At the Races

Racing season is here in earnest now. This past Sunday Dave and I drove up Philadelphia for the first of three races being put on by the Philadelphia Canoe Club. I was kind of amazed that we made it. We had both taught all day on Saturday and the alarm went off so early on Sunday. Fortunately those PCC folks are a civilized bunch and don't start their races until noon!

As we drove into Philly I got my first sight of the Schuylkill River. It was really pretty. Lots of scenic bridges and boathouses along the river. The wind was kicking up pretty good at over 20 knots but the river was small and looked pretty protected.

We arrived at the boat house to find just three other boaters there including Joe W. from whom I bought my surf ski last year. The Washington Canoe Club contingent arrived right after us. We milled about for awhile and enjoyed the sunshine while we waited for the PCC people to show up.

K1s were definitely the boat of choice at this race. Of the 30+ people racing there were only 4 sea kayaks (plus one double) and a couple of West Side Boat Shop boats everyone else was in a K1. I was excited to see a couple of Thunderbolts. I've been wanting to try those out. I got to paddle one for awhile and it was great. Super fast, more stable than my ski but had this great narrow bow so I could get a really good catch. Think either this or an EFT will soon be taking the place of my surfski on the rack out back.

The race was put on alot like our CPA race last week (right down to the shelf paper for numbers!) which made me feel like we did OK for our first try. The race course was two and a half loops around some of the various bridges and was stated as 6.2 miles. According to my GPS it was really 7.0 miles. We took off in one mass start. With the K1s rocketing off the line. Since there were no other women in sea kayaks I really didn't have a set goal but to paddle as hard as I could for as long as I could.

Overall I felt pretty good, this was my first longish race this season so I wanted to see what heart rate and what pace I could keep up for that distance. I kept an even pace without really ever feeling like I was sprinting and really tried to slow my stroke rate down a little bit. I was the second sea kayak in (behind Charles in the wood boat who is soooo much faster than me) and finished 1 hour and 17 minutes with an average speed of 5.4 MPH which was good. I probably could have pushed a little harder and still not bonked so that will be good to know for the Paddle for the Cure next month.

Dave opted not to race but to play around with his greenland paddle instead. The race organizer saw this and promptly put him to work setting out the start/finish bouy. Every time I came by the boathouse Dave would cheer me on and paddle with me for ways before turning back. That was fun.

All in all a really fun race and day. Now I best be off to lift weights or run or bike or paddle or something ....

What to do if you swim...Or how to help others Swim ?

So it takes me a good four days to get to wring a blog about last Sunday. That makes me great at 'doing', not writing about it afterwards, I guess?

Anyway, last Sunday was Mother's Day, May 14th. Despite this Cyndi and I hosted the Second Annual CPA Swim Support Training Day at Truxton Park in Annapolis. What does all that mean, you ask? Well, this is the second year that Cyndi and I have been taking the lead in offering kayak support to the swimmers who challenge themselves by crossing the Chesapeake Bay under the Bay Bridge at Sandy Point in Annapolis. For many years before last, Make V. and Alan A. have taken on this exciting chore. This year, it will be Cyndi and myself, with help from Dan H. and Peter F., who will be supporting the One Mile Swim at the same time on the Eastern Side of the Bridge. "Thanks Guys!"

You know how long that bridge seems when you drive over it, right? Imagine having to swim under it in water that is salty, cold, not very clear at all, and sometimes very choppy and with strong currents!? Not for the faint of heart (or myself either)! I choose to join in the excitement by supporting the swimmers in my kayak. Kayaks are traditionally the only support boats that are allowed in the lanes amongst the swimmers. We are the first immediate support of the swimmers, and often the only things that they see the whole way across the Bay. And I am proud to say that every swimmer I have ever met who has taken part in this event has praised us kayakers for the support we give them. If you have helped out on this swim, or plan to this year, give yourself a pat-on-the-back from all the swimmers.

Back to Sunday. Despite the promise of Mother's Day and the threat of thunderstorms, fourteen people showed up to the Training Day. We discussed the logistics of the swim for about an hour; telling everyone how to watch the swimmers for distress, and what to do if they need to help out a swimmer in the open water. After this, we changed into paddling gear and convened on the water at the back edge of Spa Creek. Cyndi and I acted as swimmers so that everyone could practice taking charge of the situation and get practice towing someone who is holding onto the bow of their boat. This lead into practice of how to handle one's self if the situation calls for it; specifically re-entry and rescue practice. First to leap from his boat was Peter C. He has no fear of getting wet, that is for sure. Although I must say retrieving a Klepper double folding boat from a capsized position can be a challenge.

