Crewing in Conquistador's Cup Regatta

This weekend I helped "crew" a friend's 7.9 meter S2 sailboat in the Conquistador's Cup Regatta in Charlotte Harbor, Florida. Charlotte Harbor is a large, open estuary in the next county up from the one I live in. 

I was by far the least experienced of the five member crew- I sailed tiny "Laser" dinghies in day camp as a kid, and I've obviously windsurfed a lot, but multi-person sailboats are much more complicated. Since I didn't know how to do much, I did the simple jobs like sitting on the upwind rail of the boat to keep it from leaning over too far. (Inexperienced crew members are referred to as "rail meat.") The trickiest thing they let me help with was deploying and retrieving the parachute-like "spinnaker" sail that is used when sailing downwind. 

All the sail changes and maneuvers we did seemed fast, complicated, and intense, especially when there were other boats nearby, and especially in the ~20 knot winds and big chop on the second day of the regatta. 

The boat's speeds (6.3 knots average, 9.5 knots maximum in the last race) are pretty slow compared to a windsurf or kiteboard, but you can sail at steep angles to the wind and do a lot of technical, tactical, teamwork stuff that makes it interesting. A sailboat is kind of like a house that you can race. Also, you can't have five people and a bunch of cookies, sandwiches, and drinks on a windsurf, so there's that. 

Anyway, I felt really lucky to get to do something completely out of my normal with a great group of people this weekend, and I would HIGHLY recommend that anyone who is kind of aquatically and socially oriented give this a try. Sailboat owners seem to always be looking for crew.  

Getting read to race.

Captain Jason (center) and crew at the awards banquet. 

Jason's boat "Echo Shmeco" at the dock in Punta Gorda where we set out from.

Trying to stay ahead of "Greggarious" when going downwind. The colorful sail is the spinnaker. It looks mellow but deploying and managing the spinnaker in strong wind was scary. 

This is "Greggarious" another boat of the same exact type that we raced in the regatta. I think the blackish sails are cool looking. 

That's my knee in pants and another crew member being "rail meat" while we try to stay ahead of the other S2 7.9 sailboat that was our closest competitor in the regatta. They beat us on day 1 but we beat them on day 2. 

SUP into wicked headwinds- Race "Around" Palm Island

This morning I drove up to the Palm Island Resort in Cape Haze, FL to join my cgt race team buddies at the (SUP) Race Around Palm Island. The resort was gorgeous and secluded, on an island reachable only by a small ferry across the intracoastal waterway. I've got the resort mentally bookmarked now as a good place for an anniversary weekend or something.

The race course was originally planned as a 3/4 circumnavigation of the island, 21 km from the side of the resort on the intracoastal waterway to the side of the resort on the Gulf of Mexico. As the event neared and the forecast called for strong NW wind they first decided to reverse the direction of the course (so the ocean leg would be a "downwinder"), then decided to do the whole course in the intracoastal waterway instead and shorten it to 18 km. They also had a 4.8 km race for the sane people.

This is the first 2/3 of the race from my Speedcoach gps.

Even at "just" 18 km this race was the longest I have ever done, and the upwind leg was BRUTAL. This graph from iwindsurf.com shows the wind at the nearby Boca Grande sensor.

The first race finishers were "surfski" kayaks and outrigger canoes, followed by a 17' tandem SUP with a well-coordinated father-son team. Winner in the 14' SUP class was Stephen Chase on a 2014 14' x 24.5" JP Flatwater Race board. I was in second place about 4 minutes later on CGT's 2015 14' x 25" Riviera RP. On my GPS the distance was 17.978 km and my time was 2:17:53. Other CGT team finishers were:

18 km race-
Matt Kearney 14' SUP, 2:47:53
Meg Bosi 12'6 SUP, 2:48:01 (2nd women!)
Brad "Devin" Turetzkin 14 SUP, 2:57:15 (3rd 50+)


5km race-
Jason Mastin 12'6 SUP, 0:37:43 (1st place!)
Bryan Herrick 12'6 SUP, 0:38:25 (2nd place!)
Savanna Mastin 12'6 SUP, 0:43:52 (Savana graciously paused her race to help out a kid with a broken paddle)

Here's a play-by-play of how the race went from my perspective:

