My one hour and forty-five minute drive up to the Essex River Race was uneventful with three Think skis strapped to my aging SUV.  I missed last years race so I was curious about the new venue for parking and registration at 35 Dodge Street. As I traveled the down Dodge street, I could not help but notice all the signs for SLOW DOWN. I am sure with a public boat ramp and huge parking lot, this tiny road gets many speeders. This was not me. I obeyed the signs and slowly pulled into the parking lot greeted by follow surfski paddlers huddled in a group to keep warm on this chilly New England morning.  Despite the chill in the air, they all managed a hearty wave hello. I pulled into the uphill parking lot since the first lot was full with the early birds.

Strange Happening #1-Keys

As I got ready for the race, picked up my number, and said my hello’s, I managed to lock my keys in my car. I have a system for getting ready for a race with a dedicated place for my keys while getting in and out of my car. I have not locked my keys in my car in over 20 years, so its a good system. I love organizational systems. Beside being a 25 year pharma sales rep, I have the skill set of a professional organizer too. One of the Professional Organizers Tenets is, “Everything has it’s home and put everything in its home”.

Ken Cooper and Chris Chappell have their race ready organizational systems too for their keys, they have a single key around their neck, their key has its home.  I thought about this system years ago, but I don’t like something around my neck. So this morning, instead of placing my key on the dedicated clip on the roof rack, I momentarily placed it on the seat of my car. Since parking was tight with only a yard between cars, I accidentally hit my open door, closing it partially while trying to slide by it. Momentary panic, Yikes! The door was not completely closed but it was locked. I could see my keys on the drivers seat. Normally I place my key on that dedicated clip, then when I am completely ready, I place the key in its secure place and go.

So I asked Ken Cooper and Chris if they had a coat hanger or something similar. Ken suggested a car antenna so he unscrewed Chris’s, but it was too short. We were able to pry the door open almost half an inch to slide the antenna in. Ken, a successful architect before retiring, fashioned a combo of tape and antenna but still too short to retrieve the key.  While Ken thought about the problem, I asked a few other people for a coat hanger before my search for a policeman would begin. As I was walking back to the car, I noticed a one of those orange, round, fiberglass driveway markers, so I grabbed it in hopes it might work. So Ken pried the door open, Hank was my visual guide since I could only see half of the automatic door lock from my angle.  I snaked the fiberglass marker within a quarter inch and Hank said “almost, quarter inch more”. I then realized I needed to use the other end(rounded end of marker, not pointed in that goes into the ground. So I reversed it, and with the skillful eye of Hank the contractor, the helpfulness and problem solving skills of Ken, the architect, and my resourcefulness of a pharmaceutical rep, presto! The sound of that door lock opening wanted me to jump for joy. Do you need three experienced surfski paddlers to unlock a car door. YES! So big thanks to Ken for helping me, and Hank too. I now have a redundancy plan in place too to avoid this happening in the next 20 years!

Ken and Abby Cooper at Cape Cod Downwinder a few years ago.

My Race

With a small field of surfski paddlers, the start was the most benign I felt in years. My start was okay, feeling a little sluggish from the get go but hopefully this would dissipate as the race progressed. I found myself after a few hundreds yards behind Hank but over taking him. As I did he stayed dutifully on my wash until around the island (3 miles) where I tried to increase the pace in the tiny downwind wavelets. I also kept my eye on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th place paddlers that were well ahead of me. I did see Jan pull up close to the island to fix his rudder that he hit on a rock rounding the shallow sections of the island. I thought to myself “there is no way Jan can close the gap on Chris and Tim after his pit stop. Yet he did. Jan put in a massive effort to catch back up to those guys and putting a tiny gap between he and Chris, 3rd place winner. Jan placed 2nd with Greg taking 1st.  After I dropped Hank, I tried to keep up the pace for the next 2 miles but i still felt sluggish with my heart rate dropping the last mile which surprised me for such a short race. Nevertheless I managed a 5th place. In the women’s race Leslie Chappell edge out Mary Beth in a photo finish to take 1st and second. Jean in her first surfski race, came in third. Thanks to Olga for all the nice pics here and on facebook!

Wesley at last bend, Hank 2nd bend, Max 3rd bend. Photo Olga

Mary Beth, Leslie, Jean displaying their medals for podium finishes.

Chris, Jan, Greg in a daze(1st place always gets me excited). All on the podium.

Strange Happening #2- Report of Boarding

After the race, Dave Brody wanted to try my Ion 3G so we unloaded it from my car and walked it down to the boat ramp. Dave took it for a spin looking pretty stable in it after a few strokes. Dave went from paddling the Fenn BlueFin placing 3rd in the SS20 Class to the Ion 3G so a huge difference in stability. Nevertheless Dave enjoyed seating and the glide of the Ion 3g and thought it would make a great boat for his flat water paddling session to go along with his other skis.

Ted Van Dusen and Anna. I met them on the dock during demo. They were looking at the Gig you see beside them and explained the history them. Very interesting the history of Gigs.

As we loaded the boat back on my car, two Coast Guard men in black attire, walked directly toward my car. They politely asked to see my PFD and whistle. I said politely, “don’t you think you should have done this before the race vice one hour after the race?” As the uniformed coast guard men looked at my pfd, he was busy writing on his clip board filling out the “Report of Boarding” form. He then asked me for my Driver’s License and wrote that info down on the form. He crossed off the violation boxes :101 Numbering, 102 Certificate, 103 Document official number, 104 Personal Floatation device, 105 Sound producing device out of 30 other boxes for other types of boats. He also checked #4 for rowboat vice #5 for kayak/canoe. I guess he does not know the difference between a rowing shell and a surfski.  In the Results section he circled NO VIOLATION.  During this interaction, another person, not in uniform but seemed to be in charge, stated he was not worried about guys like me, mainly the “recreational paddlers”.  So I wonder why after an hour after the race, they decided to issue me a “Report of Boarding”. I did tell him I was a very experienced ocean paddle having raced the Blackburn 16 consecutive times including 2015, the BIG YEAR, thinking since the Cape Rowing Club puts on the Essex Race as well as the Blackburn, they were trying to set an example by issuing a “Report of Boarding” to a previously dual certified open ocean kayak instructor, and writer on safety of surfski’s, and well known in the community for my efforts promoting surfskis. Strange!

 

Strange Happening 3 and 4

It took me 3 hours to get home due to construction on 128, a typical day would by 2. Once I got home and was rinsing off my Uno that I raced in, I noticed a weed jammed in between the rudder and the hull despite my weed guard. Essex is notorious for weeds in the form of what looks like straw. This year it was almost void of it compared to previous years. This one survived the 3 hour journey home as I did. It made for a long and strange ending to my race day.

Next Race is my Race: Sakonnet River Race, June 2nd. Get pre registered on Paddle Guru. Best pizza in rhode island, best course depending on day of course, best media coverage, typically we get 20 to 25 surfskiers.