Phatwater Kayak Challenge
Saturday, October 9, 2004 brint.adams@us.army.mil
All I can say is WOW!!! The long, extremely hot workouts on Mobile Bay and in the delta over the past four months were definately worth it. Paddling the Mississippi River was challenging, exciting, exhausting and satisfying with beautiful scenery around every corner. But, since this was a race, the end result was equally important to me. I bettered all expectations and goals set for myself six months ago when I decided to enter and train for this race. When it was all over, I finished in 5th place overall in 4:39:24 and in 2nd place in my boat category.
Linda and I left Spanish Fort Friday afternoon, the day before the race, and traveled I-10 to I-12 to Hammond, LA, north on I-55 and west to Natchez, MS, taking 4.5 hours. After checking in to our motel, we went to the east bank of the Mississippi in downtown Natchez and found our way down to the area called Under The Hill. The check-in was in the Under The Hill Saloon which has a great view across the River and overlooking the Isle of Capri Riverboat Casino. From this point, you can look north straight up the river for as far as you can see. The next day after the race, we found out one can actually see upriver for over 13 miles with a telescope. After checking in, getting last minute instructions for race morning and recommendations for dinner, we left to go back to the motel to rest for an hour.
We decided to try Pearl Street Pasta in downtown Natchez for dinner and it was an excellent choice. I got plenty of carbo loading in preparation for the next day. Afterwards, it was to bed early and back up at 4:30 AM. Without any locking system for my kayak, I decided to put it in our motel room, which was on the ground floor with an outside entrance. So, with the kayak stretching from just inside the door all the way to under the sink, we had to be careful getting up in the middle of the night.
When we arrived to meet caravan heading up to the start near Grand Gulf, MS, we were a little apprehensive about the weather with tropical storm Matthew heading our way. When we arrived at the Claiborne County Port boat ramp a little before 7:00 AM, the morning light started out very dim and gray. It was very breezy with a misty rain and threatening skies. After hearing safety instructions, all boats were put into the small bay, where we warmed up and waited for the start. At about 8:15 AM, the gun went off for about 50 boats of all varying sizes, shapes and colors. There were surf skis, a couple of real K-1 racing kayaks, tandem kayaks, plastic rec kayaks, along with several canoes. The most popular boat on the water was the same as I had, the Seda Glider.
We got off to a pretty safe start, knowing we had a long way to go, with no need to get into a sprint mode right away. It was obvious from the start that without any mishaps, there were three boats out in front,who were going to fight for the top places. Following them was Richard Savoie, the champion from the past two years. The next group of four paddlers including me, tried to keep the frontrunners in view for as long as we could. I knew with all of the experience Richard had on this course, he was who I wanted to focus on as long as I could keep him in sight.
After the first several miles, I still had Richard in view, with Keith Benoist, the race director, starting to pull ahead of me. Just behind me were two others, with a large gap ever lengthening back to the next group. The surface of the water was fairly flat at the start and was not bothersome. It was difficult to gauge how fast we were going until we passed the large buoys. It amazed me to see the water rushing past them, and then how fast we went by. I just got into a good paddle rhythm and concentrated on my breathing rate. I went into my mind state where I counted strokes per breath, which reminded me about every half hour to drink and/or eat a GU gel packet.
As we paddled downriver, we passed river lights on opposite banks about every two miles as well as about 7-8 sets of pile and stone dikes around the curves for shore protection and to maintain consistent boat navigation. The idea was to stay away from the dikes, as they caused turbulence and slower current. So, I tried to stay near the navigation buoys where the water was swiftest, but out of the way of the barge traffic. We encountered about 10-12 large barges, the largest was five wide by about ten long, with a huge tug boat pushing it upriver and causing some large turbulence and wake action. In the lower half of the course, the wind increased and pretty well came straight out of the south and directly in our faces. Fortunately, the rain held off during the whole race, and with the heavy cloud cover, the 72 degree temperature never was a factor.
