Suwannee River
Sunday, July 24, 2005 brint.adams@us.army.mil
Popularized by Stephen Foster's song which became Florida's state song, the Suwannee River in the area of the Suwannee River State Park, is a beautiful and historic area to visit, hike and especially kayak. I was drawn by the Florida Competitive Paddlers Association's weekend twelve mile kayak and canoe race called the Mere Mortals Race.
I drove over on Saturday, arriving at the heavily wooded campgrounds around 1:30 PM. It was very hot and humid, so the only thing I could think of to do was to get out on the water. The boat launch was close by, so I carried my equipment from the campsite down to the water.
The water was high for this time of year and the current was probably 3 mph. I eased downriver, past the park and around the corner, where the Withlacoochee River was flowing in at an even faster rate. Ahead were the railroad and vehicle bridges and also the remains of the civil war-era bridge, which was an important strategic stronghold for the Confederacy.
I turned up the Withlacoochee against a 4 mph current and tucked in as close to the shore as I could, to find some calmer water to paddle in. There were several turns on the way up, so I had to cross back and forth to find the calmest water, being able to paddle only 2.5 mph at times and up to 4.5 mph along the shore. Once I turned and shot back down the middle of the river, I was able to hit some areas at 9 mph. The Withlacoochee was somewhat muddy, while the Suwannee was pretty clear, although a dark coffee color.
The rest of the afternoon was spent staying out of the sun and trying to keep cool. In the campsite across the road from me, were a family also in for the race. I hung out with Mike, Rea and Michelle for awhile in the late afternoon and again in the morning. We checked out each others rides, with Mike in a C1 and Rea in a shiny new OC1.
Later, around dusk, I hiked a couple of the marked trails around the fortified earthen berm area, where Confederate soldiers defended the bridge, as well as off to a civil war-era cemetary, around where an old sawmill town used to thrive.
The night never cooled off much, so sleeping was uncomfortable. Next time, I will bring along an electric fan, as the campsites had hookups available. Finally morning arrived, so I could sweat outside the tent and wait for the arrival of the rest of the race crowd. The first to arrive was Shawn, who came over from New Orleans with a sleek new Nelo K1, weighing in at about 24 lbs. Then the rest started to show up from all over Florida, one as far south as Miami, with a wide array of fancy racing canoes, kayaks and surf skis.
Soon, it was 9:00 AM CDT, with me thinking I had another hour to warmup, while the others were gathering in the water. As I was bringing my boat down to the water, Michelle told me the others already took off. I couldn't believe it, but rushed to get in and going. As I turned out of the launch area, no one was in sight, so I rushed off to try and catch up. The starter/timer was up on the hill in the park and had seen me come up to the start line late, and noted my start time as 3:20 behind the true start.
I frantically paddled down to the turn and up the Withlacoochee River, where I could still see a couple of boats ahead, off in the distance. I tucked in along the shore again, and soon caught up to the rear of the pack. We continued up for 1.5 miles to the turnaround buoy, so I was able to see all of the frontrunners coming back down, long before I got to the buoy. Along the way, I was able to pass a few more paddlers, as we turned back down towards the Suwannee. Once there, we turned upriver on the Suwannee, paddling for another 3 miles to the second buoy. As the paddlers were faster and more proficient, I was not able to catch up to many others quite as quickly. I did manage to pass a few more, but was still far behind the leaders.
This morning, the current on the Suwannee was almost as fast as on the Withlacoochee, so it was hard slogging along at a slow rate, trying to cut in and around low branches overhanging and trees fallen in along the banks. I watched others ahead to make sure I was timing my cuts across the river at the right times, in order to find the slowest water on the way up. Once we finally made it to the buoy, the return was again very fast, but just as fast for everyone else as well. The key was to find the fasted current, sometimes in the middle and sometimes crossing back and forth to the outside of the turns.
We finally came back down to the park and had one more upriver segment, on the same Withlacoochee leg we started off with. After the final turn, we raced back the final 1.5 miles to the finish. As it turned out, the 3:20 made no difference in my race position or in the awards.
Once back in the boat launch area, I spotted Michelle and asked her how far her mother paddled, since I did not see her after the first Withlacoochee leg. She said her mother was still on the water, although no one had seen her or another man for about 1.5 hours. It turned out, they took the wrong turn and ended up way downriver on the Suwannee, before figuring out their error. It took them another two hours after we finished, to make it back upriver, so they were out for almost 4 hours on the water.
After loading up our boats, everyone relaxed in one of the park pavilions for a great lunch of burgers, many salads, pastas and desserts. I pigged out too much as usual with such a fine array of food. Awards were presented and everyone broke up in the afternoon to head off home. It was an exciting event for me, as I had never seen anything like those racing boats before. I took a number of photos of just the boats, as I wanted to remember just what I was up against that day. It was a fun race, where I learned alot about how to race up and down a swift moving river and about how much faster some of the other boats were than mine. I may have to do something about that before the next time I enter a race with them!
Race Results:
1:39:26 - K1 ICF Men Open - Shawn Wilber
1:40:45 - USCA C1 Men Open - John Edwards
1:51:22 - USCA C1 Men Senior - Tony Bond - Melbourne, Australia
1:51:35 - K1 ICF Men Open - Karl Vogel
1:55:37 - K1 Touring Men Veteran - John Keaveny
1:56:07 - USCA C1 Men Masters - Rod Price
1:58:14 - K1 Touring Men Open - Brint Adams
2:03:38 - Standard C2 Mixed - Pat & Lewis Bayers
2:05:40 - USCA C1 Men Open - George Blakely
2:07:31 - K1 Sea Kayak Men Senior - Edward Francaville
2:15:51 - USCA C1 Men Veteran - Mike Sieber
Popularized by Stephen Foster's song which became Florida's state song, the Suwannee River in the area of the Suwannee River State Park, is a beautiful and historic area to visit, hike and especially kayak. I was drawn by the Florida Competitive Paddlers Association's weekend twelve mile kayak and canoe race called the Mere Mortals Race.
