Race debrief

I'm plenty sore this morning after racing in the third annual Battle On The Bayou canoe and kayak race on Old Fort Bayou at Ocean Springs, Mississippi, yesterday.

The first two editions of this race felt like spring break in Florida, but yesterday's weather was more what I'm used to in late winter: overcast, cool (mid 50s) and very windy.  The first mile or so takes place in open water, and while the conditions were not what I would call gnarly, we had to deal with a beam wind and waves that made balance very tricky.  Once we were up in Old Fort Bayou above the Washington Avenue bridge, the water calmed down but we continued to paddle into frequent headwinds.

Going into yesterday's race, this event had had only one person as its overall winner in its history, and that would be I.  But a Mr. Christian Maßow (it's a German name, pronounced "massow") of Missouri City, Texas, added his name to the list by finishing about three and a half minutes ahead of me.  I had hoped I could press my boat advantage in that first mile on open water (he was in a K-1, I was in a surf ski), but he handled it remarkably well.  Actually, the beam wind seemed to hurt me more because of the higher profile of my boat; I very nearly flipped twice.  Mr. Maßow reached the Washington Avenue bridge some five or six boat lengths ahead of me, then continued to pull away from me for the remaining eight miles.

It's always fun to win, but seeing as how there are plenty of people out there who are better than I, it was only a matter of time before one of them showed up at this event.  And it's probably better for the event if the same guy doesn't keep winning it year in and year out.

The worst moment of my day occurred right after the race.  As I climbed up the bank with my boat on my shoulder (and declined a couple of offers of help carrying it), my cold, slightly numb hands lost control of the wet, slippery boat, and the boat crashed to the ground and suffered a crack on the bottom of the hull several feet aft of the seat.  So now my surf ski is out of commission for a few days while I do some repair work.  It's not a bad crack, and I should be able to make it almost as good as it was, but it's hard not to cringe when something like that happens to a $3000 race boat.

As for today, the weather seems calmer, and I plan to paddle easy on the Back Bay of Biloxi before Martha and I head home.  I hope getting some blood flowing through my paddling muscles will relieve some of this soreness.