I commend everyone who joined us. We all got lots of practice. Cyndi, Dave R., Peter, Faye, Jennifer, and everyone else practiced paddle float re-entries, T-rescues of many varieties, scoop rescues, cowboy scrambles, and even hand-of-god rescues. I personally felt I needed to practice scoop rescues, so I chose Todd to try this on. He is a challenge to get back into his boat sometimes, and I got some good work there. Perhaps it helped.

After a couple of hours splashing around and having fun practicing our safety skills, we returned to the cover of a pavilion and chowed down on food that the club graciously offered to provide for the event. The weather still threatened to explode over us, although it held out long enough to let us have some great conversations about kayaks, places to paddle, and other paddling related topics. After all, that is what kayakers talk about when they get together.

Just after Cyndi and I packed up to go home, the weather finally broke. Thanks to Mother Nature for holding off long enough to give us a great Mother's Day to practice on the water. And thanks many times over for everyone who dared to join us on Sunday for the wonderful time that it was. If I did not mention you by name here, I mention you in my thanks. Without all you dedicated club members who want to learn and help others, we would not be able to support such great events as the Chesapeake Bay Swim.

See ya on the water!

Start your engines!

On Saturday Dave and I hosted the first race of CPA's new series. This race was held down at Jack's Boat House where Frank B. was gracious enough to allow us to launch from his docks. The 2.7 mile course took us from Jack's up past Three Sisters to a turn around point and then back to the docks. This was a bit of a difficult event for me because I was not only trying to race and do well but was also wearing the race organizer's hat. Thank goodness Dave was willing to take over the timing duties so that I could participate in the race!

After some sketchy forecasts, Saturday morning turned out to be beautiful. Cool with very light winds. We had a total of 12 racers and split them into 8 classes. After all, we really wanted everyone to walk away with one of the cool new CPA medals or ribbons that I had made this winter.

We started in one "mass" start. Brian B. and David M. set the pace and soon left all the rest of us mere mortals in their wakes. I spent most of the time paddling with Dan and Barry. Of course it could be that the Silhouettes just wanted to stay together. At the finish Dan and I were neck and neck but he edged me out by 2 seconds. I'm going to demand a rematch!

The course was really short, shorter than any race I'd done before and actually not much to my liking (even though I designed it!). I much prefer longer races where I can get into a rhythm and just go. Sheer raw sprinting speed is not my forte but I have relatively good endurance and can go pretty fast forever. I didn't have to worry though. Since there were no other women in my class I pretty much had a medal in the bag. In fact, we had only three women in the whole race and we all ended up in our own classes and thus guaranteed a medal each. I hope to see some more women racing at the other events this year. The largest class was the Men's touring kayak A group with 5 paddlers.

After the main race we held the first "Rubber Ducky Relay". This turned out to be much easier than everyone expected. We divided everyone up into teams of two by drawing names out of a hat. Half of the paddlers went back up stream of the Washington Canoe Club and waited for their teammate to paddle them up the duckies for pass-off. Everyone had to keep the duckies balanced on their decks. If any fell off the paddler had to stop, retrieve the ducky and then continue. Turns out we must be one smooth bunch as not a single ducky hit the water! I was teamed with Mitch and we came in third overall behind the teams of Dave M./Barry M. and Brian B./Dan H.

A special thanks goes to Mutineer Dave, Dave S., Tall Tom, Todd (Angry Paddler), and Jennifer who proved to be a marvelous support crew. The Daves took dock duty, starting and timing all the racers. Tall Tom and Jennifer were on "rock" duty making sure that the racers didn't inadvertently hit anything in their haste. And Todd set the turn around buoy and kept an eye out for those who might try to cut the race a little short!

What a great start to the race season. Next week its off to Philly for an 8.5 mile race on the Schuylkill River!

It's All Aboot Maine

Well, it is Sunday night, and I have jet-lag. Where did I go, you ask? Freeport, Maine! A great place. Not only did I see a great town, I got to see a bunch of great people.

I had the pleasure of being sent by L.L.Bean to attend an on-water training with a wonderful crew of paddling instructors. L.L.Bean's people are dedicated to not only what they do; they are dedicated to how they do it! Believe me, they do their thing with lots of style. What an opportunity I had. If just a little bit rubs off on me, it will be well worth the trip.

