Broadkill River Race, DE
Quite a while ago, Chris Beckman built a wood tandem kayak, and most years that kayak is in the Broadkill Race, whether Chris is paddling it or someone else is. This year he invited me to paddle with him. This race has a lot of very friendly, very humorous, “trash talk” that occurs on two of the local e-groups before the race. I continued the trash talk to the race by making shirts for Chris and I to wear. I printed on the backs of the shirts, “If you can read this, paddle faster.”
The funniest part of this race was the fact that I was paddling with a carbon fiber custom made racing wing paddle and Chris was paddling with his beautiful hand crafted Greenland paddle, or as I call it, his 2 x 4. What a pair we made, with me in the bow doing a racing wing stroke and Chris in the stern doing a perfect Greenland stroke. We amused everyone we passed. And we passed a lot of people.
This is one of the few times in a race where I have ever gotten to pass so many people. Most of the over 120 paddlers in this race are recreational paddlers, and they start about 10 minutes before the racing class starts. The race is for charity so there is always a big turnout of people just enjoying the day on the water. We passed a whole lot of them, and nearly all of them commented on us as we went by. Even beginners could tell that there was something odd about a 2 x 4 and a wing and everyone loved our wise guy shirts.
This was one of my most fun races of the year, I love to talk to people and encourage them as I pass them, and it was a real treat, after 9 years of knowing Chris, to finally paddle in the same boat as him. We finished first in our tandem class and, as a sucker for a big sparkly trophy, I admired my hardware all the way home.
It was a good day.