At about this point, I pulled away from the other two paddlers who had been right with me up to that point. With about ten miles to go, I started to close the gap with the one paddler still in sight. He decided to get closer to the east bank, trying to get out of the direct wind and the wave action coming upriver towards us. I stayed out in the middle of the river where the current was swifter and ever so slightly pulled ahead of him. We were still neck and neck as we could see the river bluffs of downtown Natchez about five miles off in the distance. This is where I decided to really pick up my stroke pace a little more and took the more direct route rather than closer to the east bank. We were probably about 100 meters apart horizontally, while I was maybe only 10-20 meters ahead. With the water moving so rapidly downriver, I made sure I aimed towards the shore well upriver from the Natchez Under The Hill boat ramp. As it turned out, I aimed well and did not overshoot the finish line. In one of the closest finishes, I was able to beat the next guy by 40 seconds, after following him for most of the 45 miles.
When I hit the finish line, I was pretty exhausted and barely able to get out of my kayak. I stumbled around and needed some help just to get my balance before I could walk up the hill to the saloon. It was definately a sweet finish to a great day of paddling on such an awesome river.
Once all of the boats came in, taking well over 6.5 hours, we had the awards ceremony, which by that time took place in a light rain. The top finishers were as follows:
Male:
1st - 4:22:02 - Win Nouwen, Memphis, TN (from Holland)
2nd - 4:26:08 - David Bartell, Montgomery, TX
3rd - 4:32:46 - Richard Savoie, Des Allemands, LA
4th - 4:35:59 - Shawn Wilber, New Orleans, LA
5th - 4:39:24 - Brint Adams, Spanish Fort, AL
6th - 4:40:04 - Keith Benoist, Natchez, MS
7th - 4:49:00 - Jeb Berry, Gulfport, MS
8th - 4:49:23 - Chris Marmande, Houma, LA
9th - 4:49:39 - Don Chesler, Edmond, OK
10th- 5:01:20 - William Reitzer-Smith, Addison, TX
Female:
1st - 5:19:19 - Ann Reitzer-Smith, Addison, TX
All I can say is WOW!!! The long, extremely hot workouts on Mobile Bay and in the delta over the past four months were definately worth it. Paddling the Mississippi River was challenging, exciting, exhausting and satisfying with beautiful scenery around every corner. But, since this was a race, the end result was equally important to me. I bettered all expectations and goals set for myself six months ago when I decided to enter and train for this race. When it was all over, I finished in 5th place overall in 4:39:24 and in 2nd place in my boat category.
Linda and I left Spanish Fort Friday afternoon, the day before the race, and traveled I-10 to I-12 to Hammond, LA, north on I-55 and west to Natchez, MS, taking 4.5 hours. After checking in to our motel, we went to the east bank of the Mississippi in downtown Natchez and found our way down to the area called Under The Hill. The check-in was in the Under The Hill Saloon which has a great view across the River and overlooking the Isle of Capri Riverboat Casino. From this point, you can look north straight up the river for as far as you can see. The next day after the race, we found out one can actually see upriver for over 13 miles with a telescope. After checking in, getting last minute instructions for race morning and recommendations for dinner, we left to go back to the motel to rest for an hour.
We decided to try Pearl Street Pasta in downtown Natchez for dinner and it was an excellent choice. I got plenty of carbo loading in preparation for the next day. Afterwards, it was to bed early and back up at 4:30 AM. Without any locking system for my kayak, I decided to put it in our motel room, which was on the ground floor with an outside entrance. So, with the kayak stretching from just inside the door all the way to under the sink, we had to be careful getting up in the middle of the night.
When we arrived to meet caravan heading up to the start near Grand Gulf, MS, we were a little apprehensive about the weather with tropical storm Matthew heading our way. When we arrived at the Claiborne County Port boat ramp a little before 7:00 AM, the morning light started out very dim and gray. It was very breezy with a misty rain and threatening skies. After hearing safety instructions, all boats were put into the small bay, where we warmed up and waited for the start. At about 8:15 AM, the gun went off for about 50 boats of all varying sizes, shapes and colors. There were surf skis, a couple of real K-1 racing kayaks, tandem kayaks, plastic rec kayaks, along with several canoes. The most popular boat on the water was the same as I had, the Seda Glider.
