Race Report: CGT Winter Series #2

Race: The second race in the CGT Winter Series.

Date it happened: 21 January 2018

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: The weather was pleasant, with the morning air about room temperature, and a moderate East wind blowing. The river level was at least as low as in race #1, which is to say it was low enough to increase board drag and hit the paddle on the bottom in places. The tide was ebbing, with a current speed of 0.85 kph according to my paddling in current calculator. The wind, in the same direction as the current, made the upriver leg tricky.

Participants, Results and Gear: There was a good turnout (18 racers) including some less-frequent racers, such as young Sarah Weyenberg and Ellery Winghart. There were no outrigger canoes this time, but Murray Hunkin and Justin DiGiorgio used racing kayaks, and Penny Kappler used a recreational kayak. Mark Athanacio sat this one out to rest up after a long time-trial around Lovers' Key yesterday. My parents were in town because we were all at a family friend's wedding elsewhere in Florida on Friday, so they and my wife Rhonda were cheering from the shore.



As far as results go, Murray was first overall, I was the first 14' SUP, and Cindy Gibson was the first 12'6 SUP. Here's the full results with times:

Racer ** Class ** Model ** Course ** Time
Murray Hunkin ** K1 Kayak ** Assassin ** 6.4 km ** 0:38:01
Justin DiGiorgio ** Surfski Kayak ** Nelo 550 ** 6.4 km ** 0:38:30
James Douglass ** 14' SUP ** 23-wide Riviera RP ** 6.4 km ** 0:42:50
Gregory Zasinets ** 14' SUP ** 24.5-wide Starboard Allstar ** 6.4 km ** 0:44:33
Matt Kearney ** 14' SUP ** 23-wide Starboard Allstar ** 6.4 km ** 0:45:42
Bill Mussenden ** 14' SUP ** 23.5 Hovie GTO ** 6.4 km ** 0:46:02
Phil Trudgeon ** 14' SUP ** 25-wide Riviera RP ** 6.4 km ** 0:47:14
Cindy Gibson ** 12'6 SUP ** 25-wide Hovie ZXC ** 6.4 km ** 0:47:15
John Weinberg ** 14' SUP ** 25-wide Riviera RP ** 6.4 km ** 0:50:11
Sarah Weyenberg ** 14' SUP ** 24.5-wide Starboard Allstar ** 6.4 km ** 0:50:22
Donna Catron ** 12'6 SUP ** 26-wide Bark Vapor ** 6.4 km ** 0:54:20
Ellery Winghart ** 12'6 SUP ** 27-wide Starboard Allstar ** 6.4 km ** 0:57:37

Tom Trudgeon ** 14' SUP ** 27-wide Riviera RP ** 2.9 km ** 0:22:16
Meg Bosi ** 12'6 SUP ** 25-wide Bark ** 2.9 km ** 0:22:30
Jared Hamilton ** 14' SUP ** 27-wide Riviera RP ** 2.9 km ** 0:24:04
Penny Kappler ** Rec Kayak ** ?? ** 2.9 km ** 0:25:30
Saralane Harrer and dog ** 12'6 ** 26-wide Riviera RP ** 2.9 km ** 0:28:35

Play by play: The first group to start was Cindy, Sarah, and Ellery. Sarah is a good amateur racer from the midwest, and she looked serious today wearing a heart rate monitor and paddling a fast Starboard AllStar. I think Cindy knew she had tough competition because she blasted off at the start and paddled faster than ever for the entire race.

I lined up in the second group with Greg, Matt, and Bill, all fast dudes on 14' boards. I was on the south side of the river next to Greg. That was good because Greg is almost as fast as me but he can't or won't draft. I figured having him next to me, then hopefully behind me, would prevent anyone else from getting a free ride on my wake. I sprinted hard off the start and got in front of Greg, then maintained a nearly-sprint pace for a while to put a gap on Matt, who is a good drafter. I bobbled a bit going over a submerged object, which I later learned was a stick that had gouged the bottom of my board. Doh! I didn't fall, though, and after about 800 meters it looked like I had escaped all the potential drafters.

After that my race was relatively uneventful. I had a brief moment of drafting Justin and Murray as they passed me in their fast kayaks, but of course I didn't have the speed to stay in their drafts. Shortly after they passed me, I caught up with Sarah Weyenberg, who was only a few board lengths behind Cindy. They were both going fast, so it took me a while to get around them. That first leg of the course was quick with help from wind and current. The second leg, after pulling a u-turn around the pilings of the US 41 bridge, was harder. It was a tough choice between hugging the shore to escape the wind and current, or staying in the deeper water of the mid-river to avoid the drag-inducing effect of the shallows. Hurricane Irma moved a lot of sand down from upriver last summer, so it's shallower with more sandbars downriver, possibly making the course slower than in previous years. I put too much stock in avoiding the current this time, and not enough into avoiding the shallows, which contributed to my time being 38 seconds slower than in race #1 despite a pretty hard effort.

