Five and one half miles is what the Essex River race is supposed to be. So why does my stroke coach say over 10k (6.2 miles)? There are more twists and turns in the Essex Race then 10 HOC races. (HOC for Head of the Charles). There are 9 foot tides in Essex. The river changes constantly. Vigilance is needed. Luck would be even more helpful.

The weather was cooperative. A few raindrops in the morning before the race. The breeze was light out of the south. The tide was coming in. The current would be against us going out and with us coming back into the river.

There were 140 boats signed up this year for the Essex River Race. Most boats were out to race hard, but in the tradition of the Essex River Race sometimes people go at a “more leisurely pace”. I was not one of those people. The woman I saw getting into the mixed tandem kayak with her little dog Toto (I made that up- but it looked like a Toto) was, I figured, going to just doggy paddle the course for enjoyment.

A small but growing class of human powered vessels were well represented at Essex. There were five paddleboarders in the race, four men and one woman. I didn’t think see looked like she was having that much fun when I passed her after the first mile and a half. I am not sure she finished the course. After the race one of the regatta chairman was looking for the only racer not checked off the list at the finish, a paddleboarder. I assume, but don’t know it was her and that she was soon found in good order. Back in the halcyon days of my youth I paddled a lifeguard rescue board a fair amount. I can tell you from experience that your arms can feel like lead weights after just a half mile of paddling.

News flash! This just in. The results for the 2009 Essex River Race are already posted 8:00 a.m. May 10!

There were 129 finish times. Inna Kogan on her paddleboard was 129 at a little over 2 hours. In no way do I mean or infer anything negative about this result. Possibly this was the biggest achievement of the day. Six miles or so on a paddleboard in two hours is still mind boggling to me. There were 129 winning vessels that day. And, so far as I know, all winners, no whiners.

Looking through the finish times I did not see any tandem kayaks with a time looking like a leisurely pace. I guess Toto must have pulled his weight.

So, for my race-I was 16th overall. Fourth place in the men’s 1x racing sliding seats. I was 55:01 minutes. I was 30 seconds from a third place medal. One of the things I love about these open water races is that you get to compare your times to all sorts of craft. For me it has become interesting to watch my times compared to the fast surfskiers. This race 8 out of 20 of the “unlimited class” kayaks beat me. Other races more than half of them have beat my time. Unlimited class is surfskiis and other racing kayaks. I was looking at a surfski hull before the race and they are narrow. I am not sure of the measurements but seems to be about as narrow as my Peinert Dolphin hull which is 13″ at the waterline. How those paddlers can stay right side up at all eludes me. I know that some of my vast reading public, those with rowing experience but no experience in open water competition are wondering how a decent rower like myself could let any kayaker beat me in any race. Well the secret is I don’t let them. In fact I try very hard to stay ahead of them all.

Another benchmark for me is how my friends Jim Piantedosi and Gary Gorman do in their sliding seat 2x Merry Sea kit boat. On a real good day, especially in calmer water, I have been know to beat them, or at least complete a race in a faster time. Why do we say “beat ” someone in a competition. I am a rower not a boxer. These are my friends. I wish them well. I do try to go faster than they do. It’s fun and it helps me to row harder having friendly competition. Jim and Gary started 5 minutes or so before I did. Never saw them on the course. Maybe if I had I would have gotten in a few more extra hard strokes and cut off a few seconds. They went faster than I did by 19 seconds. Notice I did not say they beat me. If we had started at the some time, I bet both our times would have been faster. I would have been in more pain at the finish line. Good thing I didn’t have them in my sights! “Always look on the bright side of life” as Monty Python says.

I had enough to contend with in my race anyway. Particularly getting out of the river racing against Kinley Greg, Bill Russell and a guy Dave Powers whom I didn’t know. The Essex River is narrow. It is winding. It makes for a frantic start. There were just 8 of at the start. Maybe I shouldn’t put it that way. There is not a lot of room for eight rowers at the start of the Essex. Bill Russell has been very excited about his new boat, a carbon Maas 24. I knew that he and I were going to be close for at least the first couple miles of the race.

At the start, three boats jumped ahead right away. Ray Paneek in his Ace, Pat Riordan in a nice red Dolphin and Don Seymour in another Echo Ace. Bill was on my left. Kinley on my right. I think I was looking around or to the side twice for ever stroke I took. Bill was getting ahead. Then Bill was headed for the bank (and I don’t mean for the ATM). “Bill, watch out, hard on starboard.” That was when Bill had to decide if I was really his friend or not. He went hard on starboard and stayed off the bank. I got ahead.

