After racing several times in Puerto Rico during the 1990’s, it was fun to return to the Caribbean. I saw many old friends and made some new ones. There is a small, but very excited group of surf ski paddlers in Puerto Rico and they put on a first class event.

 

This year, the course was a 22 mile open water crossing from the Island of Culebra to Fajardo, Puerto Rico. The water is a beautiful blue and the prevailing east wind makes for nice downwind runs.

 

At the start of this year’s race, local paddler Federico Muskus took off into the lead and a 4 person font pack formed with Ian Gray from South Africa, Derick Bezuidenhout (South African living in Florida) and myself. After several minutes Ian surged into the lead. I jumped onto his wake and the others dropped off. After 2.5 km we went alongside an offshore island and then had a clear sight of the twin towers near the finish. The waves started picking up and we had some nice surfable runs. As Ian continued to push hard, I started feeling the heat and realized I could not maintain that pace for the entire race. I dropped off and started taking a direct route to the finish, while Ian took a more northerly route.

 

After a few more km, the waves increased to about 4 ft (1.3 meters). These were beautiful, although a foot or two lower than the previous 2 days as winds dropped from 15-20 knots down to 10-12 knots.

 

About 8 km from the finish, we passed by Palomino Island. After this the waves gradually dissipated and it was a hard slog to the finish.  Ian crossed the line about 2 minutes ahead of me.

 

Even though the temperature was only about 80 degrees (29 C), I was surprised how hot I felt. Combine cold weather training with a warm day and a tailwind nearly the same speed we were traveling, and I was overheating. Every minute or two while surfing down a run, I’d splash water on myself or dip my hat into the water. I shouldn’t complain as Ian Gray traveled over 30 hours and 5 time zones from South Africa arriving less than 2 days before the race.  Ian paddled a good race and has improved significantly from last year.

 

Erik Borgnes from Wisconsin paddled an impressive race, finishing 5^th after training almost exclusively on an ergometer over the past few months. Erik said he typically has a fan blowing on him while using the erg, but turned the fan off while training for this event so he would be better acclimatized to the heat.

 

In the women’s class, local favorite Anitza Villalobos finished 5 minutes ahead of renowned sea kayaker Freya Hoffmeister. Anitza will be competing for a spot in the Beijing Olympics at the hemisphere qualifier in May in Montreal. Freya raced an Epic V10 Sport after spending only one week on a surf ski. Freya mentioned she had a hard time passing the beautiful Palomino islands without stopping to explore but continued her push to the finish! Look for more good finishes from Freya if she decides to take time off from her expeditions and teaching to spend more time paddling downwind on a surf ski.

 

It’s exciting to see the growing level of interest in surf ski paddling in the Caribbean. St Marteen and Guadalupe now have a good group of paddlers and several races. The Caribbean is the perfect place for surf ski paddling and racing. There are numerous islands surrounded by beautiful beaches warm clear water and regular breezes. The Caribbean is truly a paradise for paddling!

 

Here’s the results of the race.