Here's my GPS track from the course:


Greg appeared shortly after I finished, alone, having shaken Matt off his draft around the bridge. Greg is best known for being a downwind paddling expert, but he's obviously tough in these flatwater grinds, as well. Matt was about a minute behind Greg. Cindy was safely ahead of Sarah, having extended her lead in the tough upriver leg. Though my race time was slower than in race #1, some others had faster times. Cindy and Bill Mussenden were both about a minute faster, Phil was 30 seconds faster, and Justin was 39 seconds faster despite hitting the same stick I hit and flipping his kayak right before the finish line. We are all happy that Justin is alive because he had a big scare in a downwinder paddle on the ocean during a cold front last week.

After the race we had good eats in the shop at CGT, and talked about whether or not we want to do a crazy treasure hunt race that RedBull is sponsoring in early February. It's located in the remote waters around Cape Romano (where the dome homes are) and it sounds like a logistical boondoggle where a lot could go wrong. I'll probably sit it out unless somebody twists my arm.

Another cool thing that happened after the race is that I got to go on a leisurely SUP cruise with my 73 year old dad and 70 year old mom. My dad has been reluctant to try SUP in the past, and he was wobbly at first this time, but he ended up doing fine. My mom was zooming all over the place on a raceboard. Next time she visits I'll encourage her to do one of the races. Also, we saw manatees.

Race Report: CGT Winter Series #1

SUPerman Robert Norman, and his sidekick Champ the Chihuahua, at the shop after the race.


Race: The first race in the CGT Winter Series.

Date it happened: 7 January 2018

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: Though it's much warmer in South Florida than anywhere else in the Eastern United States, it was still chilly by our standards- about 9 Celsius in the early morning and maybe 15 during the race. The river level was quite low, and the tide was ebbing with a current speed of about 0.7 kph according to my paddling in current calculator. There was a moderate wind from the Northeast that tended to be a tailwind on the downriver leg and a headwind on the upriver leg.

Participants, Results and Gear: There was a good turnout of the usual suspects, plus some new racers, including Carlos from Puerto Rico and Steve from Boston. Some of the crew opted to paddle their sit-down water toys instead of the usual standup boards. Justin DiGiorgio joined longtime kayak racer Murray Hunkin in the "surfski" kayak class, while Mark Athanacio and Matt Kearney both paddled outrigger canoes. Matt's outrigger is the "OC1" type, which has a rudder and minimal cockpit, while Mark's is the Tahitian "V1" type, which has no rudder and a deeper cockpit. Both types have the outrigger, called an "ama" on the left side. Penny Kappler paddled a 14' non-racing kayak. In the 12'6 SUP class Cindy Gibson, Saralane Harrer, Donna Catron, Dr. Damien Lin, and Beth Schadd represented for the women. The SUP men all rode 14' boards except for Patrick Scheel who toughed it out on an 11'6 surf style SUP. My toughest SUP competitor was SUPerman Robert Norman, down from Inverness Florida. Robert has been biting at my heels for a year, and lately he has been posting times from training that are faster than what I can do, so I knew he would be tough to beat. Today wasn't his day, though. Here's the results:

Racer ** Class ** Model ** Course ** Time
Murray Hunkin ** Surfski Kayak ** Epic V12 ** 6.4 km ** 0:38:16
Justin DiGiorgio ** Surfski Kayak ** Nelo 550 ** 6.4 km ** 0:39:09
Mark Athanacio ** V1 Outrigger ** ?? Long & Green ** 6.4 km ** 0:40:00
James Douglass ** 14' SUP ** 23-wide Riviera RP ** 6.4 km ** 0:42:12
Matt Kearney ** C1 Outrigger ** 20'8" Puakea Ehukai ** 6.4 km ** 0:42:35
Robert Norman ** 14' SUP ** 23-wide Hovie GTF dugout ** 6.4 km ** 0:43:09
Bill Mussenden ** 14' SUP ** 23.5 Hovie GTO ** 6.4 km ** 0:46:58
Steve from Boston ** 14' SUP ** 28-wide BlkBox Uno ** 6.4 km ** 0:47:20
Phil Trudgeon ** 14' SUP ** 25-wide Riviera RP ** 6.4 km ** 0:47:46
Cindy Gibson ** 12'6 SUP ** 24-wide Hovie ZXC ** 6.4 km ** 0:48:12
John Weinberg ** 14' SUP ** 25-wide Riviera RP ** 6.4 km ** 0:49:37
Carlos Alberto Colon ** 14' SUP ** 24-wide Hovie GTO ** 6.4 km ** 0:50:09
Beth Schadd ** 12'6 SUP ** 24-wide Riviera RP ** 6.4 km ** 0:54:32
Donna Catron ** 12'6 SUP ** 26-wide Bark Vapor ** 6.4 km ** 0:55:22

