Phatwater Kayak Challenge 2005
Saturday, October 8, 2005 brint.adams@us.army.mil
The second time down the Mississippi was just as memorable and exciting as last year! The water level on the river was a little lower this year, but the weather was absolutely magnificent and we had a great paddle. Again, Linda and I traveled from Spanish Fort over to Natchez on Friday afternoon, arriving around 5:00 PM. This year, we left Linda's mother, who has been our recent house guest, behind to watch after the house. Upon arrival, we made a quick stop at the motel to check in and stopped at the Under The Hill Saloon to check in for the race.
The weather was already cool with a cold front coming down from the north, as we headed off to Pearl Street Pasta for dinner. Once again, the food was excellent and a good carbo load for the next day. This time, race organizers made arrangements to shuttle the boats up to Grand Gulf the night before, so we could ride buses to the start area Saturday morning. Linda was particularly happy she did not have to get up at 4:30 and drive up and back.
We arrived at the Claiborne County Port boat ramp at 7:00, having passed right next to a nuclear power plant on the way in. The air was crisp and the mosquitos were out looking for an early morning feast. Our boats were lined up and following safety instructions, we loaded up and got into the water to warm up. A newly added touch this year was using a large civil war era cannon for the start. We could not even see it up over the top of a hill, but the shot was deafening as it reverberated around the small bay, scaring a number of shore birds into flight.
Once we cleared the bay, the current swept us out into the river and we were off on another wild ride down the Mississippi. Roland sprinted ahead and was one of the frontrunners for the first 400 meters. He backed off a little and settled into a normal rhythm, which was still much faster than any of the other plastic boats. The breeze out of the north kept the chop down, so the paddling was pretty smooth. It did not take long and we came across our first barge coming upriver putting off a surprisingly small wake.
As it turned out, we passed probably about five barges coming upriver, and this year some of us caught up to and passed a barge slowly moving downriver. I finally caught the barge at around the 30 mile mark and slowly made my way alongside the three wide and five long long and then out in front of it. It was a good motivator for me, in that I was really out by myself, as the frontrunners had gotten away from me and were no longer in sight. This made it especially frustrating for me, as my GPS would not start up, so I had no way of gauging the river speed to make adjustments in finding the optimum current to help propel me downriver.
Before I knew it, I came around a bend and there were the high electric line towers off in the distance, about 20 minutes paddle time away. Once I cleared the towers, and with the finish in sight, albeit still 5.5 miles away, I bore down even harder, as I could see I was in reach of beating last year's time. I did not have anyone close around me this time, so it was not an all-out sprint, but I came in with a strong finish of 4:41:00, just two minutes slower than last year. So, I am still perfect in sub-five hour finishes, which was a special goal of mine.
Interestingly, I finished in 6th place overall, but in the popular composite long kayak category, I was only 4th in my group. As last year, there were only nine finishers who had sub-five hour times, so that was gratifying to be in the elite group. Win Nouwen repeated as champion this year, followed by fellow Memphian, Joe Royer. The top finisher were as follows:
Male:
1st - 4:26:20 Win Nouwen, Memphis, TN - 21' Thunderbolt
2nd - 4:28:49 Joe Royer, Memphis, TN - 21' Thunderbolt
3rd - 4:35:47 Flint Bishop, Des Allemands, LA - Seda Glider
4th - 4:37:00 Richard Savoie, Des Allemands, LA - Seda Glider
5th - 4:39:17 Keith Benoist, Natchez, MS - Seda Glider
6th - 4:41:57 Brint Adams, Spanish Fort, AL - Seda Glider
7th - 4:45:46 Don Chesler/Chris Marmande, OK - 22' tandem
8th - 4:52:09 Andy Balogh, Memphis, TN - 21' K-1
9th - 4:55:43 Christopher Murphree, Birmingham, AL - QCC 700
10th - 5:01:36 Bill Reitzer-Smith, Addison, TX - 18' K-1
11th - 5:02:43 Jeb Berry, Gulfport, MS - 18' surf ski
12th - 5:03:02 Gregg Jacob, Ridgeland, MS - Epic Endurance
13th - 5:05:17 Vincent Ciaramitaro, Memphis, TN - 19' QCC
14th - 5:08:37 Lynn DeLaughter, Annandale, VA - 19' composite
15th - 5:09:55 Geoff Iles, Natchez, MS - Seda Glider
16th - 5:12:19 Roland Bodt, Daphne, AL - plastic
17th - 5:16:22 Troy Bakel, Middletown, PA - Necky Looksha II 20'
18th - 5:20:10 Dave Genzler, Pineville, LA Necky Looksha IV 17'
Female:
1st - 5:16:01 Melissa Morrison, Natchez, MS - Seda Glider
The second time down the Mississippi was just as memorable and exciting as last year! The water level on the river was a little lower this year, but the weather was absolutely magnificent and we had a great paddle. Again, Linda and I traveled from Spanish Fort over to Natchez on Friday afternoon, arriving around 5:00 PM. This year, we left Linda's mother, who has been our recent house guest, behind to watch after the house. Upon arrival, we made a quick stop at the motel to check in and stopped at the Under The Hill Saloon to check in for the race.
