Updates From The Water

Five Golds and Three Silvers -- that sums up my first trip the USACK Sprint Kayak National Championships.

What a great trip this was. Leslie and I left DC on Wednesday evening bound for Oklahoma City. Now I haven't been to OKC in years but seem to recall it being hot and flat. And I don't remember any water. What kind of place would this be for sprint boats?

When we got off the plane at nearly 10:00 pm we were met by a blast of hot air. Not a good sign. We found our way to the hotel and settled in.

Thursday morning we got up and set off for the course. Some people said it was walking distance and others said cab only. We decided to walk. What a mistake! At 9:00 am it was already 95 degrees. Eventually after asking multiple people, walking through constuction zones and under railroad bridges we found the "river".

River might be a strong word for the course they have created in Oklahoma. The boathouse is georgeous, due to a great corporate sponsorship with Chesapeake Energy, but the water is not! Turns out it used to be a very small creek/drainage ditch. The city damned both ends and ... tada a 7 mile "river" was born.

Much happened during the next few days that I could write about but let's focus on the racing. Race number one for me was the Masters 5K. I've been paddling the Nelo Moskito lately and was definitely worried about stability in this boat. Fortunately Betsy came and would be paddling that so I needed something else. When we saw that they separated out the Men's and Women's races Bill offered to let me use his boat. How awsome! I hadn't been in his Tor before but I knew it was stable and would be perfect.

So onto the line I went in a boat I'd never paddled. So much for perparation! The junior women and then juniors in canoe all went first. Master's women were next. There were about 15 of us total. I wished Leslie and Sara a good race and took off when the gun sounded.

The course was three loops up to the 750 meter mark and back. It was windy and fairly choppy. Fortunately in the Tor I was rock solid and just focused on my stroke. Going into the first turn there was one woman ahead of me by a good distance and one close behind. I just focused on staying up right, side waves in a sprint boat are the worst.

I made it through with no problems and we stayed in that order into the next loop. Coming up on that same corner the second time, the woman ahead of me had extended her lead but then I saw her flip at the corner. I dug in and went for the pass.

Now I was leading with a lap to go and one boat close on my tail. I got through the next corner in good position and kept digging. Coming into the last corner I still had the lead but could see Victoria's bow at about my hip. This was going to come down to the wire. I dug but Victoria had more and passed me in the final 200 meters of the race. Fortuantley she was in another age group so I still got 1st for my age group and second overall. I was happy with that as a start.

Saturday was all 500 meter sprints. I had seven of them in a wide variety of boats. With so many races planned I needed a strategy. I decided to paddle hard on every start then assess. If I was ahead by a lot I'd ease off. If I was behind by a lot I'd ease off. If I was anywhere in between I'd paddle like hell. That seemed like a good way to conserve my energy.

Race number one for the morning was Novice Women's K1. I was using the Nelo for this and felt more than a bit guilty pulling up the start. See many master's paddlers paddle "masters" boats. These are much more stable than typical K1s. So here I come with my silly tippy, silly skinny elite level K1 ready for the novice race. Really it wasn't very nice and that first place finish came easily.

Next was regular K1. Pam beat me by a good margin. So I guess my goal for next year will be to close that gap. After that is was a flurry of team boats. I paddled K2 with Leslie and Alan, getting silver in both races and then 3 K4s. In each of the K4 races we got first. Tim drove the mixed boats and did a great job of setting the pace. I drove the women's K4 with me, Leslie, Sara and Terry. I gave them my ususal talk of paddle hard if it is close and ease off if we are ahead or behind. For that race we were neck and neck with our competition and had to paddle hard the entire time. We actually had a very good race in that one and that particular gold was probably one of the hardest earned.

I medaled in all 8 of my races, the maximum number they will allow you to enter. Team WCC did very well considering our small size. We ended up second to LCKC for the Team Seniors/Int/Masters award. They had a much larger team than we had so on a "points per paddler" basis we probably came out ahead. We'll need to do some recuriting over the next year and grow our team to win first place back. Special credit for these results goes to our fabulous coach Darek. Check out his website at www.sprintkayakcoach.com to learn all about him.

All in all it was a great introduction to USACK racing!