At least a dozen of us spent the day at Flying Point, a tip of land in Freeport owned by L.L.Bean. After introductions, we spent the morning demonstrating paddling skills and critiquing each other's presentation techniques. There is nothing better for an instructor than to put themselves into this position. This is how improvement is achieved!.

The weather was gorgeous. Those that did this same thing last spring, told stories of rain that fell horizontally. Not this year! Perhaps I brought some good fortune, since even the afternoon winds held off until we were ready to get off the water.

The afternoon was all about re-entries and rescues. Solo, assisted, rescuing rec-boats, rescuing tandems, rescuing injured paddlers. We pushed our endurance to the limits as we practiced on-and-on.

'Improving skills and doing it in a fun environment'; that is how I would describe the day.

To top off the day, a bunch of us met at a local pub afterwards and talked more about kayaking. We gave ourselves a good round of pat-on-the-backs as well. A good day come to an end, and a good job well done.

I want to say thanks again to all you Maine folks for having me amongst you, and for spreading some of the L.L.Bean style my way. Thanks also to those so thoughtful to have sent me there.

If you were there on Saturday, check out my photographs. I may have caught you at an awkward moment during a rescue. For the rest of you, check out what you missed! Here is a link to the photo album.

Another Great lake Anna Event

For those of you who do not know about this, there is an excellent event that the Chesapeake Paddlers Association Club holds every year at Lake Anna, VA. There is a couple in the club who owns a piece of land right on the water of Lake Anna, and they allow the club to come down every spring and hold a 3 day club event. Many thanks again to Dave and Theresa for allowing this to happen every year.

This year about 95 students and over 20 instructors, all club members, showed up and took part in classes covering so many different topics relating to kayaking that it is hard to list them all here. There were stroke clincs, safety and rescue clinics, yoga classes, navigation, cooking, greenland paddle making, rolling, wing paddle stroke improvement, and much, much more. Even though there were great instructors from all over the area, and lots to learn, the best part of the weekend was just meeting people who I only get to see once or twice a year, and just having lots of fun.

Cyndi and I took every boat that we could cram onto one vehicle. Cyndi took her surf ski, her plastic Tempest, and her Whitewater ZG48. She used them all, although the Tempest and the surf ski got the most use. I took my Outer Island, my plastic Tempest, and my ZG54. I used the Tempest for a re-entries and rescues class, and my ZG54 to just mess around in, but I never got into my Outer Island. I wanted to get some practice on my hand roll in that boat, but I just had too much fun messing around in the ZG, and saved no energy to get into the Outer Island. Check out the great photo that Woody caught of me in my ZG as I was throwing ends. Click on it to get to my photo album of the event.

I must say that it was an especially great event this year. It all went too fast, of course. What I was able to get done was awesome. The traffic gettting south on 95 was not very bad this year on Friday afternoon. That was a great start. I had a great re-entries and rescues class with Yvonne on Saturday Morning. Everyone in our class was eager, energetic, and did everthing we layed out in front of them to try, and kept asking for more. In the afternoon on Saturday, I worked with Gar to help 5 people practice a lay-back sweep roll, or Pawlata roll. After Gar and I joined forces, he 'rolled' right into a wonderful on-land introduction of postitioning your body during the roll, and then we all took it to the water. We got at least 4 of the five people doing a successful roll before they began to be exhausted. And I got the chance to work briefly with Tom H., who I paddle with every week. He was doing a very successful pawlata roll after Dave I. helped him out that day too. It will be good to see Tom rolling at our weekly Pirate Paddles during the summer.

On Sunday morning, Cyndi and I 'preformed' a cooking class. I was absorbed in getting the food cooked during the class, as Cyndi talked about recipes, cooking styles, equipment, etc. She claims everyone who attended, had a great time. And I believe they all went away full, as I cooked them blueberry muffins, my special camp chocolate-chip coffe cake, spicy ministrone soup, and peanut-butter coconut energy balls. Lots of fun!

So I close my rant by thanking those in the club who work hard every year at making the Sea Kayaking Skills event at Lake Anna, or as it is called by the regulars 'SK102', possible. Brian and Laura work hard to make this a special time for all, and they succeeded brilliantly again this year. And best of all, they held off the rain on Sunday Morning this year. What a great time. I only wish we can have an event like this every weekend!

Until next season, paddle hard and play harder!