SUP Race Report: Imperial River Challenge 2016

Race: The Imperial River Challenge.

Date it happened: 22 October 2016.

Host/Sponsors: Hosted by the town of Bonita Springs. Sponsored by CGT Kayaks and Paddleboards, and lots of other Bonita Springs businesses including the Shangri-La Springs yoga/spa/resort, Stan's Subs, Wells Fargo Bank, Heaven Shakes Ice Cream, Heaven Scent Flowers and Tuxedos, the Everglades Wonder Gardens, and Benson's Grocery.

Location: The Imperial River, from Kent Road (West of I-75), downriver to Riverside Park in downtown Bonita Springs, Florida.

Distance: Approximately 4.1 km / 2.55 miles, sometimes more than that depending on river levels and how you negotiate the turns and obstacles. The course is one-way, downriver. This is a GPS track from a practice run I did earlier in the month- I didn't use a GPS during the actual race because I didn't want to have to stop if it got knocked off the board by a branch or something.



Conditions: It was pleasant, sunny, breezy weather, not too hot and humid. The river level was much lower than it's end-of-wet-season peak about a month ago. The water flow was relatively slow, but swift enough to create challenging eddies and vortices around the bends and submerged objects. I'd been concerned about some impassable obstacles (fallen trees, etc) that appeared when the water level went down- I had to portage around them when I did a practice run on Tuesday. But between my last practice run and the race, the city had gone up the river and chainsawed the obstacles out of the way. Whew!

Participants: There were a mix of kayakers, canoers, and SUP paddlers, with a majority doing kayak or canoe. In some years there have been serious race kayakers in skinny boats, but this year it looked like mostly slower recreational kayaks. The fancy gear and race-minded paddlers were concentrated in the SUP class. On the women's side there was Damien Lin on a 12'6 Hovie Comet ZXC, Donna Catron on a non-race SUP, and Heather Olson on a 12'6x24 Riviera RP. On the men's side the three top contenders were Mark Athanacio on a 14'x21.5 Hovie Comet GT, Robert Norman on a 14x23 Naish Javelin, and me on my 14x23 Riviera RP. Solid racers John Weinberg and Joe Gladieaux were also there. Four of our usual racers were absent because they're in Tennessee for the torturous 50-km Chattajack race.

Gear: I used "Minty," my 2017 14x23 Riviera RP. The Riviera production boards have really good resistance to cuts and dings, so I wasn't too worried about taking my beautiful board through the "rapids".

Results: I narrowly got first in 26:49, with Mark Athanacio at 27:00, and Robert Norman at 30:29. There was drama when Robert's time was originally announced as an "amazing new course record" of 20:29, and we had to talk to the committee to uncover their timing error. First woman was Damien Lin in 32-something, followed by Donna Catron and Heather Olson. The SUP paddlers were faster than all the kayakers and canoes this year. But canoeists won the costume contest, with a pair dressed as a Gorilla and a Banana.

Play by play: Since the upper river is really narrow and twisty it would be a demolition derby if they started everyone at the same time. So they started us one by one, about a minute apart. I was terrified that I'd get stuck behind a slow kayaker or something, so I bullied up to the front of the line and got to start first. Athanacio started second, and Robert Norman third. The first part of the course alternated between briefly sprinting and awkwardly negotiating sharp turns. Sometimes I would step back on the board to do a proper "buoy turn" aka "pivot turn" and other times I would do some variation on the "cross-bow" turn without stepping back. It's hard to know what is the fastest sometimes. Athanacio says his strategy in that part of the course was to stay back on his board the whole time to pivot it around, not sprinting too much but mostly saving his energy for the more open water later in the race.

There were about three times that I ALMOST fell off my board and caught myself by using the paddle as a crutch. It wasn't the turns that were throwing me off, it was where a swirling current would shift the board under me unexpectedly. By the time I got through the upper part of the course I was feeling a lot of cardio fatigue and muscle fatigue, but I tried to stay fast and find a rhythm for the rest of the course. I didn't have my speedcoach GPS on the board because I was worried it might get knocked off, so I just gauged my effort level and speed by how I felt. In the last several hundred meters I took it up a notch, and when I saw the "FINISH" banner and balloons stretched across the river at the end I went as hard as I could. I rested in the water until Athancio finished, and was relieved when he said his time was a few seconds slower than mine. Too close for comfort, but good enough to get the first place prize basket and $100... which Athanacio will get anyway because I'm paying him to train me. :)

Congrats to everyone who finished this challenging, adventuresome race, and big thanks to the race organizers.

What's next: There's going to be one final race in the CGT Kayaks summer series, and a race in Englewood in early November.

SUP Race Report: CGT Winter Race #8 - a FAST one

From left: Mark Hourigan (2nd place), me (1st place), Phil Trudgeon (3rd place). All of us are on Riviera RP raceboards from CGT Kayaks and Paddleboards.


Race: CGT Kayaks and Paddleboards Winter Race #8

Date it happened: My dad's birthday, 10 April 2016

Location: Riverside Park on the Imperial River in Bonita Springs, FL

Distance: 5.06 km on my Speedcoach SUP GPS (picked good lines around the bends)

Conditions: Gorgeous springlike weather in the low 20's Celsius. Ebbing tide with lowish water and moderate downriver current. Patches of moderate East wind.