I drove over on Saturday, arriving at the heavily wooded campgrounds around 1:30 PM. It was very hot and humid, so the only thing I could think of to do was to get out on the water. The boat launch was close by, so I carried my equipment from the campsite down to the water.
The water was high for this time of year and the current was probably 3 mph. I eased downriver, past the park and around the corner, where the Withlacoochee River was flowing in at an even faster rate. Ahead were the railroad and vehicle bridges and also the remains of the civil war-era bridge, which was an important strategic stronghold for the Confederacy.
I turned up the Withlacoochee against a 4 mph current and tucked in as close to the shore as I could, to find some calmer water to paddle in. There were several turns on the way up, so I had to cross back and forth to find the calmest water, being able to paddle only 2.5 mph at times and up to 4.5 mph along the shore. Once I turned and shot back down the middle of the river, I was able to hit some areas at 9 mph. The Withlacoochee was somewhat muddy, while the Suwannee was pretty clear, although a dark coffee color.
The rest of the afternoon was spent staying out of the sun and trying to keep cool. In the campsite across the road from me, were a family also in for the race. I hung out with Mike, Rea and Michelle for awhile in the late afternoon and again in the morning. We checked out each others rides, with Mike in a C1 and Rea in a shiny new OC1.
Later, around dusk, I hiked a couple of the marked trails around the fortified earthen berm area, where Confederate soldiers defended the bridge, as well as off to a civil war-era cemetary, around where an old sawmill town used to thrive.
The night never cooled off much, so sleeping was uncomfortable. Next time, I will bring along an electric fan, as the campsites had hookups available. Finally morning arrived, so I could sweat outside the tent and wait for the arrival of the rest of the race crowd. The first to arrive was Shawn, who came over from New Orleans with a sleek new Nelo K1, weighing in at about 24 lbs. Then the rest started to show up from all over Florida, one as far south as Miami, with a wide array of fancy racing canoes, kayaks and surf skis.
Soon, it was 9:00 AM CDT, with me thinking I had another hour to warmup, while the others were gathering in the water. As I was bringing my boat down to the water, Michelle told me the others already took off. I couldn't believe it, but rushed to get in and going. As I turned out of the launch area, no one was in sight, so I rushed off to try and catch up. The starter/timer was up on the hill in the park and had seen me come up to the start line late, and noted my start time as 3:20 behind the true start.
I frantically paddled down to the turn and up the Withlacoochee River, where I could still see a couple of boats ahead, off in the distance. I tucked in along the shore again, and soon caught up to the rear of the pack. We continued up for 1.5 miles to the turnaround buoy, so I was able to see all of the frontrunners coming back down, long before I got to the buoy. Along the way, I was able to pass a few more paddlers, as we turned back down towards the Suwannee. Once there, we turned upriver on the Suwannee, paddling for another 3 miles to the second buoy. As the paddlers were faster and more proficient, I was not able to catch up to many others quite as quickly. I did manage to pass a few more, but was still far behind the leaders.
This morning, the current on the Suwannee was almost as fast as on the Withlacoochee, so it was hard slogging along at a slow rate, trying to cut in and around low branches overhanging and trees fallen in along the banks. I watched others ahead to make sure I was timing my cuts across the river at the right times, in order to find the slowest water on the way up. Once we finally made it to the buoy, the return was again very fast, but just as fast for everyone else as well. The key was to find the fasted current, sometimes in the middle and sometimes crossing back and forth to the outside of the turns.
We finally came back down to the park and had one more upriver segment, on the same Withlacoochee leg we started off with. After the final turn, we raced back the final 1.5 miles to the finish. As it turned out, the 3:20 made no difference in my race position or in the awards.
Once back in the boat launch area, I spotted Michelle and asked her how far her mother paddled, since I did not see her after the first Withlacoochee leg. She said her mother was still on the water, although no one had seen her or another man for about 1.5 hours. It turned out, they took the wrong turn and ended up way downriver on the Suwannee, before figuring out their error. It took them another two hours after we finished, to make it back upriver, so they were out for almost 4 hours on the water.
After loading up our boats, everyone relaxed in one of the park pavilions for a great lunch of burgers, many salads, pastas and desserts. I pigged out too much as usual with such a fine array of food. Awards were presented and everyone broke up in the afternoon to head off home. It was an exciting event for me, as I had never seen anything like those racing boats before. I took a number of photos of just the boats, as I wanted to remember just what I was up against that day. It was a fun race, where I learned alot about how to race up and down a swift moving river and about how much faster some of the other boats were than mine. I may have to do something about that before the next time I enter a race with them!
Race Results:
1:39:26 - K1 ICF Men Open - Shawn Wilber
1:40:45 - USCA C1 Men Open - John Edwards
1:51:22 - USCA C1 Men Senior - Tony Bond - Melbourne, Australia
1:51:35 - K1 ICF Men Open - Karl Vogel
1:55:37 - K1 Touring Men Veteran - John Keaveny
1:56:07 - USCA C1 Men Masters - Rod Price
1:58:14 - K1 Touring Men Open - Brint Adams
2:03:38 - Standard C2 Mixed - Pat & Lewis Bayers
2:05:40 - USCA C1 Men Open - George Blakely
2:07:31 - K1 Sea Kayak Men Senior - Edward Francaville
2:15:51 - USCA C1 Men Veteran - Mike Sieber
posted by brint @ 9:46 PM
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