Paddle for the Bays

Ok so this event was not in Maine - you got me.... but I did participate in it, and it was an amazing time - so it still gets a mention.  :)

I'm sure you have seen my post from a month or so ago about the Lobster SUP Cup (if not, you should check it out here).  While my friend Sarah and I were at the event, we met many new people from all over New England of a wide variety of levels of experience with SUP races.  At the time I had never done a race, and I was only at the Lobster SUP Cup to volunteer while Sarah raced.  During dinner in Belfast at Rollie's after the race, another racer, Kim, mentioned a SUP race that was happening around my birthday in Cape Cod that had both a 10 mile race and a 5 mile race.  Not really thinking it through, I said "Yea of course!  That would make a great way to celebrate my birthday!"  Then in the weeks that followed, I began to think "Holy cow.... I've never done a 5 mile paddle on my board, let alone a race!"  But by that time I was committed, and there was no turning back.

September 20th came around, and it was time for us to make the trek down to Osterville, MA.  By that time, Kim had set up everything for us so that all we had to do was register and show up for the race.  She opened up her home and loaned boards to many racers that weekend since she has her own SUP business in MA.  You can find a link to her website here.  There was a group of 20+ that she brought to the race.  Kim and her husband, Bruce, are truly amazing people that we are so glad to have met.  We arrived at the house we would be staying at, and there were so many racers from all over New England, NY, and beyond.  When we actually sat down to tally it up, we had racers from Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and South Carolina.  And there is a very real possibility I missed someone in there!

About an hour after we arrived, Kim had arranged for us all to do a paddle clinic with Patrick Broemmel of Bahn Pho Surfboards.  I was not sure what to expect from this clinic, as I had never been to one before.  It was so informative and so much fun!  Patrick taught us different techniques for our paddle strokes on dry land to start the clinic going through different exercises we could do on our boards and answering any questions we had.  The second half of the clinic we were able to get out on the boards and put those lessons into practice.  Having never done much with racing, I found it made me feel much more comfortable with the upcoming race.  He was open to giving you critique on your stroke, and there were so many other experienced racers there that they also jumped in to help you out with any questions you had.  After paddling around for a bit, many of the racers traded boards to try out something new.  Everyone was so open to sharing their equipment that I had the opportunity to try boards of different lengths (12'6" boards and 14' boards) and many different types - Bark, SIC, Rogue, etc.  We also had the opportunity to meet a SIC rep that had some boards there for us to try.  My favorite boards was a 12'6" Rogue board that Roxane had, other than the fact that it was pink, that is :)

After the paddle clinic, everyone had supper together at the house.  I like to think that I have a broad range of experiences with things liek this - sporting events, volunteer events, travel.... I can say that I have never met a more welcoming crowd than the SUP community.  You will show up not knowing anyone and come away feeling like you have known these people forever.  I really believe that the people, just as much as the sport, keep you coming back time and again.  A true testament to how small this world can be - the board rep from SIC trained with Tony (see the whitewater rafting blog post) rafting in Maine.  We talked for quite a while about the rafting guide training and stories from the river.  I will say this, though, my most memorable moment that Friday was beating Marta at a game of pool.  Marta is such a tough competitor in anything that she does that beating her at anything is something you'll remember forever.

The morning of the race, I have to say I was very nervous.  I love experiencing new things, but when it's competing in something new like this - I get butterflies.  I always like to do well in any sporting event I take on (who doesn't) but I felt very ill prepared for the race.  I kept thinking "I'm going to fall off my board a million times" and "I haven't ever paddled 5 miles before - let alone on the ocean" and "Why did I spend all my time playing ball instead of prepping for the race?"  But whether I felt ready or not, race time was fast approaching.

It helped to settle my nerves that I knew some of the other racers in the division I was in, and once they called for us to line up to get ready to race - well there was no backing out then, that's for sure!  I felt pretty good at the start of the race, but then of course - like I knew I would - I fell off the board.  Staying on a racing board is very different from the 11'6" BIC I have, and SUP on the lake is a heck of a lot easier than SUP on the ocean.  I ended up falling a total of 5 times across the race, but one of them was not my fault.  A passing boat got too close and knocked me off the board - boats seem to have little regard for SUP racers.

The conditions were brutal (and I wasn't the only one that thought so).  With the wind against us for what seemed like half the race and my lack of overall conditioning for the event, I ended up finishing the race in about 1 hr 45 min.  It sounds horrible, but my goal for my first race was simply to finish and not finish last.  I reached that simple goal.  I came across the finish line and felt like I could barely walk.  Most people ask me about SUP and think it would hurt your shoulders more than anything.  If you are paddling correctly, or trying to in my case, you will feel it more in your core and legs.  Just staying balanced on the board for that long really had my legs burning.  After the race, they handed out the awards for the top three finishers in each division and age group while I sat by sipping on some coconut water and enjoying the break.  I was not one of the top finishers, but I had a great feeling of accomplishment just having been participated, finished, and done something a little outside my comfort zone.

With the awards done and everyone packed up into their vehicles, we made a stop at Kettle-Ho.  There was a local brewery that had sponsored the race, so we had to go have a pint with our supper.  The food there was great, and you could tell everyone really had an appetite after all that work on the water.  Most of the SUP racers that had stayed with us the night before were taking off for home or to visit family after the race, so we said our good-byes before heading back to the house.  I'm always left wishing that they all lived closer so that we could get together and do this more often.  But again - the people just make you want to race even more. :)

Our last night in Osterville was a very chill night with a game of Cards Against Humanity (if you have never played it - go find the game and give it a try - wicked good fun!).  Katie, Judy, Sarah and I were laughing late into the night and finished the entire game before crashing for the night.  I woke up the next morning so sore I felt like I had been hit by a truck, but its' a good feeling when you know you really did something to earn it!  We had to jet home that morning to Maine for a concert that night, but I know that we will see everyone again at a SUP race soon.  And I feel like we've created a birthday tradition in the Paddle for the Bays :)