Participants: Much of the usual CGT race team was absent, having been scattered by travel for the previous day's out-of-town race, the Sharkbite Challenge in Dunedin, Florida. The Sharkbite had the makings of an epic race, with 300+ participants in kayak, sup, and outrigger canoe classes, but it was tragically called off by the authorities (Coast Guard, Police, Park Rangers, etc.) due to safety concerns stemming from the rough water and strong offshore winds. It was a bummer that we all drove 3 hours each way and couldn't race, but I at least got wet and rode few waves on my raceboard before we turned around for home. Some of the rest of the team turned lemons into lemonade by doing a just-for-fun paddle at Weeki Wachee springs on the way home. Anyway, after those Saturday adventures, the only race team members to return for the Sunday morning CGT race were Mark Hourigan and me. A cool thing about that was that it allowed some up-and-coming racers to really shine. It also allowed Hourigan and me to put the pedal to the metal in an uncrowded river.

Results: I got first place in the men's 14' class and a new personal best time of 32:49, 26 second faster than my previous best. Hourigan got 33:49, also a personal best and his first sub-34 minute time. Dark horse Phil Trudgeon showed the speed of his new blue Riviera 14'x27" raceboard with an impressive 35:35. This was an incredible 3 minutes faster than Phil's previous record time, set on an older 14'x29" board. Jesse Lavender also had an impressive mid-30s time of 36:59. Several dudes who aren't always super quick showed serious speeds, including John Weinberg with 40:14, and Mark Payne with 41:46. 56 year old Mark Payne has recently switched to a KeNalu paddle with a relatively long, flexible shaft, and he says it helps him stay quick and efficient without hurting his back. First place woman was Beth Schadd, who broke through the 41 minute barrier with an impressive 40:38 on a 12'6x26" BlkBox UNO. Heather Olson who just takes it easy still got a pretty fast 47:38, and Jodi Ziajka struggled with a partially detached and totally weed covered fin to get 52:41. Jodi- time to get a weed fin and a normal fin screw instead of those bogus quick release weed-catcher screws. Complete results will be posted on the CGT TIME TRIALS page.

Gear: I used my 14'x23.75" Riviera, "Fletchy" with a 6" Fins Unlimited Keel fin. The light weight of the board and the moderate rocker and not-too-sharp nose help it with cornering and acceleration- important in this bendy-river race. Mark Hourigan used "Whitey," a 14'x25" Riviera that is very fast in the straights but doesn't corner or accelerate quite as well due to the displacement nose and slightly wider and heavier mass. I heard Hourigan express some interest in going to a 14x23 2016 model Riviera, which would probably make him even faster than he is now. CGT is selling the 2016 Riviera raceboards very cheap, similar to the what they're selling used boards from some of the other brands for. If you're in the market for a raceboard and you want to demo it first check CGT out because they have lots of stuff you can ride. One piece of gear that I changed for this race was my paddle. I used the same Riviera Vantage 8" wide paddle that I usually use, but I cut the shaft down from about 80 to about 77 inches. 77 is the new recommended length for my height. The short shaft lets me get the blade in and out of the water quicker, and gives me more power over the blade in the "sweet spot" of the stroke. It also encourages me to use my lower body better. Seems to be working so far.

Play by play: This race was pretty "boring" from a technical/tactical standpoint because I started in the first group and was out in front the whole time. I was going to work with Mark Hourigan in a draft train, but I zipped too fast off the starting line for him to get in my draft and I was too excited about trying for a personal best time to bother to slow down. Mark is 20 years older than me, and on a wider and heavier board, but he was still keeping pace with me for most of the race. I thought I'd had a really fast downriver leg, but when I turned around at the buoy he was right there behind me. Not until the bends of the upriver portion did I put a little safer distance between us. I tried to apply two techniques that coach Mark Athanacio has encouraged: 1) Throwing in an extra sprint of speed whenever you can, then recovering at normal pace. 2) Deliberately keeping your stroke peppy and forceful even when you feel tiredness and muscle fatigue. One thing that helped this time was not having anyone in front of me, which gave me the luxury of picking whatever path through the river looked fastest and shortest. It's not just how fast you move through the water- it's also about finding the path of least resistance and shortest distance. In the end I was very happy to beat my personal best by a non-trivial amount. I think if I continue with my Athanacio fitness training and technique tuning I can bring my average speed up by a few more tenths of a kph.

Here's my speedcoach track and data from the race: You have to click into it to see the details like heartrate and stuff.

Other race intrigues: New racer Paul Petersen and drone photographer David Eisenberg worked hard and got good times of 43:40 and 45:02, respectively. Paul's time was particularly impressive since he was on a 12'6 board- if I recall correctly it was a 27" wide 404 v3. The Hammond family of Mike Sr., Mike Jr., and kids turned out and seemed to enjoy themselves. Mike Sr. and the boy kid used solo kayaks, and Mike Jr. and his daughter did tandem SUP. After the race we had a great buffet lunch at the CGT shop, thanks to Aaron Thomas. It's ridiculous what a deal the racers get for just $5.



What's Next: Next race is April 16th, the "Calusa Palooza" and it's local, in the Estero River. There's a 4 mile and a 10 mile. The 10 mile goes out the Estero River into Estero Bay, loops around the Mound Key archaeological site, then back. Looks like a fun challenge.

SUP Technique and Training Links

Note: As a modern nerd, I believe that the answer to any question, about anything, can be found somewhere on the Internet. Of course there is no guarantee that the Internet's answer will be easy to find, helpful, or even factual. It takes lots of critical picking-through-the-rocks to find the real gold nugget answers. That's what I've tried to do here with this list of standup paddleboard (SUP) technique and training links. This list is mostly focused on flatwater and race paddling and does not cover how to ride waves, which is a whole 'nuther thing.

SUP Technique and Training Online Resources

Organized by James Douglass

Last Updated 24 May 2015

Larry Cain- http://www.larrycain.ca/sup.html - Larry Cain was an Olympic canoeing medalist for Canada a while back. He’s now a top-level coach and competitor for canoeing and SUP. He’s a good writer and really good about breaking down the details of technique. There’s tons of info on his site to go through, but here are some of the things that I’ve found most helpful.

