2007 Mayor's Cup New York City Kayak Championship
The course, a circumnavigation of Manhattan Island, appealed to me on several levels. First, it was long and I’d been looking for longer distance race to do. Up to now my longest race has been the 12 mile Wye Island and I always felt like I could do more after that. Second, the course has potential for some serious rough water – one of my strengths given years of sea kayaking and whitewater paddling.
The race sounded perfect, I just had to find the boat. I knew I couldn’t sit in my surfski for four hours nor did the non-bulkheaded Tbolt seem like a good idea. That issue was solved when I bought the Nemo back in May. As any of you who paddle with me know, I love this boat. It is fast, really fast, stable in the big water, comfortable and just pretty to look at. It would be the prefect boat to give me the confidence to take on the race.
Next I needed to drum up moral support in the form of fellow paddlers to train with. Ray was coming down to DC to give a presentation on the race at REI so I organized a special presentation for members of CPA and the WCC in hopes of luring a few people in. Ray did a such great job of describing how challenging the race would be that in the end it looked like I might end up having to do the race alone!
Training for Mayor’s Cup didn’t really begin until late summer. I had lots of shorter races in May, June, and July and used those to work on speed and technique. Distance I started to layer in toward the end of the summer first with a double WIPP in August and then with 20 + mile paddles with Bill and Brian each week. Those training runs were vital for figuring out hydration, nutrition and boat comfort. They taught me, for instance, that 2 Advil prior to paddling make my butt much happier in the boat over the long term. In addition the training paddles were useful for getting Brian B. on board. After quite a bit of encouragement and being coerced into 4 hour paddles, Brian decided that he might as well enter the race. (I think his very impressive finishes at Wye and the Seaford race this year also helped.)
With the prep-work done there was nothing left to do but race. Dave, Brian and I drove up to New Jersey on Saturday and stayed near Newark airport. We asked our friendly hotel clerk where to find some decent vegetarian food for dinner that night and he suggested a place called Iberia. So we set off for Portugal. Well that is what it felt like anyway. It was the most meat intensive restaurant I had ever seen in the US. There was nothing on the menu we could eat. Having already paid for parking, however, we thought we’d ask if they could make special plates. In the end, the kitchen produced a great pasta with veggie in a butter Garlic (and I mean GARLIC) sauce for me and a huge plate of rice, potatoes, and veggies for Dave. I think our dinner was actually better than Brian’s! Sufficiently carbo saturated we headed back to the hotel.
The alarm went off at 5:15 am but both Brian and I were already awake with the adrenaline flowing. We found some coffee and took off to navigate the streets of New York – a daunting task when you have $8,000 worth of kayaks on the roof. After Jill, Brian’s GPS navigator, suggested a few wrong turns and turns onto one-way streets Dave took over and got us down to North Cove Marina. There Ray’s team of volunteers were waiting to help carry the boats to the park where we would launch.
Ray has done an amazing job of promoting Mayor's Cup and this year’s field attracted some of the world’s best paddlers. 90 paddlers showed up – just about double from last year. Team Epic was out in force with Greg Barton and Herman Chalupsky as well as Brian Houston and their new guy John. I might not paddle an Epic boat but the Epic people are top notch and it was treat to be in their midst. Coming to give Greg and Herman a run for the money (the elite prize was $5,000 for first place) was Zsolt Szadovszki and Ian Grey both phenomenal surfski paddlers.
I scouted out my competition. Since I was in the Nemo I would be in fast touring and not unlimited. Turned out to be a good thing too, Kathy Manizza came down for this race with her S1-R. She is a surfski specialist and routinely puts up times that shame most men. There were a total of six women in singles this year. We had two in unlimited, three in fast touring and one in standard touring. Next year we’re aiming to get even more.
Ray’s organization continued to be evident as we prepared for launch. We would leave in five waves with touring going first and the elites going last. Timing with this race is everything to take advantage of the currents. We started in 10 minute increments right on schedule. To help protect the paddlers on the course, Ray had something like 14 coastguard boats on the water with several NYPD boats.
Things got off to a rocky start. I lined up with the other paddlers in the cove at the start line. When the start sounded we all paddled out only to have our boats picked up by the current and spun north. The Nemo took several very hard hits a people tried to regain control of their boats. I completely backed off and waited for them to pass before digging in and starting to paddle. It was after all a 28+ mile race. What was the rush all about? Once out of the mess I settled into a comfortable pace.
Ray had said we would have current with us for the majority of the race. This was great but also made pacing difficult. In my training runs I’d be able to do 5.5-5.7 MPH over a sustained 20+ mile paddle. However the current meant I couldn’t use speed as my indicator so I switched to heart rate with the aim of keeping it somewhere in the 150 range which is pretty sustainable long-term for me.