Earlier this year I decided to make the Blackburn Challenge – a twenty mile near circumnavigation of Cape Ann in Massachusetts – be my “focus” race for the year. The Blackburn travels clockwise around Cape Ann. Starting at the south end of the Annisquam river we paddle its protected waters before turning into Ipswich Bay and then into the exposed waters of the Atlantic where the wind and wakes can whip the sea into a frenzy. Gloucester and Cape Ann are home to the oldest port in North America and have a storied tradition of seafaring – it was here that the “Perfect Storm” converged. Sounds like a perfect place to paddle!

This race appeals to me for much the same reason that the Mayor’s Cup did last year. Both races require seamanship as much as speed and endurance. And while I might not be the world’s strongest paddler, I know too much tofu not enough meat, I do have open water skills and a great deal of comfort in water that sends others scurrying for cover.

Now in addition to open water, I’ve also been racing sprint and it just so happened that the Lake Placid International Sprint Regatta was being held the weekend before Blackburn. Not wanting to make the drive up to the Northeast twice with gas at over $4 per gallon this had the makings for a vacation. When LPI added a few distance races to their sprint schedule I called a few of the CPA racers and invited them along for a week long racing, camping, paddling, hiking vacation.

The entire trip deserves a report, as it was fabulous, but this write-up focuses on the Blackburn. Stephen Petrie, Dave and I arrived at our campsite in Gloucester on Wednesday evening. After a quick meal of leftovers and a fire we retreated to our tents as the only night of rain we experienced on our 10 day trip began to fall.

Thursday morning dawned dry and clear as a stiff 15 knot south west wind pushed the clouds away. Being only two days before the race it should have been a rest day but we wanted to get a feel for the water and see some of the course. So off we went to Gloucester harbor. We launched from the beach and went past the famous “greasy pole” which would mark the finish of Saturday’s race. We made a beeline for the jetty on the far side of the harbor at Dog Bar point. The nearer we got to the jetty the more “interesting” things got. A rolling two foot swell ran with some light chop which grew depending on the size of power boat speeding past us. I would launch myself over the top of a wave before surfing down the next. I love open water.

Stephen and I picked up the pace to just below race speeds. Under normal circumstances Stephen is faster than me but today he was about 100 feet behind. I suspected the conditions were getting to him and would glance back every now and again to make sure he was upright. He had brought his “stable” mini-mystery on this trip rather than the elf-shoe Huki surfski. Still the Mystery is no Nemo and with the stability my boat afforded me I sped ahead surfing and having a ball.

Not wanting to overdo it we all to soon turned back. We met up with Dave who was not more than a couple of hundred yards behind us. He had been surfing his new wooden qajariaq. The three of us paddled back, occasionally surfing, discussing the waves. We decided that they were somewhere between “entertaining” and “sporty”. Stephen hoped that the entire Blackburn wouldn’t be so rough. I hoped it would be!

Friday our plan was to relax and take a driving tour of the island to scope out the course. We packed up camp and headed north around the island toward Rockport. Stephen was in the lead and we stopped anywhere we could glimpse the ocean to take GPS points, figure out the lines and chart potential landings. It took us about an hour and a half just to travel the 10 miles to Rockport. There we found our hotel and dropped our car before continuing the southern portion of the tour. Everywhere we looked the view was similar – flat water and rocky coast. The wind had eased up and it was dead calm. Saturday they forecast a whopping 4 knots.

Saturday we were up at 5 am and headed for Dunkin Doughnuts. Massachusetts is the land of Dunkin Doughnuts with one on every corner so we had to stop. Coffee in hand we drove back to Gloucester to unload the boat and register. It was great to see some of the racing circuit regulars. Ray was there getting to race rather than organize for a change. Christian, who has the other Nemo, and I chatted about the boats. Kathy K. and Sharon, who I met at Mayor’s Cup lat year, were busy prepping their Seda Impulses. CPA was well represented by Annette R, Stephen P, Bill W, David M, and me.

In the women’s fast sea kayak (FSK) class there were 5 of us – Annette, Sharon, Kathy, Amelia and me. There were also two women on skis in the high performance kayak (HPK) category. All the women would start together – HPKs, FSKs and SKs. My guess was that it would be a race between Annette and me in the FSK class but that the HPKs would drop us quickly.