·      Video of Larry Cain cruising using perfect stroke technique: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oN8GtBh0sU

·      Video series that breaks down each phase of the paddle stroke into a drill that you can practice

o   Intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jokNiBTgcxA

o   Entry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsuQd63Ffzc

o   Gathering: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wsEG0lRWrU

o   Catch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X1Sl0_Ic_s

o   Applying the catch drill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dosMoqZa80w

o   Middle of the stroke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXzZRk8GLtA

o   Exit drill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvIImhn9PkY

o   Achieving max results: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ep2zN4Ne0Y

·      Why it’s sometimes GOOD to fall in: http://distressedmullet.com/2014/11/06/race-faster-fall/

www.ridingbumps.com - Serious (maybe too serious) athletic training tips for paddleboarding. Site is run by a bunch of insane former triathletes. It’s mostly about working out, but there’s some about paddling technique and racing strategy, as well. They have a book and training guides that you have to pay for, too.

www.distressedmullet.com - Sup racing news site that posts a lot of “how to” articles and videos. It’s pretty entertaining and less macho than ridingbumps. These are some good ones from there:

·      Mindset and manners advice for sup racing beginners: http://distressedmullet.com/2015/03/19/view-from-the-back-how-to-be-a-good-beginner/

·      How to paddle straight: http://distressedmullet.com/2013/10/17/stand-up-paddling-how-to-paddle-straight/

·      Race advice that doesn’t involve working out: http://distressedmullet.com/2015/03/07/three-tips-to-make-you-race-faster-that-don-t-involve-working-out/

·      Reading the water currents: http://distressedmullet.com/2015/03/06/reading-water-what-is-an-eddy-stand-up-paddle/

·      Basics on how to do a pivot turn: http://distressedmullet.com/2014/01/20/how-to-do-a-pivot-turn/

·      Beau Obrien explaining how to do a fast pivot turn, also known as a kick turn: http://distressedmullet.com/2014/03/19/sup-kick-turn/

·      Titouan Puyo cruising vs. sprinting stance tips, and buoy turns video: http://distressedmullet.com/2014/12/11/starboard-sup-racing-techniques-titouan-puyo/

·      How to paddle out through breaking waves: http://distressedmullet.com/2014/09/30/sup-surf-instruction-paddle-breaking-waves/

·      How to brace with the paddle to avoid falling off in bumpy water: http://distressedmullet.com/2014/02/08/bracing-technique-learn-from-werner-paddles/

Dave Kalama Videos: Dave Kalama is a surfing / windsurfing legend of the same vintage as Laird Hamilton. He was one of the original SUP racing dudes and is still a top racer especially in downwind races. His videos are really short, simple, and helpful, mostly focusing on basics of how to feel better and go faster.

·      How to go faster: http://distressedmullet.com/2014/08/15/go-faster-standup-paddling-dave-kalama/

·      How to “slow down to speed up”: http://distressedmullet.com/2014/07/31/slow-speed-quickfit-tips-dave-kalama/

·      How to “reach” effectively: http://distressedmullet.com/2014/09/19/how-to-stand-up-paddle-dave-kalama-reach/

·      Mindset and technique advice for workout paddles: http://distressedmullet.com/2015/01/20/get-head-straight-training-paddle-mindset-dave-kalama/

·      Mindset and warmup advice for right before a race: http://distressedmullet.com/2014/12/22/quicktips-pre-standup-paddle-race-prep-dave-kalama/

·      A grip trick to get you to use your torso and core muscles instead of your bicep: http://distressedmullet.com/2015/01/08/quicktips-standup-paddling-roll-fingers/

·      How to avoid hurting your back: http://distressedmullet.com/2014/07/25/how-to-save-your-back-while-standup-paddling-by-dave-kalama/

Jim Terrell Quickblade / Mad Scientist blogs and videos- Jim Terrell is a former Olympic canoe racer who now owns Quickblade Paddles and gives lots of sup gear and technique advice online.

·      Advice on how long to cut your paddle and how low down to grip the paddle with your bottom hand for maximum power and efficiency: http://distressedmullet.com/2014/12/02/quicktips-generate-speed-hand-position-standup-paddle/

·      Stroke analysis comparing different techniques for going fast: http://distressedmullet.com/2014/02/03/quickblade-paddle-stroke-analysis/

·      Stroke analysis part 2: http://distressedmullet.com/2013/07/12/qb-the-very-important-sup-paddle-stroke-pt-2-with-jim-terrell-2/

For anything not on this list, www.standupzone.com is a good set of online forums to ask specific questions about SUP and have them answered.

Thread about training and racing in Florida heat and humidity: http://www.standupzone.com/forum/index.php/topic,27273.0.html

Post race analysis of SpeedCoach SUP 2 data

Today was the second of the CGT Summer Time Trials paddle races in the Imperial River. For this one I used one of the shop's demo boards: a 14' x 27" 404 v3 raceboard in PVC construction. The board is 2.25" wider than my own board (Fanatic Falcon), making it a lot more stable and a wee bit harder to maintain at top speed. My time was 47:54, second place after Mark Athanacio who got 46:34. Both Mark and I were slower than we were in the first race, probably because we weren't drafting each other like we did that time. Also it was really hot- 31C already when the race started.

This was the first race where I used the NK SpeedCoach SUP 2 and heartrate monitor during the race. Over the last week I've been fidding with the SpeedCoach a lot and figuring out how to do some more stuff with it. There are two formats that the device can export data in: .csv and .fit. The former file type is a data table that can be opened in Microsoft Excel and used to make graphs, etc. The latter includes latitude/longitude coordinates and can draw your path in a mapping program. It's not entirely straightforward to draw your path, though. Here's how I've done it so far.

