2009 Milford OC1 Canoe and Surfski Race Summary – by Wesley Echols

One of the nice things about the Milford Race is that Blake Conant, the Race Director, makes you feel so welcome when you show up for the race so the karma is great from the beginning. This year’s race had a good showing of OC paddlers and there were actually 2 ocean rowing shells manned by Wayne Lysobey and training partner Bill. The surfski class had a good showing as well though I was hoping there would have been some guys from New Jersey, Connecticut, and a few more of the crowd from Massachusetts. Nevertheless the sun was brilliant, and with little wind it was looking like a flat water race. Blake went over the course twice but I guess I needed to be told another time since Tim and I led the pack around the wrong Red Can similarly to what Ken Cooper did last year. Now I see how easy it was to get it confused. Fortunately all the surfski paddlers and most of the OC paddlers did the same thing so it worked out fine.

The start was delayed a few minutes while we waited for Rod and Alex to paddle to the start line after their long drive down from Maine. The horn went off and Tim and I were off leading the pack with the OC2 close behind. As we rounded the 1st buoy Tim and I were chatting like it was a hard training paddle that we do every week. Tim elected to pull to the next buoy. So I rode his side wash while checking our heart rates which were identical at 161 just like in our training sessions. We rounded the second buoy and I pulled to the second red can where we stopped for a few seconds to decide if it was the right one or not. The OC2 was close behind so we turned and watched them and they like us, rounded the same red can so we were off again.

Determined not to get passed by the OC2, I concentrated on pulling hard, finding motivation in hearing the familiar “HUT” by the OC2. As I was feeling slightly stronger than Tim due to Tim’s white water rafting paddling the day before, I pulled to the next buoy. With just about 2 miles to go in the 8 mile race, I tried to catch a few bumps on the slight downwind section while maintaining maximum leg drive. At this point I was ahead of Tim by 3 boat lengths and remembered that Tim always finishes hard so I was not to let up until the finish. Today I came out ahead, but like most paddling (training partners), you always want you partner to have a good race as well. My other training partner Chris (web master) had the best race of his season coming in 3rd behind Tim and me. The flat day was tailor made for Chris whose flatwater speed either in his Mohican or his 32lb V10sport is very impressive. At one point in the race I looked behind me to see where the OC2 was and Chris was only 3 boat lengths behind them. I thought for a split second” Is Chris going to pass me today?” I know my days are number with Chris!!

Other noteworthy performances were Ken Larson coming in 4th looking very lean from all the bike, swimming, and running he and Kathy have been doing getting in shape for road racing and triathlons. Also Dave Grainger had an excellent race in his custom designed Mako 6 cockpit.

We ended the day at the Citrus Restaurant for the awards ceremony with Blake and Melissa handing out the awards after some liquid refreshments, hamburgers, and hotdogs. While there we recruited some of the OC paddlers to make the trek up to the Counter Revolution Race in Jamestown, Rhode Island on August 29th which is going to be jammed pack with rowers, skiers, and OC paddlers. I hope every one will join us for that race! Thanks goes out the Blake and Melissa for making us all feel welcome and putting on the race. ~ Wesley