Paddle racers?

[ALGonquin Bob]

Do you race? I'm curious as to who else out there races in canoes, kayaks, or guide boats. I've done a couple paddle races just for the experience, but am nowhere near competitive. I'm planning on trying the Adirondack Canoe Classic one more time, probably in '09.

 

[sardog1]

I know a lot of people enjoy it. But for me, it's in the same category as fishing contests -- they're antithetical to why I participate in the activity itself. (I can barely get myself to participate in a local conservation group's sort-of-annual paddling event.)

 

[ALGonquin Bob]

2-week race

Now THIS one has my attention, but you have to do the shorter 460-mile version first... http://www.yukon1000.com/

 

[Amicus]

With the same basic bunch of friends I've been doing river canoe camping trips with since the mid-'80s, I put together a team for the Run of the Charles 24-mile canoe relay race in 2001 - always the last Sunday in April. A couple of my friends had raced in that and one or two others, but it was a first for most of us. We had a blast, finished in the top 5% and have been back every year since, consistently in the top 5.

We aren't getting younger, so this has been a nice little extra incentive to keep our edge, and a great intro to warm weather and paddling. We have a fun party with families afterwards - Redbones barbecue and margaritas star.

I don't see once a year as antithetical to anything. We're laid back the other 364 days.

 

[spencer]

I've done the Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race the last several years. It's 10 miles of quickwater and another 6 of class I-III rips. It's the biggest race in Maine with 400-500 canoes and kayaks.

Great fun... I'd like to do a few of the other local spring whitewater series next year.

My only problem is that my partner's sense of whitewater adventure limits her to only the Kenduskeag each year. Now if only I could convince her that my laundry folding, dish-washing, floor-sweeping, bed-making tolerance is used up each year when the spring floods come, I'd be all set

 

[Nessmuk]

Now THIS one has my attention, but you have to do the shorter 460-mile version first... http://www.yukon1000.com/

I've done the 90 Miler for several years. In just 2 weeks I'm headed for the Yukon River Quest (460 miles). My Voyageur team is already planning for the Y1000, which kicks off for the first launch in 2009.

 

[Jay H]

Not a racer myself, I found myself when doing races, enjoying the scenery, chatting with the other racers.. etc... I've done fairly well in most of the sprint triathlons, bis, adventure races I've done but I'm not really into crowds of people, big group events, and having to train. I can certainly see why some folks do it, it is a nice challenge and I certainly had a lot of fun, but I don't see myself really ever getting serious to race anything.

Jay

 

[MarshallM]

For the last 5 years, i've been racing in the ACA regional and national canoe poling competitions. It is a bit of a micro sport, but the competition provides you the ability to refine your technique against elite racers. IMHO, two of the best polers on the planet are regulars on this ACA racing circuit.

For me, the racing is only a means to an end. Certainly, if i took it more seriously, i wouldn't be racing against high end Millbrook kevlar canoes with my oil canning ABS Mad River Explorer. But if one goes into the races willing to be humbled, you get to learn what is possible from the elite racers and also the race courses (particularly slalom) force you do make moves and take lines through rapids that you would probably not otherwise do.

In the end, the poling allows one to do more challenging canoe trips, as you are often able to more efficiently travel upstream. In the days before the automobile, the canoe was not strictly a downriver craft.

marshall

 

[Amicus]

In the end, the poling allows one to do more challenging canoe trips, as you are often able to more efficiently travel upstream. In the days before the automobile, the canoe was not strictly a downriver craft.

marshall

Odd how one thread can sometimes bring to mind another that bears no obvious relation - in this case, a recent exchange on Thoreau's Maine Woods. His guided trips up the Penobscot River and eventually as far as the Allagash lakes included some amazing feats of poling loaded canoes through tough rapids, against the current. That's a skill I'd like to acquire - not the only one.

Racing for me, as a once-a-year group activity, is definitely a means to several ends - camaraderie, motivation to keep fit, Welcoming Spring on the Water and astonishing ourselves with our ability to stay ahead of most of the youngsters. We all had done a lot of paddling before 2001, but the extra impetus of staying in the Top Five (of what is strictly an amateur race, of course) has led most of us to improve our paddling techniques (we don't go in for group training, however).

 

[MarshallM]

Ah yes, Thoreau's Maine Woods. Haven't read it in awhile, but also enjoyed the part where Thoreau and his Indian guide Polis(?) are canoeing down Webster Stream (cuts across the northern part of BSP), which is a personal favorite ME canoe route.

That's a skill I'd like to acquire - not the only one.

Amicus, if you ever want to make this happen, one way is to attend one of the free ACA poling events. New folks are always welcome and you could get some instruction and even likely purchase a pole if you wanted. If i was going to be there, i could probably round up a spare pole or two if you (or another VFTTer) wanted to borrow one.

http://www.geocities.com/polecanoe/canoepole.htm

Can't imagine the high level of fitness required to race in the 460-mile Yukon River Quest. Would go out on a limb and say that most paddlers have not paddled that far on a recreational trip, let alone competitively in a race!

marshall