1. From the "NK Link" program that goes with the SpeedCoach, you export the data as a .fit file.
2. You upload the file to an online fit to tcx converter and download the .tcx file.
3. You use the website "GPS Visualizer" to generate a Google Earth format (.kml) file from the .tcx file. GPS Visualizer gives you lots of options for the conversion. I picked "colorize by speed" to show different rainbow colors to my track depending on how fast I was going. I'm not satisfied with that feature, though, because the colors aren't a smooth blend. My track just looks like a birthday confetti of colors and there's no easily readable key to what color is what speed.
4. You download the .kml file produced by GPS Visualizer and open it in Google Earth. Then you can get whatever zoom and angle you want to view your track.

I've combined the GPS track and some of the data from the race into the graphics below. Getting the axes to look right in the Y versus elapsed time graphs was tricky. I had to tell Excel to use 0.000694444 (which is [1/24]/60) as the major unit on the x axis so that the numbers would go minute by minute instead of in weird decimals. Also, you need to make the graphs as scatterplots, then choose "no markers" for the markers and add a connecting line. If you try to make a line graph directly it doesn't work as well. Anyway, here are the pictures and some story to go with them:

The course starts at the dock at Riverside Park in Bonita Springs, and goes East, downriver, towards the Gulf of Mexico. The river is tidally influenced so sometimes, like this morning, the water actually flows upriver. So we were paddling against the current a bit on the first leg. You can tell that going upriver was favored because of the boost of speed I get at 17 minutes, which is right after I turn around the downriver buoy and start coming upriver with the tide. The next part of the race I mostly get slower and slower, which is probably due to a combination of fatigue, my technique slipping, less favorable current, and the upriver section being narrower with more bends.

Looking at the heart rate graph you can see some neat patterns that don't show up in just the speed alone. One is that after the strain of the initial 90 seconds of sprinting, my bpm actually declines for a few minutes. That's because I'm drafting behind Brandon Gunderson's Hobie Apex 4R 14-5.75. I didn't have to paddle as often or as hard to maintain my speed then as I when I wasn't drafting. I passed Brandon after 5 minutes and he drafted me off and on until the buoy turn at 17 minutes when I lost him. Even though I was a little faster, it might have been a good strategic move to keep Brandon along and have him lead for a while so I could rest. My heart rate got really high going hard upriver in the blazing heat, sometimes getting above my age-based maximum safe heart rate recommendation of 184 bpm. At 25 minutes I could feel my heart skip a beat and thud in an uncomfortable way. That happens to me occasionally when I'm in the middle of a long hard stretch, but this is the first time I got to capture it on the heart rate monitor. I eased off the throttle to recover back down to 170ish bpm, and tried to keep below 184 until the very end of the race. It's interesting that my speed was getting slower and less consistent in the last 25% of the race even though my effort (heart rate) was steadily high. That might have something to do with my technique slipping. When fitness trainer Mark Athanacio (who had started about a minute behind me) passed me on the way to the upriver buoy he reminded me to straighten up and recover a bit between strokes to get a better breath and to be able to load more weight onto the next stroke.

I find that stroke rate is the hardest thing to interpret from the SpeedCoach data. For one thing there are always some spikes of weirdly high or low stroke rates. Low stroke rate might happen when switching sides paddling, and apparently high stroke rate might be the result of the sensor getting bumped or jostled by stepping around on the board or rocking in the waves. Despite the blips, there does seem to be a trend of high stroke rate being associated with faster speed. I think one of my instincts when I get tired is to take slower but deeper strokes. However, in terms of speed gained vs. energy spent, it might be better if I can train myself to keep a relatively fast tempo when I'm tired but reduce the power a little to not get exhausted.

Although this post has been almost all about me, I should make sure to congratulate everyone who raced today. It was a tough, hot day, and lots of people still trucked through the whole course, many of them without the benefit of fancy raceboards and weed-shedding fins like I had. I saw more than one birds' nest of pine needles and sticks shake loose from finishers' fins when they finally stopped paddling at the finish line. I'd say weed fins are essential for freshwater paddling in Florida even for non racers.

Got a new GPS gadget - SpeedCoach SUP 2

This afternoon the UPS delivery person dropped off my new geeky toy - a SpeedCoach SUP 2. It's a GPS with a high refresh rate designed to give accurate, by-the-second speedometer readings, and it has an internal accelerometer that can sense every paddle stroke you take. (It can display your strokes per minute and your distance traveled per stroke, the product of which is, of course, your speed.) Also, it uses bluetooth wireless communication to talk to a heart rate sensor that you wear around your chest. The bluetooth lets you extract the data from the unit to your PC for analysis, which I think is super cool. You can also use the wireless to download timed interval "workouts" to the SpeedCoach, which will then tell you when to go fast, when to rest, etc. There are five workout programs already in the machine when it comes out of the box, and you can tweak them and save them if you want to.

I had to rush to get on the water to try the toy today because the radar showed a thunderstorm coming in from the east. I did a 1.61 km (1 mile) paddle downstream in the Imperial River, then took a rest and did the same thing coming back upstream. Going downstream I didn't start the SpeedCoach data recording properly, so I didn't get any data for that section. Going upstream and upwind after I was already a little tired I didn't get the most impressive times, but the data was still useful. Here's what it looked like when I graphed it in Microsoft Excel:

Speed- It took me 20 seconds or so to get up to speed. Quicker acceleration is something I need to work on, since this could really hurt me in a race with lots of buoy turns where you have to stop and then accelerate again. I also notice that there are lots of little ups and downs in the speed, which might have to do with wind, current, and water depths changes as I was going up the bends of the river. I definitely noticed just by looking at the screen on the SpeedCoach that I was a lot slower in shallow water, and a lot faster when I could find an eddy in the downstream current. I'm sure there's a "human element" to the ups and downs, too, with my wavering will and focus. Strokes per minute- I take about 56 strokes per minute on average, but when I take more strokes per minute I'm faster. There are times that my stroke rate seems to suddenly dip really low, which may be when I'm switching paddling sides or may be when the accelerometer fails to pick up strokes. Heart rate- My resting heart rate (not shown) is 65-70 bpm. My "warmed up" heart rate (after paddling hard for a mile then taking a couple minutes to rest) is about 120. It took about a minute of paddling hard for my heart to go from 120 to 170ish, then it gradually got up to 180ish after about 10 minutes. I think around 180 is my hard-workout max.