I hit that 150 BPM range and glanced at the GPS. I was cruising at a healthy 8 MPH. This was great! As usual, I was all alone. The water was slightly bouncy and there was a mild head/beam wind but nothing horrible. I started to enjoy the ride. I sped past the Norwegian Cruise line ships at dock, watched a couple of ferries pass and saw a giant tanker being towed into the harbor. I also saw cliffs and trees and beautiful blue sky. It was an interesting mix of urban and wild.
Just as I was ready to enter turn into Spuyten Duyvil I saw THEM coming. I’d been waiting for the fast touring men and/or the elites to pass me for some time. I guessed they’d catch me about 40 minutes in but it took until the 1 hour mark. In perfect diamond formation they sped past. Greg Barton leading the pack with Herman, Zsolt and Ian right there, riding his wash. I was doing 7 MPH at that point and they zoomed by me like I wasn’t moving. It was beautiful. Check out the pictures at www.surfski.info and you will see what I mean.
I chatted with a few other men as the passed me and together we turned south down into the Harlem River. And there my current assist up became an opposition current. I would have to fight the current until we hit either slack or the East River. My speed dropped from 7 MPH to 5 MPH. I paddled past the Peter J. Sharp boathouse which was mandatory halfway check in. For the first time all day I was hot.
Brian B. snuck up behind me at this point and drafted me for a chance to eat some apple. Once refueled, he left me behind. Christian, the other Nemo paddler in the race, and another pack followed shortly there after. We admired each others boats but again, they were too fast for me to latch onto. Right behind them was a guy in an EFT. He shouted over to me to hop on his wash so, never one to pass up a free ride, I did.
This guy’s name was Andy and Andy would keep me company for the next 12 + miles. I drafted him when I could and we discussed the course. I asked him if Hell’s Gate was as bad as everyone said. Hell’s Gate has the reputation of being the trickiest part of the course with water from Long Island Sound, the Harlem River and the East River combining to create standing waves, whirlpools and very confused water. He said it was worse and to hang on. Just before we got there we took a short fuel break and I ate some Cliff Bar and my pack of Sport Beans to get ready for the mess.
Only there was no mess to get ready for. The Gate was flat calm. The current was still whipping but there were no standing waves, no big scary whirlpools. I almost felt cheated. Andy and I paddled on. Staying mid-channel we were flying. At one point my GPS registered 11 MPH.
Next up was the south eastern side of Manhattan where we could expect significant boat traffic. All the ferries come through here with the Staten Island Ferry being the largest. I had lost Andy somewhere but just kept going. Around the South Street Seaport the water got significantly rougher and the waves bigger. I was having more and more fun. Have I mentioned I love my boat? Nemo would ride up and over the 3-4 foot confused waves only crash down and get ready for the next one. Combine that with a still rather speedy current and I was again riding at 7 MPH.
But then it was over. I was at mile 28 on my GPS and expected to be done. I turned west to round the bottom of the island and got smacked down by the wind my speed dropped to 4 mph. The waves continued but now were less fun. Andy caught back up to me just as we were approaching the Staten Island Ferry. It was pulling out and we would have to wait. I relished the break. Soon we were able to sneak behind the ferry. Wind still blasting, we turned north up the Hudson and I came to a near standstill. The wind funneled down the river and I crawled for every inch – 2 MPH barely moving. I cursed the wind. The entire time I kept thinking how horrible it would be to paddle nearly 30 miles and get stopped just short of the finish line because of a wind that was stronger than me. I dug in and pulled with everything I had. Technique was non-existent. It was a 100% pulling effort. Bit by bit I made progress. Andy continued to encourage me from ahead but a light person in a light boat is more at the whim of the wind than other paddlers and the wind was having its way with me. I just kept digging.
I slowly passed the Circle Line boats that were docked. If one of them pulled out and I had to stop it would be all over. I would lose any remaining forward momentum I had and not be able to regain it. Mercifully they all stayed put. South Cove came into view and I knew it wasn’t much farther. That last slug up the wall seemed to go on forever. Finally I saw North Cove and the finish line. Strangely I saw Dave sitting up on the wall with the timer. Turns out Ray put him to work … maybe I could have him subtract a few minutes for the headwind!
Two more strokes and I pulled into the protection of the marina. Andy was there cheering me on and a crew of volunteers lined the docks to help with carrying the boats. Other volunteers were handing out completion medals to every paddler as we exited the docks. I quickly vacated my spot so someone else could take out and made my way to the piping hot lunch spread, hot coffee, dessert mountain and live music that awaited. After 4 hours and 31 minutes I was ready.
I placed 1st in the Women’s fast touring class, was the second woman over all and 49th out of the 80 boats that finished the race. Without a doubt the Mayor’s Cup was the most difficult race I have ever done. It was also the best run, most professional and most fun. Ray deserves a huge amount of thanks for pulling together such a class act event. If you are looking for a challenge and have the rough water skills to go with it, this is race not to be missed.
Cyndi and Brian getting ready for the race.
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