SUP Race Report: CGT Spring Series Race #3

Race: The third race in the CGT Spring Series.

Date it happened: 28 May, 2017.

Host: CGT Kayaks and Paddleboards, which you can become a groupie of by joining the CGT Tribe facebook page.

Location: Riverside Park on the Imperial River in downtown Bonita Springs, Florida.

Course / Distance: For this series there are two courses: a short one that goes downriver to a buoy and back (2.9 km), and a longer one that goes downriver to the US 41 bridge and back (6.4 km).

Conditions: It was hot and humid, with little wind. The river current was 0.55 kph according to my paddling in current calculator. The water level was a little lower than average.

Participants, Results and gear: There was a good crew of local racers, including some new and rarely seen paddlers. Here's our times. Official results may be posted at some point on the CGT Time Trials page.

Racer ** Board Class ** Board Width and Model ** Course ** Time
James Douglass ** 14' SUP ** 23 Riviera RP ** 6.4 km ** 0:41:05
Matt Kearney ** 14' SUP ** 24.5 Starboard AllStar ** 6.4 km ** 0:43:00
Justin DiGiorgio ** 14' SUP ** 23 Hovie Flatwater ** 6.4 km ** 0:44:45
Devin Turetzkin ** 14' SUP ** 23 Starboard AllStar ** 6.4 km ** 0:46:31
Bryan Herrick ** 14' SUP ** 23.75 Riviera RP ** 6.4 km ** 0:46:45
Bill Mussenden ** 14' SUP ** 25 Riviera RP ** 6.4 ** 0:48:56
Jared Hamilton ** 14' SUP ** 24 Hovie ZXC ** 6.4 ** 0:51:49
Steve Fleming ** 12'6 SUP ** 24 Naish Maliko ** 6.4 ** 0:52:24
John Driver ** 14' SUP ** 26 Naish Javelin ** 6.4 ** 1:01:35
Donna Montgomery ** 10' SUP ** 32 Naish Surf ** 6.4 ** 1:07:48
Patrick Scheele ** 9'4 SUP ** 33 Fanatic Viper ** 2.9 km 0:28:30
Allison Denuzio ** 10'6 SUP ** 33 Riviera Convoy ** 2.9 km 0:29:01
Patricia ** 11' SUP ** Bote Touring ** 2.9 km 0:34:21

Play by play: I thought I might actually have the day off from racing this day because CGT race team manager Nick Paeno was mulling the idea of racing himself and having me do the timing for this round. But the shop was too busy for him to be away on the water for that long, so he did his usual timing thing and I did my usual racing thing. The first group to start was Patrick Scheele and his girlfriend Allison Denuzio. They looked to be pretty evenly matched in speed and board type. I started in the second group with Matt, Devin, and Bryan. I made a big sprint effort to get out in front, and Matt locked into my draft on CGT's 14x24.5 Starboard AllStar. Devin didn't quite make it into our draft; he may have been tired from doing a Lover's Key rounding yesterday. I didn't do anything special on the way downriver, other than paddle at a pretty hard race pace. 1.6 km into the race I was feeling hot and tired, and Matt was still right on my draft. I decided to slow down and let him around so that he could pull me for a while. I drafted him for 800 meters, at a pace that was about 0.5 kph slower than what I'd been going. Then I passed and started pulling again. Matt stuck with me through the turn-around at the US 41 bridge, and for the first part of the upriver leg. I couldn't decide whether to make him pull again or to just paddle hard and hope he would fall behind. Eventually the decision was made for me, when he fell behind. As soon as he was no longer "in the race" he started slacking off and quickly fell pretty far behind. I knew I'd have first place at that point, but I tried to still keep up a good pace, watching the average speed readout on my Speedcoach SUP 2 GPS and trying not to let it drop below 9.something kph. I kicked it up a little in the final 800 m and again in the final 400 m, and sprinted across the finish line when I saw coach Mark Athanacio hanging out there. My time of 41:05 was a little disappointing, about 20 seconds slower than I was in races 1 and 2, and far short of Athanacio's record time of 40:00. I could maybe blame it on doing hard double workouts on Friday, and formula windsurfing yesterday, and being a little slower during the time I was drafting Matt, but mainly I think I just need more intense focus and better pacing to set a new personal best time.

This is my GPS track from the race.


After the race we had good eats and socializing at CGT. Several of us are selling used raceboards and trying to interest the newer racers Donna Montgomery, Allison, and Patrick in buying them. The nice thing about the raceboards at CGT is that they have lots of different kinds and they're all available to demo on the river before you buy them.

What's Next: I have a busy week of teaching a summer field studies in marine science class, then I may go to the Sunshine SUP race #1 next weekend in Fort Lauderdale. The following weekend is the Battle on the Blueway in Fort Myers, which I'll definitely go to.