Hopefully the data this gizmo delivers will give me some better insight into what works and what doesn't work for going faster. :)

CGT Kayaks and Paddleboards Summer Race Series; 1 down, 4 to go

Last Sunday 16 people did the first race in CGT Summer Time Trials' paddle race series on the Imperial River in Bonita Springs, Florida. I love the races that CGT puts on because they're right in my backyard, they're with my SUP teammates and other nice folks, and they have a relaxed atmosphere that nevertheless encourages you to push yourself to improve your paddling.

Murray Hunkin the South African kayaker and CGT sup race team stud.

Although I didn't place first in this race, it was one of my favorites. The fastest paddler in town, Mark Athanacio, used a 14' board in contrast with his usual 12'6, which put him in the same division as me and most of the other guys on the CGT race team. Nevermind that Mark had done a huge ocean race in Pompano Beach the day before- he was still fast. I started in the first group of four with Mark, Matt Kearney, and Murray Hunkin. There was good "draft train" action in the first part of the race with Mark pulling Matt pulling me pulling Murray. After a few minutes, though, Mark started to pull ahead of Matt so I sprinted around to take his place. I drafted Mark for a bit, then I took a turn pulling, and we switched back and forth like that for most of the race. Mark was helpful asking me when I was getting really tired and offering to lead at those times. I tried to help him by telling him what shallow spots and high current areas to watch out for in the river, but I kept mixing up right and left so I wasn't actually much help. After we did the last turn of the race, upriver under the "bat bridge," Mark got a gap on me that I didn't have the energy to close, but I stayed not too far behind. The times were as follows:

Name, Time, Class, Course
Kim Kelsey, 0:42:14, Surf Ski, 4.5 Mile
Mark Athanacio, 0:45:34, 14' SUP, 4.5 Mile
James Douglass, 0:45:45, 14' SUP, 4.5 Mile
Jodi Ziajka, 0:46:43, 12'6" SUP, 2 Mile
Matt Kearney, 0:49:36, 14' SUP, 4.5 Mile
Justin DiGiorgio, 0:50:04, 14' SUP, 4.5 Mile
Murry Hunkin, 0:50:47, 14' SUP, 4.5 Mile
Mark Hourigan, 0:52:31, 14' SUP, 4.5 Mile
Meg Bosi, 0:53:43, 12'6" SUP, 4.5 Mile
Alan Navarro, 0:54:17, 12'6" SUP, 4.5 Mile
Jared Hamilton, 0:56:42, 14' SUP, 4.5 Mile
John Weinberg, 0:58:29, 14' SUP, 4.5 Mile
Mike Clough, 1:00:32, Rec Kayak, 4.5 Mile
Bryan Herrick, 1:03:16, 12'6" SUP, 4.5 Mile
Igor Krasnov, 1:03:16, 14' SUP, 4.5 Mile
Dave Santee, 1:13:39, 14' SUP, 4.5 Mile

The course is actually ~4.3 miles, not 4.5 miles, so our speeds are not *quite* as impressive as they look. Mine works out to 9.14 kph (5.68 mph) which is really good for me- near my fastest all-time speed on this course, which was set in cooler weather. Close competition and drafting definitely helps. My goal is to get a few tenths of a kph faster over this distance so I can have a chance of hanging with the faster draft trains at the big Florida races.

After the race there was a glorious buffet spread in the CGT shop, which included amazing pulled pork slider sandwiches on potato rolls. Come on out and join us at the next one on July 12th! See the full schedule of CGT races in my sidebar.

Sloppy Squares - 8 km grid workout SUP in the ocean

It's common sense that you should rest (not workout) the day before a tough athletic event like a SUP race. But it's less clear what you should do two days before. I asked on the "standupzone" forum what kind of SUP training is recommended for the day before the pre-race rest day and got some interesting replies. (See thread.)

The consensus was to do the same distance or maybe a longer distance than the race, but not at 100% race pace. Since the CGT Summer Race #1 on Sunday will be 6.9 km I figured 8 km would be good to do for the practice. Also, even though the race is going to be in a glassy river, I figured it would be more fun to do the practice in the Gulf of Mexico, which is cleaner with nice swimming and sunset views, plus the added interest of less than perfectly flat water.

The only problem with doing a set distance in the ocean is that there are few landmarks and no paths to follow. If you have a GPS you can meander around randomly until you hit your mileage goal, but I like to be more organized than that. So during lunch at work I sketched out a route on my notepad that looked something like this.

I was planning to sketch it out on the sand for my training buddies, but I was a couple minutes late to the beach in the evening and they were already on the water. I explained it as best I could on the water and we started off. My goal was to paddle at 8.5 kph, which is a little less than the 9+ kph I'm going to be shooting for in the race. I told the other guys that if I got ahead they should cut corners to keep up. (Usually I'm fastest in this group.) The wind was light but there were some ankle- to knee-high chops coming in from when it was windier earlier in the day. That made it a little trickier to balance and find the right rhythm, but I like those conditions, and my Fanatic Falcon board handles them well. Anyway, I did the whole workout as planned, although most of the rest of the guys got bored or confused or tired and went back to the beach before the end. My own squares weren't all that square, either. (See below.)

