the season, and because the Blackburn seemed like it might be too difficult for the Speedster’s maiden race.” Onno borrowed a Speedster for the summer from a former member of my home kayak club.” Onno is working at the research summer program on fluid flows at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute on Cape Cod. Onne knows a thing or two about fluid dynamics. See his bio link http://wwwhome.math.utwente.nl/~bokhoveo/. Onno commented that “The Speedster is a handful on some of the Cape’s tidal races and strong winds. I haven’t tipped yet, but there’s been a lot of bracing.”

Onno found the race’s start “reasonable, but slower than the blasting pace in K1 marathon races. He anticipated challenging, confused waters around the turning point at Bird Island in Buzzard’s Bay, so he kept the pace hard, but steady. There was a bit of tidal chop around the Bird Island, and he had the wind in at his back after turning, so he could surf a bit before turning on the power on the way back in to Wareham. Onno finished first in 1:47:17. Like all of us, Onno commented on the atmosphere that was great, before and after the race, with good company, conversations and food; and, he was happy to hear how the benefits would be used for YMCA scholarships for the less fortunate children.

While I as sizing up the competition in the pre-race warm-up, I noticed a very tall red head in a red ski that looked too small for him. That ski was a speedster as you know, and the guy was Onno(no relationship to the paddles). Onno shot out of the gate like he mentioned with me on his tail. I was able to hold on for about two miles before he dropped me. At about mile 4, I looked to my left and saw Chris and Bouke further out in the channel while I was trying to get out of the current staying closer to shore. The course was well marked with huge orange floats and yellow flags which was an improvement over 2007. Today’s conditions were flat with only some small confused seas just prior to Bird Island.

I was glad that I was wearing my contacts today because otherwise I might not have been able to locate Onno he was so far ahead. At one point I thought he was way off course just prior to the turn buoy boat. On the back side of Bird Island all I could see was his white paddle blades about a mile ahead. I had a pretty good race keeping a strong pace averaging a 8.53 pace on the out and back course. We were flying back averaging an 8:00 minute pace with the current and riding the tiny bumps. I was impressed with Onno who based on his winning time probably would have beat any of the Northeast paddlers today at a sub 8:30 overall pace (7.17 mph). I think this is a course record. I hate to think if he was in a new surfski that fit him!!

Hopefully next year’s race there will be more surfskiers. August has been jammed with races but this one should be put on your schedule for next year. Thanks to Joanne Watson and the volunteers for a super race that was superbly organized. ~ Wesley

Click to view Chris' Garmin Race Route

Brief History of Bird Island from Lighthousefriends.com
Bird Island is situated at the entrance to Sippican Harbor and near the head of Buzzards Bay, takes its name from the birds that have been nesting there for years. Now, it is the birds and ironically erosion that have contributed to the preservation of Bird Island Lighthouse. Federal grant money and an Army Corps of Engineers’ project to save the 1.5-acre island — habitat for nearly one-third of North America’s endangered roseate terns — plus vigorous local fundraising and work by the Bird Island Lighthouse Preservation Society have made it all possible.

According to Charles Bradley, founder of the Bird Island Lighthouse Preservation Society, Bird Island has one of the oldest original lighthouse structures. Other lighthouse sites may be older, but their structures have been replaced or rebuilt. Congress appropriated funds for the lighthouse in March of 1819, and the resulting rubble stone tower, connected to a stone dwelling by a covered walkway, was activated later that year on September 1. Before repairs were completed in 1997, the 178-year-old lighthouse was crumbling, with loose mortar and broken glass, atop an unstable foundation. “It was a mossy brown-green and blended into the horizon. Mariners complained they couldn’t see it,” said Bradley, who was also the local Harbor Master. After restoration efforts, the 29-foot-tall tower was a gleaming white, and the lantern room a contrasting black. Replacing the curved panes of the lantern room cost $12,000 alone.

On July 4, 1997, the new automatic light first pierced the darkness above Bird Island. Although the lighthouse was relit briefly in 1976, after restoration by the town of Marion and the Sippican Historical Society, for the majority of the prior sixty years it had been inactive. The light is now solar powered and flashes for 0.6 seconds every six seconds.

“There’s a lot of history to the island,” said Bradley, “And a few legends.” Most of the legends involve William S. Moore, a veteran of the War of 1812 and the first light keeper. A popular, but unsubstantiated story about Moore is that he was a convicted pirate who was banished to Bird Island. It is said that Moore’s wife, a fading beauty from Boston, had tuberculosis and a strong addiction to tobacco. Villagers who couldn’t bear listening to her cries across the water are reported to have secretly smuggled bags of tobacco to her. One story claims Moore murdered his wife and hid her body somewhere on the island, after which he disappeared. Another version says that he caused his wife’s death by refusing to take her to the mainland for medical treatment, fearing she would leave him now that his fortunes had declined from his swashbuckling years.