[Paddlewise] tuesday night at the races

It's the beginning of another race season.

For the last 7 years (eek), I've been racing every Tuesday night in
Beverly Harbor (Massachusetts).

Last night some local SUP paddlers joined us and they've added a
concurrent SUP race.   For the first couple of weeks they are going to
do a 2 mile course and expand out to some 4 mile courses as they get a
feel for who they have in their group.   As we all know it's highly
important to trust those you are with, to at least know who might need
rescuing, or to provide other encouragement/discouragement based on the
conditions...


We've got 5 race courses that we do.   Originally the race course, for
the day, was decided by choosing golf balls with numbers drawn on them. 
Now we logically select a course from a cycle of 5 and work through the
5.  

Course #1 - Circle Eagle Island - Distance 6.6 miles +/-
Course #2 - Circle Bowditch Ledge - Distance 5.9 miles +/-
Course #3 - Circle Coney Island and proceed to Black Rocks and circle it
- back to the Wall - Distance 5.1 miles +/-
Course #4 - Circle Black Rocks - Distance 3.2 miles +/-. When the last
paddler finishes, the Timekeeper will start a 5 minute rest period. At
the end of the rest period, the next leg begins which will be to circle
the Red Nun at the Jubilee YC put in - Distance 1.9 miles +/-...Total
distance for the race is 5.1 miles. Total time of both legs will
determine your place for the evening.
Course #5 - Circle Great Haste Rock - Distance 3.6 miles +/-. 5 minute
rest period. Circle Red Nun at the Jubilee YC put in. Distance 1.9 miles
+/-...Total distance for the race is 5.5 miles. Total time again
determines your place.

All races are a Le Mans start and finish - which means we stand at the
top of the beach, run down to the water, pick up and launch the boats,
then paddle off.   The finish is 'gracefully' leave your boat and
attempt to sprint up the beach.

Last nights race was course 4, one of the two split courses.  Course 4
was chosen because it was one of the 3 remaining race courses and we had
thunderstorms earlier in the day, so we wanted to be close to shore in
case something appeared.  No lightning was forecast, but the weather was
somewhat unusual, so we opted for the close to shore course, just in
case. 

Great competition.  There was 12 seconds between first and second in the
first race, and 7 seconds between third and fourth place for the first
race, with me in fourth. For the second race the leaders switched and
there was a 2 second difference between first and second.  For the
second leg of the race I drafted the paddler that had beaten me in the
first race to the turn buoy (mostly to save energy).  For the trip back
I didn't draft then cut past him with 300 yards to go and pulled ahead. 
Alas I only managed to beat him by 6 seconds.   Which left me with a
combined time of 42:53 once second behind third place.

For the night the winning time was 41:35 with 4 more paddlers in the
next 87 seconds.

The split courses are highly painful.  They consist of a 3 mile race, a
5 minute break, then a 2 mile race.   The first minute or two of the
second race is highly painful as your body returns to race pace and your
circulatory system calls you nasty names....


Kirk


-- 
  Kirk Olsen
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