The weather was already cool with a cold front coming down from the north, as we headed off to Pearl Street Pasta for dinner. Once again, the food was excellent and a good carbo load for the next day. This time, race organizers made arrangements to shuttle the boats up to Grand Gulf the night before, so we could ride buses to the start area Saturday morning. Linda was particularly happy she did not have to get up at 4:30 and drive up and back.
We arrived at the Claiborne County Port boat ramp at 7:00, having passed right next to a nuclear power plant on the way in. The air was crisp and the mosquitos were out looking for an early morning feast. Our boats were lined up and following safety instructions, we loaded up and got into the water to warm up. A newly added touch this year was using a large civil war era cannon for the start. We could not even see it up over the top of a hill, but the shot was deafening as it reverberated around the small bay, scaring a number of shore birds into flight.
Once we cleared the bay, the current swept us out into the river and we were off on another wild ride down the Mississippi. Roland sprinted ahead and was one of the frontrunners for the first 400 meters. He backed off a little and settled into a normal rhythm, which was still much faster than any of the other plastic boats. The breeze out of the north kept the chop down, so the paddling was pretty smooth. It did not take long and we came across our first barge coming upriver putting off a surprisingly small wake.
As it turned out, we passed probably about five barges coming upriver, and this year some of us caught up to and passed a barge slowly moving downriver. I finally caught the barge at around the 30 mile mark and slowly made my way alongside the three wide and five long long and then out in front of it. It was a good motivator for me, in that I was really out by myself, as the frontrunners had gotten away from me and were no longer in sight. This made it especially frustrating for me, as my GPS would not start up, so I had no way of gauging the river speed to make adjustments in finding the optimum current to help propel me downriver.
Before I knew it, I came around a bend and there were the high electric line towers off in the distance, about 20 minutes paddle time away. Once I cleared the towers, and with the finish in sight, albeit still 5.5 miles away, I bore down even harder, as I could see I was in reach of beating last year's time. I did not have anyone close around me this time, so it was not an all-out sprint, but I came in with a strong finish of 4:41:00, just two minutes slower than last year. So, I am still perfect in sub-five hour finishes, which was a special goal of mine.
Interestingly, I finished in 6th place overall, but in the popular composite long kayak category, I was only 4th in my group. As last year, there were only nine finishers who had sub-five hour times, so that was gratifying to be in the elite group. Win Nouwen repeated as champion this year, followed by fellow Memphian, Joe Royer. The top finisher were as follows:
Male:
1st - 4:26:20 Win Nouwen, Memphis, TN - 21' Thunderbolt
2nd - 4:28:49 Joe Royer, Memphis, TN - 21' Thunderbolt
3rd - 4:35:47 Flint Bishop, Des Allemands, LA - Seda Glider
4th - 4:37:00 Richard Savoie, Des Allemands, LA - Seda Glider
5th - 4:39:17 Keith Benoist, Natchez, MS - Seda Glider
6th - 4:41:57 Brint Adams, Spanish Fort, AL - Seda Glider
7th - 4:45:46 Don Chesler/Chris Marmande, OK - 22' tandem
8th - 4:52:09 Andy Balogh, Memphis, TN - 21' K-1
9th - 4:55:43 Christopher Murphree, Birmingham, AL - QCC 700
10th - 5:01:36 Bill Reitzer-Smith, Addison, TX - 18' K-1
11th - 5:02:43 Jeb Berry, Gulfport, MS - 18' surf ski
12th - 5:03:02 Gregg Jacob, Ridgeland, MS - Epic Endurance
13th - 5:05:17 Vincent Ciaramitaro, Memphis, TN - 19' QCC
14th - 5:08:37 Lynn DeLaughter, Annandale, VA - 19' composite
15th - 5:09:55 Geoff Iles, Natchez, MS - Seda Glider
16th - 5:12:19 Roland Bodt, Daphne, AL - plastic
17th - 5:16:22 Troy Bakel, Middletown, PA - Necky Looksha II 20'
18th - 5:20:10 Dave Genzler, Pineville, LA Necky Looksha IV 17'
Female:
1st - 5:16:01 Melissa Morrison, Natchez, MS - Seda Glider
posted by brint @ 8:49 PM
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