The start sounded and we took off up the river. One of the skis took the lead with me, Annette and the other about 100 yards behind. The three of us stayed together until about mid-way up the river when the second ski dropped back. Then it was just me and Annette. I settled in for what I figured would be a long race. I really focused on the GPS, forcing myself to slow down the stroke rate and to dig rather than to twirl like the energizer bunny. Every time I did I was rewarded with an extra tenth or two of a mile in speed. As we came to the mouth of the Annisquam, Annette took a line left. I started to follow but found myself in shallow water and immediately cut back to the channel and deeper water. When we rounded the corner Annette and I had separated. Now there was only the woman on the ski in front of me. I kept paddling.

The water stayed calm along the north of the island past Folly Point. As we turned the corner at Halibut Point the swell picked up just a bit. I’d occasionally see the woman on the ski ahead of me brace or bobble on a wave. The thought that I could take her started to creep into my head. I just needed to stay close. Next came the crossing from Halibut over to the halfway check-in at Straightsmouth. It’s a solid two mile crossing and we were about a mile offshore. Now things started to get interesting. The water, which was very calm by Blackburn standards, began to develop some confused chop. It was just before the Straightsmouth cut that I saw the woman swim. She was about 100 yards ahead of me at that point. I dug in, both to try to help, and to try to pass. By the time I got up next to her she was back in the ski but not yet paddling. I asked if she needed help but she said no so I kept on.

From then on I was in the lead. During the next open stretch past Good Harbor the waves continued to build. The crossing is long at about three miles. Occasionally the ski would pull up next to me but then I’d pull ahead again in the next rough spot. Ray cruised past me here. He was the first of the men’s Fast Sea Kayaks that I had seen and was looking strong. Soon Christian caught up to me as well.

Once across the harbor and closer to shore I knew we were getting near the end. I rounded the next point and saw the area where Dave, Stephen and I had paddled Thursday. This was likely going to be the roughest part of the course and that I didn’t have far to go. I put everything I had left in and dropped the ski entirely. I could see Dog Bar jetty and the Coast Guard station in the distance and milked every wave that came my way trying to surf for all I was worth. Just in front of the station I saw Dave out in his red tuliq rolling his boat. He yelled for me to paddle hard and I asked him where the white ski was. He said 30 seconds back. Now 30 seconds isn’t a lot when you still have two miles to go but I was going to give it a shot. I turned into the harbor and was, happily surprised, to still find a good chop. Chop was my friend today and this stuff was generated by the powerboats which were plentiful on such a gorgeous day. I paddled on. Sweat poured into my eyes so bad I couldn’t see anything but I wasn’t about to stop paddling.

Ahead I could make out the greasy pole and kept for it. I crossed the line at 3:27:22 – the first woman from either the HPK or FSK class. That made me very happy. I turned expecting to see the woman on the ski directly behind me but instead saw a different, male paddled, white ski with Christian right behind him. There was not a woman in sight. I pulled the boat up and Dave arrived shortly there after to congratulate me. It was simply awesome.

After cooling down a bit and guzzling water I started to look for the others. I hadn’t seen Stephen, Bill, Annette or Kathy come in yet. The men had started after me but I had expected them to catch me at some point. I saw the next woman cross the line in a ski about 3 minutes after me. Next came Bill and Stephen. Both said the conditions took their tool on them. Eventually Dave, Stephen and I got back in the boats for the short paddle back to the put-in for a quick splash down and change of clothes before enjoying the post race festivities that included lunch, a live band, a beer truck, massages and awards.

I left feeling very good about the race. I paddled my hardest, didn’t hold anything back and finished well. However I was even more pleased when the results were posted on the Blackburn site on Monday. I not only finished first in the women’s category for FSKs and beat the women’s HPK times but my time would have made me the sixth place finisher in the Men’s Fast Sea Kayak Category! It was the perfect end to a great week of paddling, camping, and hanging out with friends.

A few months ago I took the Nemo on a fast and light kayak camping trip. Since then I’ve started to think a bit more about honing down my gear and apply backpacking’s ultralight concepts to my paddle camping trips. You can read all about that on the CPA website.  Go to my webshots album to check out the pictures.

1. Less to schlep up and down the beach every morning.
2. A lighter boat is easier to paddle and more responsive
3. Less time spent packing, unpacking and setting up camp means more time to enjoy the scenery, take a hike, cook a yummy dinner or whatever your favorite camp activity.

So I set out to lighten the load. Following is the list of gear I used on the trip with weights and comments.

