In a Kayak Built for Two

 

 

Nancy Petschl

June 26, 2001

 

I am having a difficult time starting this story.  I am having a difficult time forming complete sentences.  I am having a difficult time deciding what I want to share about this race.  We did not complete the race.  Our decision not to continue after CP3 was difficult for multiple reasons.  We have not debriefed as a team and I cannot speak for the team, although I know that we gained valuable experience as adventure racers, as a team and as individuals and I know that we came home stronger than we were when we left.

 

Let me start by telling you that it was a race that offered our team multiple challenges that we have not faced before.  Our first challenge was forming our team.  We were interested in competing the X-treme series and in order to collect series points we had to race as a three-person team.  So we made the decision that Carey would race solo.  We then made the decision that Carey would truly compete “solo” and face her adventure alone.  Carey is the backbone of “Crew Zen”.  She is our master navigator, our strongest team member, and the “fire” of our team.  To let her compete solo would provide all of us with the greatest challenge we would face in our short career as adventure racers.

 

The pre-race meeting provided a few surprises, as always.  We found out that 147 miles of racing, instead of the 100 miles that we were expecting, would challenge us.  I started to get uncomfortable when we were told that we would be paddling a two person Kayak for a total of 40 miles.  (Remember we are a three-person team and I would be sitting in the middle).  I choked when we were told that there was going to be a 1.5-mile swim out to an island to pick-up a care package that was to be delivered to another island later in the race.  Thankfully, I asked to be provided a PFD.  I shifted in my chair again when we were told the 80-mile off-road bike was going to be one continuous leg.  I didn’t feel any better about the 27 miles of trekking through poisonwood forest just because the antidote leaves could be found in the same forest.  And when I looked at the giant rolled-up maps we were given, I knew they were not going to fit into our map case.  I was outwardly wishing that Carey were going to stay with the rest of the team.  As I left the meeting I was looking forward to the $50 bar tab that each racer was to receive as part of the post-race festivities.

 

After the meeting we went back to our hotel room and Carey and Mindy went over the maps as Paige ordered dinner.  I did my best to help with the maps and race instructions.  I went to bed feeling comfortable with our pre-race preparation.

 

The race started with an eight-mile beach trek into the sun.  The water was beautiful and the sand was fine, soft and deep.  There were three water crossings (through canals), with large coral rocks on the banks.  Three and a half hours later, we got to the swim (CP1) and were second to last place with only the Bahamians behind us.  We crossed paths with a few teams, including Carey, on our swim out to the island.  Since I am a below average swimmer, Mindy stayed close to me and drug me 80% of the way.  We then had to continue our trek (another 14+ miles) along the beach for a few more miles and then turn north to find checkpoint two and the transition to the Kayak.  Along the way, we ran out of water.  We could see the rain off in the distance and were hoping we would catch up to it.  We did.  It was a terrific thunderstorm.  There was enough lightening in the area to force us to take cover, where we used our rain ponchos to collect the rainwater and fill up our bottles.  After about 30 minutes of shelter we pressed on, walking through ankle deep water on the trail heading north to CP2.

 

Once the rain stopped we took a break to change socks and maps.  That is when the Bahamians caught up to us.  They were singing and in great spirits.  They provided us with the energy that we somehow lost during the rain.  We talked about hooking up with them for the rest of the trek, but they had a hard time getting started again and we were out of sight within minutes.

 

We watched a beautiful sunset and arrived at the landing (CP2) just as the last bit of sunlight was fading away.  As we were filling water bottles we saw a headlight coming back at us from the water.  It was team Fit Core, and they weren’t sure about going out on the boat at night.  Who could blame them, it was their first race, they had been lost for over 4 hours, they were drinking water from puddles, the tide was out and they kept running aground.  We invited them to come along with us to Water Cay (Bahamian for “key”), the care package drop off location.  .  We were pretty confident in Mindy’s navigation but we knew it was going to be a tough go and that we would all have to stay patient.  Two members of their team wanted to continue and those two departed with us. 

 

We were right, it was slow going.  We walked about half of the two miles towing the kayak behind us.  We saw flashes of light in the distance and knew we were on course.  When we arrived we saw 2 teams had docked and built a campfire.  They planned to spend the night on the island because they weren’t sure their boats were safe.  We decided to stay also.  Bahamas nights can be colder than you think and the mosquitoes were abundant.  At dawn we packed up and left with our new teammates Fit Core.

 

We paddled north to the end of the cay, skirted around the mangroves and started heading south.  I didn’t mind running into shallow water as we passed multiple cays, because I was able to stretch my legs while pulling the boat.  Plus it was a good chance to eat, drink and change maps.  We checked our compass heading frequently, bailed our kayak regularly and paddled until our arms felt like falling off.  It felt like we were fighting the boat the whole time, but 9 hours later we arrived at CP3.

 

From CP3, the next leg was an out and back, 100+ mile bike on rough, abandoned roads.  It was 3:30 in the afternoon and no teams had made it back to CP3, where we were to get back in the kayak for another 8 miles, before the 8-mile trek to the finish.  We had heard that Carey had made it to CP3 in second place overall, but that she had some problems in the mangroves.  As we were refueling and resting at CP3 the lead teams started coming back in.  They all looked wiped out, and they had all seen Carey heading to or at CP4, which was 50 miles away.

 

At that point we estimated it would take us another 20 hours to finish the race.  Our food supply was down to about 6 hours, and our cruise ship home left in 24 hours.  We were told only the 4 leading teams, and the 2 solos were still on the course.  All the other teams were either towed by locals into CP3 or dropped once they got there.  That’s when we regretfully, declined to continue the race. 

 

We got a ride back to the hotel where we watched some teams finish and waited for word on Carey.  Around 11 pm, we got a call telling us Carey had been picked up and was with the race doctor getting fluids replaced. 

 

The next day, we packed up and got on the boat back to Florida.  During the cruise, we had fun trading stories with the other teams and realized that although the race itself was disappointing, the friends we had met made it all worthwhile.