1. Start- A lot of people (including me) didn't hear the 1 minute warning whistle and remained scattered far from the starting line when the start whistle blew. People had to shout, "GO! Yes, GO!" until we caught on that the race was really starting. Doh!
2. Aided by a tailwind I sprinted pretty well to make up for my bad starting position. I got to the front where Stephen Chase was, and I picked up his draft.
3. Stephen was making good time, faster than 10 kph with the wind and tide helping, so I was content to stay in his wake. We pulled away from everyone else except the sit-down paddlers and the 17' tandem SUP that passed us. I kept pretty relaxed and took some sips from my dilute-gatorade-filled camelback.
4. When the intracoastal opened up into a wider bay the chop and wind increased and Stephen fell. I passed him and focused on riding the chop downwind en route to the turn-around spot, under a bridge.
5. I made my pivot turn under the bridge successfully but immediately slowed way down as I faced into the strong wind and oncoming chop. I settled into a slow and steady pace, but annoyingly had to paddle almost exclusively on my right side to maintain a heading. However, I figured everyone else would be having at least as much trouble as me, and that I might be able to win the race by just surviving.
6. That hope was dispelled when I saw Stephen Chase coming up on the left side of me. I struggled to get over and draft him but only managed to do so for a minute or two before I jostled out of his wake. I didn't have the strength or endurance to catch him. Somehow he made paddling into the wind look easy. He's a strong guy with a stocky build, which might help with the upwind stuff. Although as I recall he beat me pretty good in the Battle of the Blueway, too, and that race wasn't windy. So I'd say he's pretty badass all around.
7. The remainder of the race was grueling and demoralizing as I lagged further behind and struggled to get my groove going against the wicked wind and some current, too. My Speedcoach GPS gave me the "memory full" message around then, which was the only time during the race that I swore. I wish it would just overwrite the oldest logged data instead of aborting the current log when the memory filled up, because I never remember to clear the memory log manually.
8. My upper back and shoulders were on fire for the last couple kms, and my legs and hips started to get shaky and fatigued near the end too. But at last it was over. I felt like I had given it near 100% effort and was very pleased to get second place in a tough race with tough competitors. The one thing wasn't totally exhausted was my cardio (heart and lungs). I seem to have been more limited this time by muscle fatigue. For future into-the-wind races I might see if I can develop some sort of faster but lighter stroke.

The food, prize ceremony, and raffles after the race will superbly done, and it was fun hanging out with the CGT team and some of the other Florida racers we're getting to know now. Also, I really like the t-shirts they gave out. This was a great race.

Here's me, Stephen Chase, and Yensys Loyola, the 2nd, 1st, and 3rd place finishers in the 18-49 year old men's 14 sup class. John Sekas (not pictured) actually finished a couple minutes in front of Yensys but was in the 50+ age class. The guy with the microphone is the race coordinator and MC Bruce Denson.

Here's Devin Turetzkin, Me, Matt Kearney, and Meg Bosi of the cgt team.

SUP race with Annabel Anderson and tough Florida dudes

I got 5th place in a tough 10 km SUP race today. The race was the "Paddle at the Point" sponsored by Pinchers' Crab Shack in Cape Coral. The race course was a big, clockwise circuit right in the crossroads where the Caloosahatchee Estuary empties into San Carlos Bay. In addition to the usual Florida hazard of horrendously hot, humid, and windless weather there were some special challenges on this course, like strong currents, floating seagrass, and shallow oyster reefs.

Since the race venue was pretty close to our local sup shop (CGT Kayaks and Paddleboards) we had a very good turnout by the CGT Race Team, some of whom are pictured here:

The race was also attended by New Zealander Annabelle Anderson, the women's sup champion of the world. I feel very lucky to be in South Florida doing this sup racing thing, because in just my first year of racing I've been on the starting line with the fastest male paddler in the world (Danny Ching) and now one with the fastest lady. I can't think of any other sport where the stars come and compete in laid-back hometown events. (Oh wait, WINDSURFING.)

Here's how the race went for me. I'm also posting a link to my GPS data and track, which are on Strava. I think you need to create a Strava account to view the details (sorry):

1. Gear: I used cgt's white 14' x 25" Riviera RP raceboard, with my usual Riviera Vantage 8.0 110in^2 paddle and my usual windsurfing weed fin. I went topless but wore a belt-style inflatable pfd with a water bottle tucked in the back.