We got off to a pretty safe start, knowing we had a long way to go, with no need to get into a sprint mode right away. It was obvious from the start that without any mishaps, there were three boats out in front,who were going to fight for the top places. Following them was Richard Savoie, the champion from the past two years. The next group of four paddlers including me, tried to keep the frontrunners in view for as long as we could. I knew with all of the experience Richard had on this course, he was who I wanted to focus on as long as I could keep him in sight.
After the first several miles, I still had Richard in view, with Keith Benoist, the race director, starting to pull ahead of me. Just behind me were two others, with a large gap ever lengthening back to the next group. The surface of the water was fairly flat at the start and was not bothersome. It was difficult to gauge how fast we were going until we passed the large buoys. It amazed me to see the water rushing past them, and then how fast we went by. I just got into a good paddle rhythm and concentrated on my breathing rate. I went into my mind state where I counted strokes per breath, which reminded me about every half hour to drink and/or eat a GU gel packet.
As we paddled downriver, we passed river lights on opposite banks about every two miles as well as about 7-8 sets of pile and stone dikes around the curves for shore protection and to maintain consistent boat navigation. The idea was to stay away from the dikes, as they caused turbulence and slower current. So, I tried to stay near the navigation buoys where the water was swiftest, but out of the way of the barge traffic. We encountered about 10-12 large barges, the largest was five wide by about ten long, with a huge tug boat pushing it upriver and causing some large turbulence and wake action. In the lower half of the course, the wind increased and pretty well came straight out of the south and directly in our faces. Fortunately, the rain held off during the whole race, and with the heavy cloud cover, the 72 degree temperature never was a factor.
At about this point, I pulled away from the other two paddlers who had been right with me up to that point. With about ten miles to go, I started to close the gap with the one paddler still in sight. He decided to get closer to the east bank, trying to get out of the direct wind and the wave action coming upriver towards us. I stayed out in the middle of the river where the current was swifter and ever so slightly pulled ahead of him. We were still neck and neck as we could see the river bluffs of downtown Natchez about five miles off in the distance. This is where I decided to really pick up my stroke pace a little more and took the more direct route rather than closer to the east bank. We were probably about 100 meters apart horizontally, while I was maybe only 10-20 meters ahead. With the water moving so rapidly downriver, I made sure I aimed towards the shore well upriver from the Natchez Under The Hill boat ramp. As it turned out, I aimed well and did not overshoot the finish line. In one of the closest finishes, I was able to beat the next guy by 40 seconds, after following him for most of the 45 miles.
When I hit the finish line, I was pretty exhausted and barely able to get out of my kayak. I stumbled around and needed some help just to get my balance before I could walk up the hill to the saloon. It was definately a sweet finish to a great day of paddling on such an awesome river.
Once all of the boats came in, taking well over 6.5 hours, we had the awards ceremony, which by that time took place in a light rain. The top finishers were as follows:
Male:
1st - 4:22:02 - Win Nouwen, Memphis, TN (from Holland)
2nd - 4:26:08 - David Bartell, Montgomery, TX
3rd - 4:32:46 - Richard Savoie, Des Allemands, LA
4th - 4:35:59 - Shawn Wilber, New Orleans, LA
5th - 4:39:24 - Brint Adams, Spanish Fort, AL
6th - 4:40:04 - Keith Benoist, Natchez, MS
7th - 4:49:00 - Jeb Berry, Gulfport, MS
8th - 4:49:23 - Chris Marmande, Houma, LA
9th - 4:49:39 - Don Chesler, Edmond, OK
10th- 5:01:20 - William Reitzer-Smith, Addison, TX
Female:
1st - 5:19:19 - Ann Reitzer-Smith, Addison, TX
posted by brint @ 7:19 PM
1 Comments:
At 8:59 AM,
Anonymous said…
Way to go, Brint!
Great job representing MBCKC in the Phatwater race!
All your hard work and training definitely paid off.
You are an inspiration to all of us.
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