Yesterday I got to do a bit of salt-water paddling: Anne drove me down to where the marshes give way to the Gulf at a place called Cypremort Point in Vermillion Bay. A check of the forecast indicated a likelihood of stormy weather, but the sky brightened as we drove south, and the sun came out later on in our paddling session. I spent some time giving Anne some stroke instruction that I'd promised, and then we paddled along the shoreline for a bit. I did five 12-stroke sprints while we were out there, giving my speed a little polish ahead of the next day's race.
And today was Race Day. We went up to the town of Leonville, and I put my boat on Bayou Teche alongside seventeen other boats for a 7.7-mile race to Arnaudville. I'd resolved to treat the event as a time trial and I took the pace out hard, pulling away from the pack early. The bayou was swollen from this week's rains, and I dodged many floating logs, sticks, and twigs as I went along. I was feeling some fatigue a half-hour or so in, but I managed to hold myself together and take pretty good strokes all the way to a winning time of 57 minutes, 46 seconds.
The weather was overcast, but the temperature was pleasantly warm and there was just enough breeze to cool us off. The race started right on time and proceeded without a hitch, thanks to race director Ray Pellerin and his crew of volunteers.
The complete results are posted here.
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