Nevertheless, I thought it was a successful workout challenge. I'm particularly pleased with how the route gives you a chance to navigate at nearly every orientation with respect to whatever the wind and chop might be doing. Riding the bumps on the way back in was the best. :) Hopefully this workout hit the nail on the head and I'll be ready for the race on Sunday.

Sarasota SUP Championships 2015

I went up to Siesta Key this morning for the Sarasota SUP Championships. Siesta Key is famous for being voted the USA's #1 Beach. I found it to be quite nice indeed, with clear water, fine white sand, and free parking. The SUP event was big and well-organized, with lots of sponsor tents, a stage for the MC and a band, fancy lunch, etc. It was also well-attended, with lots of participants in a 10k "Elite" race, 5k "Open" race, relay race, kids race, etc. (Pic is start of the 10k race. Map shows the race course. 2 laps was 5k, 4 laps was 10k. You had to get off at the beach in the middle of each lap and run around some flags, but that's not shown on the gps because board caddies kept your board in the shallow water ready for you to jump back on it.)

Fastest paddler in the world Danny Ching was there, lending his celebrity and kicking everyone's ass in the 10k race.

Lots of the top riders at the state level were there, too, (see Brad Ward, Connor Bonham, and Garret Fletcher in first pic below) along with some tough amateurs around my own pace (see second pic below with me in white rashguard behind David Dean and John Sekas who both beat me despite being in the 50+ age division).

Competitively speaking, I didn't do very well in this race, even compared with my other races this spring. My time was 1:14:28 over 10.43 km (6.48 miles) for a pace of 8.4 kph (5.22 mph). One HUGE and embarassing mistake I made was forgetting to attach my GPS to the board until the last minute when we were standing on the starting line, then having the start whistle blow while I was messing with it and my camelback was off. For 15 or 20 seconds after everyone else had started I was stuck fiddling around on the beach like an idiot. That probably cost me more time than just the 15 or 20 seconds because it put me in the rough water of the crowd of slower people and blew my chance to save some energy early by linking with a draft train of similar speed riders. Also I fell off once during the early part of the race, which didn't help any with my catching up. A couple times later in the race I drafted the guy ahead of me for a bit, but I just didn't have the energy to stay on him. Although I think my fitness level is at least as high it has been for most of my recent SUP races, I found this race super duper exhausting. For one thing, it was very hot and humid- already over 30C when the race started. Although I took some sips from a camelback full of dilute gatorade during the race, I think I may not have been hydrated enough before the race started. I was wearing a visor, sunglasses, dark boardshorts, and a longsleeve rashguard, and I think I might have been cooler if I'd just gone bareback or with a tanktop. I'll also do icewater in the camelback next time. Another thing that might have worn me out and made me slower than usual was my technique. Since watching the video of myself paddling I've been trying to correct some problems with my stroke, but the changes haven't become natural enough yet to actually make me faster- or my fixing some things has created other technique problems. On the last of the four laps of the race I kind of reverted to my old, bad stroke just to use some muscles that weren't worn out yet. A final thing that made this race tough was all the buoy turns and the short beach-runs that you had to do at the completion of each lap. I found out after the first lap that if I did the beach run fast I'd be so exhausted when I hopped back on the board that I could barely paddle at a cruising pace, let alone a race pace. I think practicing some beach runs alternating with SUP sprints would be a killer workout for the future that would help me prepare for more races like this.

The CGT Kayaks and Paddleboards race team made a great showing at this race, and we got our pictures taken with Danny Ching! From left to right there is Matt Kearney who was right behind me in the 10k, Justin DiGiorgio who got first in the 5k, Kevin Hill who got 3rd in 12'6 class in the 10k, Kate Pagan who got 3rd in the 12'6 women class in 10k, Danny Ching who did the whole race at a pace over 6 mph even though he was stopping to talk to the people he lapped, Meg Bosi who was 2nd 12'6 woman in the 5k. Not pictured is Mark Payne who signed up for the 10k but judiciously bowed out after 5k in the torturous heat.

Florida legend Mark Athanacio won the 50+ age class and overall 12'6 category in the 10k.

Next races are next weekend. I'm definitely going to the CGT summer race on the Imperial River on Sunday, and I might go to a race in Pompano Beach on Saturday, too.

SUP stroke- More graceful in my imagination than on camera

Standup paddleboarding (SUP) is an inherently awkward-looking sport. Even compared to other types of rowing, SUP is more hurky-jerky, bent-over, and asymmetrically weird. It's about as graceful as moving furniture. Yet, some of the really talented and fit SUPers still manage to make it look good. I've watched a lot of videos of the professionals at work, hoping to pick up at least a vague semblance of their style for myself. The most textbook-perfect technique example I've ever seen is the video below, of former Canadian Olympic canoeing champion Larry Cain. I think he's doing a fast cruising pace, like you'd do most of the time in a medium or long distance race.



A good example of how to go fast in a sprint race is probably Danny Ching, in his record-setting 47.6 second 200 m run at a Bavarian Lake in 2014. In contrast with Larry Cain's cruising technique, Danny's sprint technique involves shorter but much more frequent strokes- perhaps less graceful looking, but undeniably effective. To emphasize how incredibly fast Danny Ching went, most of the other pros at this 200 m sprint event did it in 55-60 seconds.

Danny Ching Fastest Paddler on Earth 2014, Brombachsee, Lake Brombach, Germany from Stephan Gölnitz on Vimeo.

