Great Peconic Race set for Sunday
Taylor Resnick in action. The paddle boarder, one of the elite racers of the sport, will be competing Sunday in the Great Peconic Race, a circumnavigation of the Island.
Quick, what’s the fastest growing competitive water sport in the world?
If you said stand up paddle board racing, give yourself a gold star.
And where is the next great venue for the sport?
That would be Shelter Island, where the first “Great Peconic Race” launches this Sunday, September 14.
Billy Baldwin, the Great Peconic Race’s founder, is hoping the Island will join popular stand up paddle board races already on the circuit, including the Blackburn Challenge, a 20 mile open water circumnavigation of Cape Ann in Northern Massachusetts, and down south, the Carolina cup, which attracts large crowds to watch the elite of the sport in action.
Two of those elite racers, Montauk’s Taylor Resnick in the men’s division, and Mary Scheerer of Sag Harbor on the women’s side, will be rowing for dollars, with over $4,000 in prize money up for grabs.
Sunday’s festivities accompanying the 19 mile circumnavigation of the Island won’t just feature the beautiful sport of paddle boarding, where the athletes stand straight up on what looks like a surfboard and power along with rowing strokes, but will also feature kayaks and surf skis.
The latter are long, lightweight kayaks with the athletes sitting high above the water line, controlling rudders with their feet.
“These guys rip,” Mr. Baldwin, said. “They’re like windmills.”
The surf skiers along with the paddle boarders will make for an engaging and fun outing for spectators of all ages, Mr. Baldwin said. Keeping the festive atmosphere alive will be a beer truck from Greenport Harbor Brewery at Wades Beach — the start and finish line — and catering by Schmidt’s.
Open water paddle racing is beginning to hit its stride in part due to the fitness explosion with more and more people taking to the water for exercise. Americans spent $122 million on kayaks alone last year, according to industry sources. Paddle board racing has gone big time, with Mr. Resnick, 33, snagging sponsorships from board and paddle manufacturers and also a line of footwear.
Growing up in Huntington, right on the beach, he’s been in the wet stuff all his life, he said. Besides racing addle boards, he teaches the sport.
Mr. Resnick came to paddle boarding through surfing, he said, noting that surf shops were the first centers of the budding sport. The attractions are many, including “being out with friends, but you still have a sense of solitude, and it’s relaxing, but still a good workout.”
The perspective given by standing up over on the surface allows you to see down in the water. “You see fish, and sometimes really big fish,” he said.
Mr. Resnick competes up to 30 times a year now, all over the country. Last month he won the men’s division in Sag Harbor’s Paddle For Pink, with Ms. Scheerer, 55, taking the women’s crown.
She’s also one of the elite of the sport, regularly defeating women half her age. This year she never finished lower than second place, competing as far afield as Mexico, and is gearing up for a big race next month in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Ms. Scheerer said her sport is for anyone in reasonably good shape. “It’s a no impact sport and just requires balance,” she said.
The Great Peconic Race will not just be about racers churning for cash prizes. There’s a kid’s race on tap, a halfway course, and a two-person relay race, where one competitor starts out and hands off the boat to a partner at certain points to finish the race. There will also be designated spots on the course where racers can get help when they feel they’ve had enough. Kayakers are more than welcome.
Proceeds of the race will go to the Rogue Wave Foundation, a nonprofit that works to help East End children build confidence and self-esteem, Mr. Baldwin said.
There’s a subtitle to the race — “A Paddle for Ted” — honoring Mr. Baldwin’s brother, who died four years ago. Mr. Baldwin, who grew up in North Sea and now lives in Sag Harbor, recalled how he and his younger brother “lived on the water” when they were young.
The goals of the race are to foster competition and give a great show to Islanders of skill, endurance and speed, Mr. Baldwin said. But the race directors also want to focus on the environment, and the fragile nature of the Island’s bays and harbors.
Registration for the race starts at 7 a.m. Sunday and the first launch is at 8:30 a.m., with the race beginning and ending at Wades Beach.
For more information on entering the race or getting involved, go to greatpeconicrace.com.