Twist, turn, right oar only, look over your shoulder, left oar only, look in the mirror, yell to the rower behind you “marsh ahead”. I didn’t know this guy in the Wintech 24, Dave Powers, but I didn’t want to see that nice boat bow into the march grass. Zig, zag, look over the shoulder, left oar only, marsh grass ahead. Bill zigs. I get in a sloppy stroke. Bill gains half a length. I yank the oars hard for two strokes because he is too close and on a collision course. I glance at the GPS. I have a partial course on the GPS. I know from experience this can be an advantage, just don’t rely on it too much. I see my GPS bearing is going to land me in some grass, left oar hard and sloppy.

Kinley had on a safety green shirt. Easier to keep track of her that way. Kinley beats me sometimes, goes faster that is. She was ahead off and on until we got out of the river. We were all zigging and zagging so much out of the river. At one point I yelled to Kinley ” if you steer a really good course I would be happy to follow you” “I’d be happy to follow you!” was her reply. After the race she told me “boy you really took off when we got out of the river. What did you do, just get warmed up in the river?” When we stopped having to look out for the all the twists and turns I was able to concentrate on some better rowing. There were a lot of frantic strokes on the river, fast paced but not very energy efficient. Out in the open I felt like I could open up the stroke, get a good solid catch, and feel some good leg drive and better use of my back. I let the stroke rate settle down to 24, 25 instead of a frantic 26-28 stokes per minute in the winding river. The breathing gets relaxed that way. I feel the knees slam down at he end of the leg drive. The knees stay down for half second or so until the hands and back are well on their way to the catch again. Grab some more water and do it again. Very nice to get full strokes in. The speed coach has nice numbers for me, around 3.3 m/s. I am rowing better, more relaxed. More relaxed about looking around. Bonk! My oar shaft really clobbered the top of that lobster pot! I start using my rowing mirror more. Mine field ahead! There are a dozen white mooring buoys spread out in the water I am trying go navigate though. Raise the starboard oar blade over the one on my left (rowers left, I go backward remember) I want to change course for the tip of Cross Island, but not yet, not until I get around the next mooring buoy. I have been passing boats, the fixed seaters, the paddleboarders and have an Alden mixed double in my sights. I am sighting the bar at the outside end of Cross Island. I see the roiled up water where the current is going over the shallow bottom. How close do I cut this corner I ask myself. I watch the Alden Double go around and go out slight further than they do. I catch up to them around the point and start to pass them. They seem like happy competitors. I look over and give them a big “are we having fun yet!” “Ohh Yeaaah” is the reply.

I get past Cross Island and start looking for the mouth of the river. This is not trivial. I have a GPS unit set with a waypoint at the mouth of the river. It is not working. This is my experience with GPS in a race. Do not rely on them, although GPS has always served me well in the Blackburn Challenge. I pass another fixed seater or two and find the mouth of the river. I see Kinley in her green shirt back a quarter mile or so. Ahead of me is a sliding seat 1x. I am not sure who it is or even if it is in the racing class like me. Maybe this is the guy I have to pass if I want third place medal I think to myself. Maybe with a Herculean effort I can pass whoever it is and maybe get a medal to hang up at home on the kitchen light fixture where my wife Bev and I like to hang up the seasons medals. Hercules was already out to lunch. Never caught that rower. Turned out it must have been Don Seymour, who did get third. I did pass an Alden Star double that had run full tilt into a marsh island in the river. One guy was out off the boat pushing them backwards. “I’m not gonna follow you guys” I shouted over. I should have remained quiet, I was greeted with frowns.

The finish was around the corner. There was a big Pilot Gig or Whaleboat head of me. I hugged the starboard side of the river and squeezed by them. A couple years ago that was the spot I ran into the river bank. I could hear the encouragement from the finish line. I picked the stroke rate to 32 and sprinted 20 strokes to the finish. Try to look good here I thought. I felt better than I thought. l should have started my sprint 20 strokes earlier. That is always easy to say after the race.

“OK” I heard from the shore. “Number 71” I shouted out. Another race done!

I got the boat on the car. Packed everything up. I helped a few friends get their boats in.Then I went and got some chowder, which I was assured was made with real Ipswich clams and not some old sea clams like commercial chowder. It was almost as good as mine. (Pease do not let this version of my story get into the hands of any Ipswichians).

At the awards a first place in the 1x sliding seat racing men went to Pat Riordan. Pat must have had his wheaties. Second was Ray Panek. I remember meeting Ray at an Isles of Shoals Race about four(?) years ago. He was just starting his open water racing. He said he was going to get serious about it. He did. Third was Don, the guy I couldn’t catch (wait till next year!) Kinley was first for the women. Jim and Gary were first for sliding seat 2x, although they were called up to get an award for 2x sliding seat mixed. “Well I guess we are mixed enough” Gary said.

It turned into a nice summery afternoon. A nice socializing time with the open water community. I went home without a medal, but I do have this cool red long sleeve t -shirt that says “Essex River Race 2009” and just a touch of sunburn.

Long Live Open Water!
Wayne