2. Pre race: I drank a lot of water and dilute gatorade and dunked under the water a lot too cool off.

3. Start: The starting line was on the water, between two buoys. I like that better than running down the beach into the water because I'm not very good at running down the beach into the water. The only annoying thing about the start was that during the countdown everyone crept way ahead of the line, led by the most competitive sponsored racers. If something like that happened in a sailing or windsurfing race they all would have been disqualified. Of course I crept up, too, because dang if I was going to get left behind! The start itself was a mad sprint, like all sup race starts.

4. First leg: During the starting sprint I jostled to get into a draft train of 14' boards led by Yolo boards rider Garrett Fletcher. Annabelle was right next to me on her 12'6 Lahui Kai board. I had an awkward time avoiding getting pushed into her by wakes and by the Bernoulli suction effect that happens when two boards are close together so I settled for getting behind her. It's against the rules to draft outside your gender and board length, but since Annabelle was drafting a guy on a 14' sup I figured it was ok to draft her, in turn, at least for that hectic sprinting part of the race. Unfortunately the guy who Annabelle was behind, Hoviesup rider Brad Ward, fell at the first buoy turn. That broke the draft train; by the time Annabelle and I went wide around Brad there was a gap between me and the lead four (Garrett Fletcher, Matt Arensman, Kieran Grant, and Connor Bonham) that I didn't think I could close. In retrospect now I should have "burned all my matches" to try to sprint up into their train, but I didn't try it.

5. Second leg: I got into a steady pace, trying to make the best possible use of the strong outgoing tide, and trying not to fall too far behind the leaders. Where possible I cut the path shorter when the leaders were going swerving around a bit. Annabelle was drafting behind me then, which I know is technically against the rules, but she was so far ahead of the other 12'6 women I don't think there's any way it would have affected the race outcome. At one point I found a nice patch of swift current and Annabelle said something positive about that, which was cool. Also, I did a smooth turn around the second buoy and she complimented me on that, too, so I was feeling good.

6. Third leg: This part was going cross-current from the south to the north side of the Caloosahatchee channel. I tried to err on the side of staying more up-current. Annabelle stopped drafting me and fell behind just a bit.

7. Fourth leg: I had a mediocre turn at the third buoy. After the slow turn I saw that Annabelle and Brad Ward were close together and not as far behind me as I hoped they'd be. I could hear their paddle splashing and voices which motivated me to keep pushing. It was tough going into the current. I was making just enough forward progress to cancel out the slight breeze at my back, so it was HOT. At this point in the race I think I should have made a bold move and hugged the shoreline tightly to get out of the current, but instead I just put my head down and followed a slightly more inshore path than the leaders, who were now a couple hundred meters ahead. That worked so-so. At one point I crunched my paddle into a shallow oyster bar and had to swerve back offshore to deeper water.

8. Final push: There were no changes in my position relative to the others', but ahead of me I saw young Bic SUP rider Connor Bonham detach from the leaders' draft train, and there were some other signs of jostling among the leaders. I began to gain ground on Connor, who was really suffering with chills and such, sometimes pausing for a second to catch his breath. But he'd had such a lead on me that he still finished almost a minute ahead.

The top 5 were:

Kieran Grant (Hoviesup, 27 North)- 1:04:20
Matt Arensman (Boga)- 1:04:21.14
Garrett Fletcher (Yolo)- 1:04:21.61
Connor Bonham (Bic)- 1:06:57
James Douglass (Me!)- 1:07:53

Men's 14' 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Winners:

There were lots of noteworthy performances by local SW Florida riders. In the overall and 50+ men's 12'6 class Mark Athanacio got first place. (Annabelle was faster but in the womens' class.) Mark looks pretty happy with his winnings.

CGT team member Meg Bosi (green hat) got 4th in womens' 12'6 in the 10k race.

Women's 12'6-

Mark Hourigan and Devin Turetzkin got 2nd and 3rd in the 14' 50+ class 10 km. Devin was just behind South African kayak master Murray Hunkin, who has one more year to go before he can win the 50+ class. CGT race team captain Matt Kearney got 1st in the 14' class in the 5 km race, and race rookie Rudy Ambrosi got 1st in the over-50 14' class in the rec race. We rocked it.

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.

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.

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.

