Susan beat me by 5 seconds! Five seconds! In the V10 sport which is 3 inches wider than the Huki S1-A. So she came in second and I came in third. I'll get over it. But I'll never let her get ahead of me again! After the race Kathy told me, "Oh yeah. Never let Susan get ahead of you. She trained for sprints for the dragon boat races." Susan and I had never raced in surfskis together. So she didn't know my race strategy (I'm so new to this I really don't have one yet) and I didn't know her race strategy. Now I know. She won't surprise me with a final sprint again!

The Broadkill Race is a 10 mile course from Oyster Rocks Road outside Lewes, DE to the historic little town of Milton, DE. Over 100 people participated in this race. There were a lot of "plastic bathtubs" but there were also a surprising number of surfskis, thunderbolts, and other racing kayaks. Susan had given me a pre-race tour of the course a week before the real race, she in her Mark 1 and me in the Huki S1-A. During the pre-race run it was obvious that Susan was not yet "one with her Mark 1," so she didn't even consider racing it. Then last weekend she had the opportunity to paddle Brian's brand new V10 Sport. She liked it so much she ordered one. And Brian arranged for her to paddle his in the Broadkill race while he raced the V10 grande. Kathy brought her Simon River Laser. Cliff and Cyndi both raced in Thunderbolts. Susan's husband Vince and Chris, whom I met on the Manhattan Circumnavigation, both raced but I don't remember which boats they were in. Sorry...

We met at the put-in on Oyster Rocks road and unloaded our kayaks. Registration started at 0830 but I was there by 0800 and most of my group was already there as well. I was amazed by the number of people registered for this race ... over 100! Susan had told me that it was an annual fundraiser for the town of Milton and it had grown every year. The smaller group of racing kayaks were clearly focused on winning but the majority of the racers, who showed up in all kinds of plastic vessels, seemed to be there mostly for the fun of the event. The race ends in Milton where there is a small festival with miniature train, crafts and lots of food. Ending the race like that really did make it more fun.

And it was all about fun. Even though we're competing against friends we're still focused on enjoying the event. So I had my nails done for the race. And Susan and Judy (secretary for the PA Canoe and Kayak Club) both showed up with pink toenails. Kathy modeled her pink water shoes.

So around 0900 we drove our cars to the take-out and Chris' brother picked us up in his pickup truck to transport us back to the put-in. The race started at 1000 which was plenty of time to do registration and the car shuttle but when the race organizer yelled 5 minutes to start I was still arranging my boat. I wasn't the only one caught off-guard. Brian said he never got his water system set up either.


So over 100 boats were crammed into this little river. I tried to position myself as close to the front as possible as did all the other racing kayaks. But it was tight. And the incoming tide kept pushing me around.

And then we were off! The S1-A accelerates like a jack rabbit. I took off at over 8 mph. Of course, I can't maintain that speed. But for the first mile of the course I averaged 6.8 mph. The Broadkill river is tidal and for both the pre-race and the real race on Sat we were definitely aided by an incoming tide for the first 5 miles of the course. After the river got further inland I'm sure the incoming tide helped us a little but I felt it mostly for the first 5 miles.

For the first half mile I was just keeping pace with the faster men and of course I was lagging. But I was ahead of Cyndi, Kathy and Susan and I was hoping to keep that pace and order. But my forearms were burning. My right arm was almost numb from the buildup of lactic acid. From my years of rockclimbing I'm familiar with lactic acid burn in the forearms. In climbing we deal with it by shaking out one arm while hanging onto the rock with the other arm. Not really possible in kayaking. You need both hands on the paddle. So I paused a few times to shake out my arms. I'm sure the people behind me had no idea what I was doing. But once your arms build up with lactic acid they become like claws. I couldn't really dig the paddle into the water so I tried to increase the stroke rate to compensate.



Pretty soon Cyndi passed me. This was no surprise. She's faster than me. But then I saw Kathy's bow inch up beside me. My arms are still burning and there's nothing I can do. Then I glance around and see it ... the white rabbit. This is what I started to call V10 sport Susan was paddling. It reminds me of a white rabbit. Susan heard me grumble something. And she yelled back something to the effect that she was coming past me (or coming to get me ...).

So she came up beside me and got ahead by a boat length or two. Then we kept pace. Kathy was at least 20 yards ahead of us both. She was clearly coming in second. So it was between me and Susan for third place. I figured the lactic acid in my arms would move out by about mile 5 and then I'd have a chance to pass the white rabbit. Around mile 5 something else happened. Kathy swamped her laser. Susan reached her first. She was deep in the grass pumping the water out. We both paused for a second to see if she need help. Then we were off. The white rabbit still in front.

I was right about one thing. The burn began to subside about mile 5 and my stroke got better. But the white rabbit would not give up her position. I'd paddle harder and start to gain on the beast and it would just paddle harder. I tried sneaking up on the right ... then the left. Nothing worked. The faster I paddled the faster the white rabbit paddled. So I realized this was a losing proposition. If I pushed harder she would just push harder and one of us would burn out. Since I had just regained movement in my right hand I wasn't going to push it.

So my strategy was to tail the little white bunny to the finish line then gather up what remaining strength I had and bolt ahead. Vince, who was following close behind us, told me later that he could see what I was doing. Vince also knew that Susan had trained for sprints in the dragon boat races. So he knew what her strategy was as well. I'm sure he was very amused watching us race it out from behind!

A half mile or so till the end of the race I picked up the pace and paddled up beside her. And then like a jack rabbit she bolted. Of course I bolted after her. But she sprinted faster. As you can see by the table which breaks the race up into 1 mile laps I was indeed pushing it. My maximum heart rate is probably around 185. For the final half mile I was pushing above 180 bpm. And she beat me by 5 seconds!



Afterwards Kathy told me some "Susan race stories" which were very telling! This will certainly change my strategy for the next race. Cyndi came in first and beat us by something like 4 minutes. Susan got second. I got third. And Kathy who should have come in second took fourth. And it was an incredible amount of fun! Next race ... Wye Island. To read Susan's Race Report click here. And here is a link to Cyndi's Race Page. Officially results are now available on the Delmarva Race Page.


-Susanita