Bryan Herrick ** 14' SUP ** 23.75-wide Riviera RP ** 2.9 km ** 0:21:31
Patrick Scheel ** 11'6 SUP ** ?? ** 2.9 km ** 0:23:58
Damien Lin ** 12'6 SUP ** 26-wide Hovie ZXC ** 2.9 km ** 0:25:08
Penny Kappler ** Rec Kayak ** ?? ** 2.9 km ** 25:17
Saralane Harrer and dog ** 12'6 ** 26-wide Riviera RP ** 2.9 km ** 0:28:14



Play by play: We started in smaller groups than usual this race, because of the variety of watercraft. Justin and Murray went first on their surfski's. With much splashing, Murray burst ahead, and Justin got into his wake. The next starter was Mark Athanacio, who went alone on his V1 outrigger, then Matt Kearney, who went alone on his C1 outrigger. I believe I was in the first SUP group, with Bryan Herrick and Cindy Gibson. Robert Norman had said he wanted to start in the group behind me rather than the one with me, which made me nervous that he had some kind of trick up his sleeve. I had a pretty fast start and nobody drafted me.

I had decided before the race that after the sprint start, my focus would be on one aspect of stroke technique- "falling" on the blade with my body weight and not over-straining my arms and shoulders. Doing that I was able to keep a decent pace, except at times when I strayed into shallow waters that slowed down the board's glide and caused the paddle blade to hit the sand. I knew the river well enough to avoid most of the those shallows, though, which was apparently not the case for Robert. His plan was to catch me before the half-way point with the superior speed of his specialized flatwater board, but it didn't work out because I had too big a head start, plus the better path around the sticky shallows.

Approaching the downriver bridge that marks the turn-around point, I passed Murray going the other way, with Justin not too far behind. Justin said Murray was toying with him the whole time, easily keeping within conversation distance while Justin paddled his guts out. I reckon that's the benefit of Murray's decades of intense kayak racing training. Athanacio wasn't too far behind the kayaks, so obviously he was making good time. He posted some pictures yesterday of his technique for turning his 24' long, rudderless V1 around the pilings of the bridge, by dropping one leg in the water on the side that he wanted to turn to. I assume he did the same thing in the race today.



Matt was further behind Mark, and it looked like I might be closing the gap on him a bit. After I turned around the bridge I saw Robert. I was reassured that he was too far back to catch me on the upriver return, but I wasn't sure if he was gaining on me or not, and I knew he didn't actually need to pass me, just get a better time, to win the race.

I kept paddling hard on the upriver leg, still trying to focus on the "falling on the blade" technique and not on my suffering. I was definitely catching up to Matt, but then he looked back and saw me and started pulling away again. For now we're quite similar in speed on SUP and OC1, both in flatwater and on the downwind ocean paddles we have been doing lately, but I expect that Matt will begin to pull away as he gets more familiar with the OC1 technique and/or starts pushing himself harder.

Anyway, after 20ish minutes of suffering upriver, and a harder push for the last 400 m, my race was over. My overall time was considerably slower than my personal best for this course, and far from the course record for SUP of 40-minutes even that Mark Athanacio set last year. But I was happy to hold off young challenger Robert Norman for one more round.

Here's my GPS track from the course:


Bill Mussenden had a solid finish in just under 47 minutes, but newcomer Steve from Boston was surprisingly close to him with a time of 47:20, and could be a dangerous competitor if he gets a narrower/faster board. Phil Trudgeon was also looking sharp on the 14x25 Riviera "Whitey" that he picked up from Bill. Whitey was my board once upon a time, then Mark Hourigan's then Bill's. It's looking a little used now, but still fast as ever. Right behind the big dudes on their big boards was Cindy Gibson on her 12'6, the first women's finisher in 48:12. That's very impressive, given that 12'6 boards are inherently slower than 14' boards.

After the race we had good eats in the shop at CGT, and talked about our race plans for the season. There was also a lot of wheeling and dealing going on with regards to board sales and stuff. I learned that Bill M. has just picked up a 14x24.5 Starboard AllStar that he'll use on downwinders and some of the rougher water races. (We've been doing lots of downwinders lately, but that's a story for another blog post.)

Hope to see y'all at the next race!