I got up early today and made the three-hour drive down to the race on Ross Barnett Reservoir outside Jackson, Mississippi. When I got there the skies were overcast, the temperature was a cool 60 degrees, and a breeze was blowing.
One of the first people I saw in the parking lot was Christian Maßow (pronounced "massow"), the man who had beaten me down at Ocean Springs back on March 3. He had spanked me by about four minutes in that 9.5-mile race, and I figured I was in for more of the same in today's 9-miler.
But then the gun went off, and once we were a mile or so into the race it became clear that I, paddling my surf ski, was better equipped for the conditions than Christian was in his K-1. Out in the heart of the lake the waves were about as big as I've ever seen in non-coastal Mississippi. While my high-volume bow rose up and over each wave on the trip out into the wind, poor Christian was taking one gigantic splash after another in his chest, and throwing down a brace for almost every stroke he took. After making the buoy turn and heading back downwind toward the finish, I found many surfable waves and increased my lead. And so I won the race.
I've always been fond of the motto "It's not the boat; it's the motor." Having a good boat is important, of course, but I have little patience for people who say things like "So-and-so won that race because he had the fastest boat," as if the training so-and-so had done in that boat didn't count for anything.
Well, I have to admit that my win today was all about the boat. If conditions had been calm, or if Christian had had a more suitable craft for rough water, I'd probably be sitting here back home with a second-place medal instead of a first-place one.
But I'm not complaining. I'll take a win any way I can get it. Sometimes winning a race is simply a matter of being there to take advantage when the favorite is having unforseen problems.
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