My own recent attempts to sprint 200 m (imperfectly measured with GPS) have, of course, been much slower; around 73 seconds if I average the upriver and downriver times. Even accounting for the slight handicap of starting and stopping my own watch and not having a rolling start, that's much slower than even the "slow" pros. I know that as a 36 year old full time scientist with no special athletic gifts and no intention of training super hard every day I shouldn't expect to SUP at pro speed. But as someone who enjoys the process of fine-tuning, or "min-maxing" as my wife Rhonda says, I'd like to make sure I'm getting as close as possible to my own personal potential.

Towards that end I did some fin testing and GoPro camera selfie filming in conjunction with 200 m sprint practices on Saturday in the Imperial River near CGT Kayaks and Paddleboards. For the fin testing I compared my go-to fin (MFC weed-wave fin, second from left) to two BlkBox race fins that CGT was letting me try out (blue 8" and orange 6.25" fin).

The orange 6.25" fin looked really small in the board, and as expected I had to switch sides more often when using it. My 200 m times were around 1:16. The blue 8" fin looked and felt great. I got 1:15 paddling against the wind and current and 1:11 paddling with the wind and current. I didn't have to switch sides too often, but I could still do a pivot turn nicely when I needed to. For better or worse, though, my go-to striped MFC fin was exactly the same- 1:15 against the flow, 1:11 with the flow. So no new fin purchases for me yet.

As a side note, SUP fin testing involves much more guesswork than windsurfing fin testing. In windsurfing it's obvious whether or not a fin is working because of the lift it gives as you press against it when sailing at high speed. With SUP, you're going much slower and less steadily and you're never really in a position to feel what the fin is doing. The only differences in SUP fins that I think I can detect on the water are if the fin is hugely oversized and draggy, pitifully undersized and slippy, or catching weeds. Catching weeds makes a fin draggy and slippy at the same time. The old green windsurfing fin on the left in the picture is draggy, based on my times. The yellow fin on the right is good for going in a straight line and is indistinguishable in speed from my good MFC fin, but it has less rake and doesn't shed weeds 100% of the time so I'm sometimes nervous to use it in a race.

Enough of the boring stuff about fins- on to the boring video of me SUPing back and forth. Some possible problems I've identified from watching myself on the video and comparing with better paddlers are:

1. Hunching my back too much; not bending at the waist enough
2. Poor reach / catch phase of stroke
3. Deep, power part of stroke coming too late; paddling past my feet

If anyone would like to add their own critiques or suggestions on fixes, please be my guest. Thanks!

Battle on the Blueway sup race report

Yesterday I went to a fun SUP race in Fort Myers Beach- the "Battle on the Blueway." (Pictures mostly taken by Jen Hayes.)

This was a race that the rest of the CGT race team and I were really looking forward to because:

A) It was a big WPA-sanctioned race with sponsors and prize money attracting good athletes from around Florida.
B) It was practically in our backyard at Fort Myers Beach.
C) It was tied in with local organizations doing good things: It was organized by the SW FL sup club and the "Calusa Blueway" and it raised money to benefit the Special Olympics.

The course started with a beach launch, then had a rectangular circuit up and down the north end of Fort Myers Beach. There was a short race with just one lap around the circuit, and a longer "Ron Jon Pro" race with three laps around the circuit. I did the longer race, which was 6.24 miles on my GPS. The course wasn't too complicated, but all those buoy turns put a premium on being able to make quick, efficient turns without slowing down or falling off. I didn't fall off but my turns were "meh" - definitely something to work on.

Here's a play-by-play of what I can remember about how the race went:

1) I used my 14' x 24.75" Fanatic Falcon with a MFC weed-wave fin and a Riviera Vantage 8.0 paddle.

2) We lined up on the beach for a running beach start. The fast, sponsored riders flung their boards down, leaped on and blasted off like missiles. I was slow on the draw but sprinted pretty well once onboard and arrived at the first buoy somewhere in the front third of the pack.

3) My turn at the crowded first buoy was awkward, bumping some other guys' boards and stuff. But I kept a sprint going and passed some of the fast-starting 12'6 boards on my way around the pier to the "circuit" part of the race course. I think that practicing 2 minute sprint intervals last week with a new training buddy, South African kayaker & sup'er Murray Hunkin, helped me a lot with this part of the race.

4) Starting the first leg of the circuit I was about 200 feet behind the young, fast 14' riders: Matt Arensman, Kieran Grant, and Brad Ward. My sprint energy was wearing out, but I saw an opportunity to catch them when they made the strategic error of paddling in the shallow water too close to shore. Deeper water is faster, plus the favorable flood tide current was stronger in the deeper water where I stayed. Also, the large breaking wake from the Ft. Myers - Key West Ferry roared through the shallows at about 8:45 am and the fast guys had to negotiate that while I was deep enough to get over the swells. After the ferry wake I was close enough behind the leaders to sneak and start drafting Brad Ward who was in third place at the time.

5) I focused on spending the minimum effort necessary to catch my breath while drafting Brad Ward. It was working pretty well, but somewhere on the return leg of the first circuit Brad got a little slower and disconnected from the two leaders. I decided I should take a turn in front of him so I passed, but I didn't think I had the speed and energy to catch up with either Matt Arensman or Kieran Grant, who were now separated from each other and 100-200 feet ahead of me.

Matt Arensman being a badass.

Kieran Grant being a badass.

I was thinking it would be a battle for third place between me and Brad Ward, but something happened to Brad and he dropped out of the race instead of getting in my draft. Later I asked him what happened and he explained that had a chronic forearm injury that he was hoping to control with two compression sleeves on it, but it flared up real bad and he wisely ended the race before making it worse. There have been tons of long, tough races in Florida this spring, and I'm sure it puts brutal wear and tear on the competitive riders like Brad that push it 100% in all of them.

