Milford OC1 Canoe and Surfski Race Summaries - August 8, 2009

ByWesley Echols and Wayne Lysobey

2009 Milford Race Summary
by Wesley Echols

One of the nice things about the Milford Race is that Blake Conant, the Race Director, makes you feel so welcome when you show up for the race so the karma is great from the beginning.  This year’s race had a good showing of OC paddlers and there were actually 2 ocean rowing shells manned by Wayne Lysobey and training partner Bill.   The surfski class had a good showing as well though I was hoping there would have been some guys from New Jersey, Connecticut, and a few more of the crowd from Massachusetts.  Nevertheless the sun was brilliant, and with little wind it was looking like a flat water race.  Blake went over the course twice but I guess I needed to be told another time since Tim and I led the pack around the wrong Red Can similarly to what Ken Cooper did last year. Now I see how easy it was to get it confused. Fortunately all the surfski paddlers and most of the OC paddlers did the same thing so it worked out fine.

The start was delayed a few minutes while we waited for Rod and Alex to paddle to the start line after their long drive down from Maine.  The horn went off and Tim and I were off leading the pack with the OC2 close behind.  As we rounded the 1st buoy Tim and I were chatting like it was a hard training paddle that we do every week.  Tim elected to pull to the next buoy.  So I rode his side wash while checking our heart rates which were identical at 161 just like in our training sessions.  We rounded the second buoy and I pulled to the second red can where we stopped for a few seconds to decide if it was the right one or not. The OC2 was close behind so we turned and watched them and they like us, rounded the same red can so we were off again.  Determined not to get passed by the OC2, I concentrated on pulling hard, finding motivation in hearing the familiar “HUT” by the OC2.  As I was feeling slightly stronger than Tim due to Tim’s white water rafting paddling the day before, I pulled to the next buoy.  With just about 2 miles to go in the 8 mile race, I tried to catch a few bumps on the slight downwind section while maintaining maximum leg drive. At this point I was ahead of Tim by 3 boat lengths and remembered that Tim always finishes hard so I was not to let up until the finish.  Today I came out ahead, but like most paddling (training partners), you always want you partner to have a good race as well.  My other training partner Chris (web master) had the best race of his season coming in 3rd behind Tim and me.  The flat day was tailor made for Chris whose flatwater speed either in his Mohican or his 32lb V10sport is very impressive. At one point in the race I looked behind me to see where the OC2 was and Chris was only 3 boat lengths behind them. I thought for a split second” Is Chris going to pass me today?” I know my days are number with Chris!!

Other noteworthy performances were Ken Larson coming in 4th looking very lean from all the bike, swimming, and running he and Kathy have been doing getting in shape for road racing and triathlons.  Also Dave Grainger had an excellent race in his custom designed Mako 6 cockpit. 

We ended the day at the Citrus Restaurant for the awards ceremony with Blake and Melissa handing out the awards after some liquid refreshments, hamburgers, and hotdogs.  While there we recruited some of the OC paddlers to make the trek up to the Counter Revolution Race in Jamestown, Rhode Island on August 29th which is going to be jammed pack with rowers, skiers, and OC paddlers.  I hope every one will join us for that race! Thanks goes out the Blake and Melissa for making us all feel welcome and putting on the race. ~ Wesley

Running With the Outriggers
By Wayne Lysobey

All of my races this year have been around 200 miles away from my home in Norwalk, CT. I started thinking about the Outrigger Race which was 20 miles away up the coast in Milford, run by Blake Conant, and thought wouldn’t it be nice to be able to race close to home. I emailed Blake and asked if some rowers could join the fun. Blake replied he was an inclusive kind of guy and “come on down”!

Aug 8, 2009. It was a good day in Milford. The race was 8 miles. It was not the course on the web site that I had put into my GPS. I found out later that the web site hasn't been updated. Anyway, the course was 2 laps around 4 buoys, 3 of which were regular navigational aids and 1 a race buoy.

My friend Bill and I were the only rowers. My race plan was simple- beat Bill- A quickly discarded story title for the race was "Kill Bill, Vol. 1" (apologies to Bill, but if you have read “Bill’s Most Excellent Blackburn” you will understand!)

Bill and I talked before the start. Feeling fortunate to be included, we decided to make an extra effort to stay out of the way the paddlers. We lined up at the end of the starting line furthest away from the pier. We  left plenty of distance between us and the nearest paddler. We did not want the start of this race to be a contact sport. Mostly we accomplished our goal of staying out of the way, although it was close a couple of times.

So we went out fast. Bill and I were soon near the front of the pack. My stroke rate was 30 spm for 4-5 minutes and then 28 spm for a long time- most of the first lap. My speed coach was showing 3.5- 3.7 m/s for the first 15 minutes. I have done head races at a slower pace. This was enough to get ahead of Bill. The first buoy, a "Red Nun" was a 90 degree turn. If I hadn't yelled to Bill he might have had a close encounter of the crunching kind with the "Nun". After Bill made a quick course correction he had a crowded time at the turn with those very nice people in the mixed orange OC-2.

Anyway, it was a fast first lap. There were two Surfskis ahead and an OC-2 close to me much of the first lap. I think it was at the second big turn, at the red bell buoy, that the OC-2 and some other boats started pulling ahead of me. Bill had dropped back 20-30 seconds. After the first lap I felt like I had had a race already. Bill was back far enough so I took an unplanned hydration stop.  The second lap was at 24-25 spm with speed dropping to 3.00 to 3.3 m/s. When I eased off a little I would see Bill closing in on me. He kept me working.  All the buoy turns slow us rowers down. The kayakers do better with the turns.

I crossed the finish about 20-30 seconds ahead of Bill. My lungs suffered. My HR was 172 sometimes in the first lap. That’s high for me.Then down to 160 when I was more "relaxed". My time was 1 hour 10 minutes and something. I managed to sprint to the finish from the 6A Red Can to the pier. Mark Ceconi had passed me at the 6A turn but I managed to catch up and pass in that last couple minutes. I don’t think I have beaten Mark’s time in the Blackburn or L2L in 4 years or so now (since he got really fast!). I wouldn’t have done that without Bill pushing me the whole course. So I had a good race, and I have a medal to hang next to my “trophy wife” Bev's.  (She wins lots of medals)

Great awards party afterwards, at the Citrus Restaurant in Milford. I would like to thank Blake Conant and all our outrigger and kayaker friends for letting us join the fun. Hug a paddler today!  Also, whoever ordered the days weather-good job!

Long Live Open Water!

Wayne Lysobey
8/9/09