East Coast Windsurfing Festival 2015 - You're Doing it Right

Check out this great video by Mike Burns, the organizer of the annual East Coast Windsurfing Festival in Long Island, NY. A couple years ago I went to this with Josh Angulo. Super glad to see they're still doing it and having fun.

2015 ECWF - LI - HD 1080p from Mike Burns on Vimeo.

This makes me want to do some more windsurfing regatta type things. It's nice that SUP is hugely popular now and there's a big SUP race in Florida practically every weekend. It would be so cool if it was like that for windsurfing. Maybe Ace Performer in Fort Myers will host a little event sometime.

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.

Testing & Racing New SUP - 404 v3 14' x 24"

Yes, I'm crazy. Although I already own one very nice race paddleboard, a 14' x 27.25" Fanatic Falcon, I decided to buy myself another one, which might be a little faster, in some conditions. The new board is a 14' x 24" 404 v3 - the same kind that superstar Danny Ching uses. Here's how the two boards compare:

Length- Same

Width- The 404 v3 is 3" narrower than the Fanatic Falcon. In theory, this should make the v3 a couple tenths of a mph faster, but it will be challenging to test that empirically. Pushing my hardest on the Falcon for ~4 miles I would usually average 5.5 mph. But a week before getting the v3 I had a 5.74 mph run on the Falcon, setting the bar for comparison high. My first training run on the v3 I got 5.72, which is better than I usually did on the Falcon but not better than the best I ever did. Since then I've had some more sessions on the 404 but not with comparable conditions. Winds and currents, fins, how hot it is, and the "human element" (like what I had for lunch, and my mood and focus) all make a big difference.

Volume- The Falcon is 294 liters, the v3 is 224 liters.

Weight- The Falcon is about 29 pounds, the v3 is about 21 pounds.

Outline shape- The Falcon is a teardrop shape with a wide and bulbous nose tapering to a very narrow pointy tail. The v3 is more of a bullet shape; pointy in the front and squared off at the back. The Falcon mostly bobs over waves whereas the v3 pokes into them more. The Falcon is more user-friendly in choppy water, with the possible exception of when you're going broadsides to the wind and the bulbous nose is getting pushed downwind.

Deck shape- Both boards have a peaked deck on the nose to shed water after hitting a wave, but the decks differ in the standing area. On the Falcon the deck is flat; flush with the rails. On the v3 the deck is recessed, so your center of gravity is slightly lower but you sometimes get water sloshing around your feet.

Bottom shape- The Falcon has a rounded bottom at the nose becoming flat in the mid section, with slight vee towards the tail. The v3 has a slightly rounded vee in the nose, becoming flat then concave in the mid section and carrying the concave all the way to the tail.

Rail shape- Both boards have rounded rails near the nose, becoming more square in the mid section of the board. But on the Falcon the rails get more rounded again near the tail, whereas on the v3 they get sharper near the tail. The Falcon definitely has a more "displacement" design to the tail whereas tail on the v3 is meant to have a sharper release from the water

Rocker- The Falcon swoops up at the nose, then has a gradual rocker from nose to tail. The v3 has just a slight lift in the nose section, has a long flat mid-section, and then has a pronounced tail rocker from the fin to the rear. Both boards can ride waves and can glide with the wind-swell ("bumps") when going downwind. However, the Falcon catches bumps more automatically and is more forgiving of how far forward or back on the board you're standing when riding them.

The only race I've done on the new board so far was the Noodles Cafe SUP Luau Races in Naples last Saturday. (Picture shows racers lining up before the start.)

The event was part of a benefit for the Special Olympics of Collier County. They started it with a 5.6 mile competitive race, then later in the day they had family fun races and races for the Special Olympics athletes with learning disabilities.

I chased Mark Athanacio for the whole race, but he gradually pulled away and finished about two minutes ahead. It could have been interesting if I'd positioned myself well and sprinted better at the start so I could draft him. Mark is the guy with the bulging muscles on the blue and green 14' Boga Board in this picture of the race start.

This picture shows my GPS track from the race.

Third place was Kevin Hill, one of my teammates on the CGT sup race team. Kevin was riding a 12'6 board and still beat most of the 14' board riders, which is very impressive. This picture shows Kevin, Mark, and I on the podium with the race organizer and one of the Special Olympics athletes.

Next race is Saturday in Miami. It's an 8.6 mile race around Virginia Key. I'll probably do it on the new 404.