Chuck Abbe
Photo by Alan J. Raul
Photo by Alan J. Raul
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Surviving the Jesse King Memorial Paddle Race
by Chuck Abbe
This month I thought I would write about a real adventure in fitness that I embarked upon in October 2009, a 6-mile paddle race in the open ocean from the Cayucos Pier to Morro Rock. Paddle what you bring - kayak, canoe, stand-up paddle board, surfboard, outrigger . . .
This was a first time event to benefit the Junior Life Guard program. It was held in honor of Jesse King, a local former Coast Guardsman who died in a tragic diving accident off of Cambria in July of 2009.
The Preparation
Preparation? This was a pretty serious undertaking, six miles of open ocean. The majority of my kayaking experience was in a protected bay. I have a group of friends with whom I go kayaking frequently in Morro Bay. Occasionally the wind will pick up and make the water a little choppy, but the open ocean was untested waters for us. Four of us decided we wanted to do the race. We chose to double up in tandem sit-on-top kayaks, thereby acknowledging our inexperience. We talked about practicing entering the surf, renting tandems, and practicing paddling together, but we never seemed to get around to it. We finally located a couple of sit-on-top kayaks at the last minute that we could rent for the race. So we really didn't do any preparation other than just staying in shape. Were we prepared? Probably not as much as we should have been, but nevertheless off we went.
Race Day - The Start
The day brought almost ideal weather for this type of race. Small surf, no rain, and mild temperatures promised a fun time. I could see right away that the first challenge would be getting onto the kayak while it was bobbing about in the surf zone. Watching paddlers do it I thought, this doesn't look so hard - hold on to your kayak, wait until incoming water went past your boat, then jump in and start paddling before the next wave breaks. It actually would have gone really smoothly if it hadn't been for the fact that when I grasped my seatback in the process of jumping on board, it came out of it's position. Shannon was already on the kayak so I tried to push the seat back into position. Unfortunately the next wave came in and turned the kayak sideways. Shannon got off, the kayak went upside down right on top of me, pushing me under the water. I came up spitting salt water. We moved the kayak back to the beach where I could put the seat back into its moorings. Then we were able to get onto the boat and paddle out beyond the surf to await the start of the race. A rather auspicious beginning to our great adventure. After paddling around for a few minutes waiting for everybody to get launched, finally the horn sounded and the race was on!
Open Ocean Race Tactics
At the sound of the horn we concentrated on getting our strokes synchronized and our kayak headed in the right direction. Most everyone was headed south along the beach. The entrance to Morro Bay was to the west, so we would have to eventually turn west to get around the Rock and into the bay. Shannon suggested that we paddle straight west for a bit, then turn south and head directly for the bay entrance. This sounded like a good idea so we corrected and headed west. It was about this time that I discovered that in the excitement of the entrance into the surf I had lost my eyeglasses! First the bad surf entrance, now lost eyeglasses. So far, this was not turning out well.
We paddled hard. We were synchronized and making good progress. Shannon said, "Lets paddle hard. I want to be the first two-man kayak." There were moderate swells and the weather was nice. The strong tide was constantly pushing us towards shore, so we were having to stroke hard on the left side to keep the kayak going straight. This was a real workout for our shoulders and backs, as we were putting everything we had into it. Interestingly, the Coast Guard boat seemed to be shadowing us. We were the only ones out that far and I guess they were watching out for us. We could barely see the other competitors that were much closer to shore. We never stopped paddling the entire six miles, but as we got closer to the Rock we could see that the other competitors had made their adjustments and were arriving at the bay entrance ahead of us. About a half mile from the Rock there was a sudden gust of wind and my new Live Strong baseball cap blew away. This was turning out to be a challenging day!
The Big Finish
As we turned into the bay I had already realized that we had probably made a mistake taking the course that we did. As we pointed towards the finish line at Coleman beach we made another mistake. The tide was coming out of the bay very strongly. We lined up right down the middle of the bay aimed directly at the beach. It didn't occur to me to wonder why everybody else was to the left of us, much closer to the shoreline. In retrospect, they were right, the current was strongest out in the middle where we were. By this time our backs and shoulders were really hurting but we still paddled hard, trying to at least not be the last double kayak to finish. There was another double right ahead of us that we thought we might catch. The difference in the strength of the current proved to be our undoing and we were not able to catch them. Finally at the finish line, almost dead last, I was frustrated. As we pulled up onto the sand I threw my paddle into the water in disgust. Not one of my prouder moments!
Retrospect
This is a column about fitness so I'll start there. We got a tremendous workout. About 1-½ hrs of strength work in our upper bodies. We also burned a bunch of calories. When kayaking, you will definitely get a better workout in the open ocean than you will in the relatively still waters of the bay.
What I learned:
1) When entering the surf, if you get turned around or turned over, don't try to recover at the surf line - bring the kayak back to the beach and start over.
2) The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. I didn't just now figure this out, but I had certainly ignored it.
3) Wear a strap on both your eyeglasses and hat.
4) Don't get mad just because you didn't finish as well as you hoped. It's all about the experience, not whether you win or lose.
5) Treasure the experience and the camaraderie and get back in the boat the next time!!
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