6) My goal for the rest of the race was to stay in third place in the 14' division and not get passed by the top 12'6 riders. I knew the 12'6 guys weren't too far behind me because I could periodically hear Mark Athanacio yelling things while mixing it up in the draft train of 12'6'ers (see guy in red shorts in picture).

I had some friendly company in the middle part of the race from a guy on an orange 17' Unlimited class sup.

He was keeping up with me without even having to push it, using the race as just a warm up for the kayak race he was going to do later! I was working hard but staying within the bounds of what I knew (or at least hoped) I could maintain. Sips of watered-down gatorade from my camelback helped.

7) The last lap was toughest, as the temperature was rising and the wind had picked up and shifted more sideshore from offshore. The leaders continued to get way ahead (4-5 minutes ahead) of me, and I didn't put any more distance between myself and the 12'6 guys behind me. But I dutifully spent all the energy I had left in the final shot to the beach and through the flags to finish in 1:10:16. Matt Arensman won it in 1:05:01 and Kieran Grant was second in 1:06:13. Assuming my GPS odometer was accurate at 6.24 miles, my pace was 5.33 mph, which is not impressive compared to my 5.55 mph pace in the longer Orange Bowl sup race earlier this month, or Mr. Arensman's 5.76 mph pace in this race. Having 13 buoy turns and slightly bumpier water is probably part of what made me slower. It's also possible that I just didn't push myself as hard during the middle endurance part of the race, or that my energy systems were a bit down from having two beers and only getting 5 1/2 hours of sleep after playing Dungeons and Dragons the night before. For future pre-race training I'm going to make sure to frequently practice buoy turns, focus on maintaining efficient form and pace when I'm tired, and make sure I'm well rested and hydrated with water only.

The other CGT team folks all finished strong, and kayak veteran / sup rookie Murray Hunkin did super well, coming in first in the 40-49 year old 14' division despite barely being able to do a buoy turn. I need to keep training with that guy.

The race had cool BIG trophies made by local artist and craftsman Steve Nagy. There were also money awards for the top 5 finishers in mens' 14' and 12'6, and womens' 12'6 class. I got $500 for third in the 14' class, which I am super stoked about. I think it's the first time I've ever won money for doing something athletic.

There will be a bit of a break before the next SUP race I'm signed up for, which is nice because I'll be busy with real life work and some trips and stuff with Rhonda.

Orange Bowl Paddle Championships (SUP race)

Saturday I got up early and went with Matt Kearney of the CGT Kayaks and Paddleboards race team to the Orange Bowl Paddle Championships in Miami. The event was put on by the same people who put on the Orange Bowl football game, so there were lots of officials walking around in orange colored shirts, and there was a guy wearing the smiling orange mascot costume.

The event was a fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters Miami, so registration was about twice as expensive as a typical sup race. It was for a good cause, though, and it was nice to be at a big, well-produced event with lots of vendors and snacks and stuff. The venue was ideal- the "Marine Stadium" on Virginia Key, next door to the Miami Seaquarium. They had sprint races, recreational races, a "corporate challenge" relay race, kids stuff, and an 8.5 mile "elite" race all the way around Virginia Key (see GPS track). I did the long race, along with my official CGT teammates Matt Kearney, Kate Pagan, and Kevin Hill, and de facto teammates Brandon Gunderson and Mark Athanacio.

Despite glassy calm conditions perfect for fast paddling, the race felt VERY long and hard. It went well for me, though. I rode the 404 v3 14' x 24" board and finished in 9th place; 1:31:17 with 8.45 miles on my GPS. That was a 5.55 mph average over the whole distance, which is really good for me since I usually struggle to get a 5.5 mph average over half that distance. Talk to the guys at the CGT shop if you want to get a good deal on a similar 404 v3 board.

First place in 14' class Brennan Rose (pictured below) finished in 1:24:45 on a Riviera paddleboard, which is also a brand they sell at CGT.

Second and third place Matt Arensman (Boga boards) and Josh Riccio (Rogue boards) were less than a minute behind the leader. In fact, the top 5 or 6 riders started close together at the beginning and stayed close for most of the race in one or more "drafting trains".

Drafting is really important, but tricky. When you're riding in the wash behind another board you can match the leader's speed with significantly less effort than the leader is putting out- maybe 10-20% less effort. Then when the leader gets tired you can take a turn leading, or try to pass. I thought I might be doing lots of drafting in this race, but I wasn't quite fast enough in the first minutes to attach myself to anyone in front. It would help to know beforehand who one's closely-matched competitors would be so you could stick with them. You could even make a civilized agreement with your training buddies beforehand to stick together and trade-off who had to sprint at the front of the draft train every mile or so. Speaking of buddies, I want to do some shout-outs to mine who did well at this race.

Matt Kearney had one of his best races ever.

"Team Death Metal" Kevin Hill (shirtless) and Brandon Gunderson (tattoos) did well, as usual, in the 12'6" class.

Kate Pagan made it look easy with her smooth style.

Perhaps the most impressive performance of the day was by SW Florida badass Mark Athanacio, who finished first in the 12'6 board class with a time of 1:33:31. At the end of the race he was locked up with second place 12'6 guy Jeremy Whitted, and the two competitors had an epic battle around the buoy and through the last sprint to the finish. Jen Hayes got the action on camera. It's especially cool to watch it as a slideshow, but I'm just showing one of the most action-packed pictures here.

Although I was really hurting after the race, with sore everything, my mood got better and better as I recuperated and the festive mood of the event soaked in. It was great to see the smiling crowds of adults and children out on the water, delightedly playing with toys and socializing with each other, which is what this whole thing (windsurf, sup, kite, surf, etc.) is really about.