Yesterday in posting something to the string of messages about cigarette boats, I mentioned I was off to do kayak escort duty. When I set out I didn't anticipate what a day it would be. Here is my account to the NYCkayaker list that I am posting here just to underline how important it is for we kayakers to help out swim events...we truly are needed in more ways than one might think. ------- Yesterday's The Great Hudson River Swim, a 2.8 miler from 79th Steet to the Chelsea Piers, turned out to be an unusual struggle for me, one that made it so clear why kayakers have to be there. I know when I sign on for kayak escort for these events, I sign on to help keep the swimmers from going too far out into the river and away from entanglement in the piers. And I know that they may be the possibility of rescue assistance, the latter so rare that I have not seen such a situation in three years of doing this. By and large though we are there to help swimmers, our fellow close-to-water brethren, fulfill their goals as safely as possible in the often turbulent waters of a city harbor. Yesterday my role, our role, came to a test that I had never anticipated. I found myself in the middle of what seemed the plot line from the classic American novel, The Devil and Daniel Webster. I found myself in a struggle for the very soul of a swimmer against the evil clutches (well, they seemed quite evil at the time) of a motorboat escort. We had 72 swimmers in the race and only 11 kayakers (it was 10 when we met up but an 11th showed just as the race started and I wasn't aware of him). So we would be spread out thin. After we agreed where we all should basically station ourselves for maximum effectiveness with such few numbers of us, I took a spot I feel very good about, the rear end of the race. If you haven't been at one of these shorter races, here is what happens. A lead group of swimmers, maybe a half a dozen, start distancing themselves from the rest. A strung out pack follows (and that stringing out can be quite long); and then there is a small group of strugglers (not stragglers) at the tail end. I have had good experience manning the rear kayak position. These individuals clearly want to meet a goal--finish the race. They are not going for great times nor will they meet them. But the accomplishment for them and their families will be no less great than that of the ones who go up on the winners stand at the awards ceremony. Sure enough the swimmers fell into line along the pattern I mention above. I found myself in the rear with two swimmers, a man and a woman. They were not moving fast. I could see that ahead the distance between them and the rest of the group was widening except for a fellow wearing a full wet suit. My guy seemed to be doing a dog paddle (maybe it was an Australian crawl) with switches to floating on his back with leg kicks. The woman was stroking hard with arms in rapid motion but with little forward speed. For the first third of the race, I kept an eye on both going between one and the other, except for a few times when their zig-zag swimming brought them together for a moment before they would once more go in different directions. At this point, one of the rear motorboats had had enough. I could see the crew looking at their watches. They get paid money for gas, which I am certain also results in a tidy sum into their pockets and they probably felt it was too much time spent for what they were getting. The race had started at least 45 minutes late because we had to wait for the currents to get some helpful strength to them. And because the race had to pass in front of the ocean liner piers at a time when they pull out to go to sea; and we needed to wait for them to clear. So that motorboat escort crew wanted to hurry up things so that they could go home. It began to crowd the swimmers, not a lot but some, and it had nothing to do with the swimmers being too far out in the river or too far in. I should have caught on to how the situation was escalating but, frankly, I was too concentrated on the swimmers. The first hint came when one of the crew yelled to me, "Pull him out, his lips are blue!" I couldn't hear well at first but caught on. I didn't see any blue but went closer and looked down at the guy who was now doing his back float kick and I could see lips as red as those on Marilyn Monroe throwing a kiss. I asked him if he was cold and he answered no as clear as could be without a shiver in his voice. We went on for a few minutes. The motorboat escort then crowded next to the woman and calling to her but she was stroking so furiously with her arm strokes that she didn't hear. Back to the man. The crew then called to him if he was tired and that he should leave the race and get out of the water. He called back to give him a few more minutes that he was feeling just fine. But they continued to pressure him and crowd him with their boat saying how easy it would be just to float to the stern and get on the rear swim platform. He finally relented. (I noticed him throughout the episode that followed watching from the rear deck. Funny they had made no effort to put a blanket on him or anything. So much for their concern about his being cold.) Now the struggle moved on to the woman. (Remember that this race is short and has no specified cutoff times beyond good sense ones of a swimmer obviously in distress or disoriented.) The motorboat escort crew, ever looking at their watches, continued to call out to her to leave the race. She finally heard them and looked over to me. I told them she looked just fine, was maintaining her fast stroke rate, one of the signals that a swimmer is losing it and should be pulled out. They laid off for awhile. Somewhere in the middle of this, I asked the swimmer what language did she speak because she had an accent. Turns out it was Spanish, which I thought it was. We quickly switched our conversation to Spanish. She implored me "por favor, no lo dejan sacarme, quiero terminar" (Please don't let them take me out, I want to finish). I responded "Lo juro" (I swear this). The verb "jurar" in Spanish carries a much heavier, solemn