• MSR Hubba Tent and ground sheet, 3 lbs 4 oz, Worked like a champ. I was snug and warm despite temps in the 20s that night. The tent is tight so gear needs to go under the smallish vestibules or back in the boat.
• Sawtooth Long and stuff sack, 4 lbs, This is my down winterbag. It was heavy but worth the weight. I’d like to get a smaller, lighter bag for summer.
• Pro-lite 4 Regular, 1 lbs 8 oz, Worth every ounce.
• Pacific Outdoor Insulmat, 1 lb 6 oz, I know two pads? But when its going to be 20 degrees I opted for it anyway.
• Thermolite bag, 8.1 oz, This is a liner I use. It adds a bit of warmth but most importantly it helps take up space in the long sleeping bag to keep my feet warm.

• Gigapower Stove, 3 oz, Great little stove for boiling water.
• Snow peak 700 mug,4.8 oz, Main pot for boiling water.
• Titanium Mug, 2.8 oz, Coffee!
• Bunch of aluminum foil, 1 oz, Really helps to wrap the Mountainhouse meals in. Keeps the heat in and speeds rehydrating.
• Lexan knife, fork, spoon 1.6 oz, Does it all.
• 2 small fuel canisters, 7 oz, Fit inside the snowpeak much along
  with the stove.

• Patagonia Mid-weight bottoms, 6.5 oz, Went with mid-weight which is lighter than I would normally take in these conditions but since I had the puffy pants risked it.
• Patagonia Long sleeve silk weight T, 4 oz, Good under the wool and doubledas a paddle shirt under by drysuit on day 2.
• Patagonia Wool 3 top, 6 oz, Better warmth to weight than my polar fleece stuff.
• Integral designs PLQ primaloft pant, 8.6 oz, and Moonstone Cirrus primaloft jacket, 14 oz, The pants are new and I highly recommend them. They are “puffy” like the jacket and incredibly warm. Great as part of a sleep system. Combined with my jacket and over base layers I was toasty even when the temperate hovered in the low 30’s.
• Hat, gloves, socks, 8 oz.
• Crocs, 7.5 oz, The perfect camp shoe.
• Full set rain gear, 3 lbs, Patagonia Supercell jacket and Rapid Style pants. I never took them out of the bag. For spring trips where I wasn’t in a drysuit but had a paddle jacket I would just bring that to double as paddle splash wear and rain wear.

Misc Gear:

• Tikka XP headlamp, 3 oz, The one light was all I needed and a space saver over what I regularly take. I did have a small light on my PFD so there was some redundance in case one died.
• Optio W20 Camera,1 lb, and hours of entertainment.
• Crazy Creek, 1 lb 10 oz, Pure luxury but in a kayak worth every ounce.
• Toiletries etc, 1 lbs, Toothbrush, Toothpaste, soap, sunscreen, notebook pen, etc.

Food:

• 4 lbs. This was a quick two day trip so food was minimal. Apples, cheese, powerbars, oatmeal, 1 mountainhouse meal, bread, snap peas,chocolate, coffee.
• 80 oz water. I carried enough to drink during the day and to get me through part of the next day. In the end I could have carried less as we were able to refill at Camp Merrick.

Grand Total, 31 lbs 4 oz.

All in all I felt that was pretty good. I could definitely trim some weight from my sleeping system by ditching the heavy Sawtooth sleeping bag and sticking with one sleeping pad instead of two. The other big place to save weight is on therain gear since this was basically duplicating the protection I could have gotten on land by wearing my drysuit.

Of course I still had all the usual paddling gear – PFD and attachments (knife, towbelt, light, compass, vhf, chapstick, flares) and the boat, paddle, pump, sponge, drysuit,first aid kit, so enabled me to skimp on the camping gear.

I’d love to try this again sometime during the warmer months and see if I could get it even lighter!

This weekend was The Mayor's Cup New York City Kayak Championship and the culmination of my racing season. The Mayor’s Cup is an elite kayaking race around Manhattan Island. At between 28 and 30 miles (depending on your line), the marathon race is striving to become one of North America’s premier races and New York City's largest water event. The race is organized by Ray Fusco. I met Ray randomly back when I went to pick up my Tbolt in New York last year. When I heard his race presentation at Jersey Paddler in the spring I knew it was a race I wanted to do.

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. 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 in a few people. 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. 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 four women in singles this year. We had two in unlimited, three in fast touring and one in standard touring. Next year we’re aiming for 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.

The guy was Andy G. 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. 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.