personal committment than our English "swear." That pleased her and seemed to put more determination into her swimming. Then they crowded against us again. The boat pulled alongside her very close and one of the crew was walking toward the swim platform readying himself to snatch her from the water, saying that she had to come out. I said again that they couldn't do that and that she was stroking fast and did not want to come out. They started yelling that "Oh, she refuses to come out, she is disqualified!" I asked "Who says so?" The fellow in the rear pointed to the man at the helm "the captain." I knew he had no more authority to call on this one than I had, especially since I was close to her and could see her condition and sense her breathing, something you can't do from a large motorboat. A few more hundred yards and the motorboat escort started yelling that one of the swim organizers, I forget her name, said the swimmer had to be pulled. I had my marine radio, which I had been listening to, but had turned off for the swimmer to hear me and to dialogue with the motorboat guys. I called the swim organizers, told them of the struggle I was having with the motorboat escort, told her of the swimmer's good stroke, which was so fast that I could not read the number on her arm because it was such a blur. She said it was my call: she could stay in the race but to keep watching the condition of the swimmer which I rogered and out. The motorboat captain petulantly barked on the radio that he would no longer be responsible; fine. I told my swimmer that they she was ok but to keep swimming hard. She had been looking up and hearing the struggle for, what seemed to me at the time, her soul. And it was because soul and goals go hand and hand. She thanked me again and I repeated my committment to her, and we moved on. Despite the truce, the motorboat was not about to give in. Persuasion switched to a silent form. The motorboat crowded close to us and its exhaust fumes strongly whiffing over us. It bothered me, I know it was affecting the swimmer. I let it go for away and finally yelled to stand off. They gave in and fell back. The swimmer finished the race in 1:23 exactly and came within seconds of catching the swimmer in the wet suit. Cheers went up as we came into the embayment. Large yachts were having cocktail hour and the partygoers toasted the last swimmers as they came in. Everyone was excited and energized by the race and the struggle of those rear swimmers. Crowds on the pier cheered. The motorboat had continued following us into the embayment pushing aside the kayakers as it came. It felt they were continuing their menacing but all they wanted to do was to return a race flag that they carried to show they were part of the race. I was busy still having "words" with the crew, when I heard myself called from the finish line dock. A swim helper was calling me. I saw he was steadying the woman swimmer who had a huge smile on her face. "Muchissimas gracias" she was saying over and over again. ralph diaz -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On Sun, 06 Aug 2000 09:40:14 -0700, ralph diaz wrote: -snip- >Despite the truce, the motorboat was not about to give in. Persuasion >switched to a silent form. The motorboat crowded close to us and its >exhaust fumes strongly whiffing over us. It bothered me, I know it was >affecting the swimmer. I let it go for away and finally yelled to stand >off. They gave in and fell back. > >The swimmer finished the race in 1:23 exactly and came within seconds of >catching the swimmer in the wet suit. Cheers went up as we came into >the embayment. Large yachts were having cocktail hour and the >partygoers toasted the last swimmers as they came in. Everyone was >excited and energized by the race and the struggle of those rear >swimmers. Crowds on the pier cheered. > >The motorboat had continued following us into the embayment pushing >aside the kayakers as it came. It felt they were continuing their >menacing but all they wanted to do was to return a race flag that they >carried to show they were part of the race. > >I was busy still having "words" with the crew, when I heard myself >called from the finish line dock. A swim helper was calling me. I saw >he was steadying the woman swimmer who had a huge smile on her face. >"Muchissimas gracias" she was saying over and over again. > >ralph diaz > Thanks for posting your report Ralph. I'm sorry that you and your swimmers had to put up with the questionable behavior of the motor boaters, and breathe their exhaust as well. You did an admirable job, and I congratulate all the swimmers and paddlers involved. I'm just sorry I wasn't there to help out with the escort, as it sounds like a fine thing to do. With all the people who paddle out of the Downtown Boathouse, I'm a bit surprised at the low turnout of paddlers. What happened? Melissa *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
----- Original Message ----- From: ralph diaz <rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com> To: paddlewise <paddlewise_at_paddlewise.net> Sent: Monday, 7 August 2000 04:40 Subject: [Paddlewise] A followup > Now the struggle moved on to the woman. (Remember that this race is > short and has no specified cutoff times beyond good sense ones of a > swimmer obviously in distress or disoriented.) The motorboat escort > crew, ever looking at their watches, continued to call out to her to > leave the race. She finally heard them and looked over to me. I told > them she looked just fine, was maintaining her fast stroke rate, one of > the signals that a swimmer is losing it and should be pulled out. They > laid off for awhile. Maybe difference between boaters and kayakers in this situation, was not so much the money, but the fact that they have never known the rewards obtained from pushing yourself to your limit to acheive a goal. Kayakers do it just about everytime the go out, but motor boaters? I admire the way you handled the situation and pity the swimmer they did manage to catch. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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