Great Peconic Race produces a great day
And they’re off! Stand up paddleboarders begin their race around Shelter Island from Wades Beach Saturday morning.
With a smile as wide as Peconic Bay, Julieta Gismondi dug into the last few feet of water with her paddle toward Wades Beach Saturday. She was moments away from claiming the women’s standup paddleboard (SUP) championship in the third annual Great Peconic Race.
After touching the beach around 1 p.m., where she had started more than four hours earlier, the 31-year old New Yorker was lost for a moment in a group hug of friends. To be exact, Ms. Gismondi’s time for the 19.5 mile circumnavigation of the Island was 4:17:03.69.
Billy Swezey Jr. of Jupiter, Florida was the men’s SUP winner, coming into Wades Beach about 40 minutes before Ms. Gismondi at 3:37.48. Mr. Sweezey couldn’t be immediately contacted after the race.
Ms. Gismondi and Mr. Swezey were two of about 150 competitors who entered the race in different divisions, including standup paddleboard, kayaking, sea kayaking and surf skiing. There were divisions by age and also a nine-mile race.
The competition was for a good cause. Proceeds from the race will benefit the Cornell Cooperative Extension’s “Back to the Bays” initiative, and will contribute to habitat and shellfish restoration work being conducted by CCE and the paddle community.
“Our goal is to raise money to bed as many scallops and improve the eel grass as much as we can,” said race organizer Billy Baldwin, who also competed in the standup paddleboard competition. The race honors Mr. Baldwin’s brother, Ted, who died at age 48 in 2011.
“We try to honor him by saving these waters,” he said.
Conditions were difficult Saturday, with shifting currents and strong waves. It was also a hot, muggy day. “There was a little bit of everything, Ms. Gismondi said.
Julieta Gismondi, moments after finishing first in the women’s paddleboard division of the Great Peconic Race.
She’s been paddleboarding for about a decade, and recently completed a New York City to Miami paddle from October 2015 to February this year on the standup up board.
Her first Great Peconic Race won’t be her last. “I’ll be back next year,” Ms. Gismondi said.
Mr. Baldwin said the heat forced him to jump off his board three times to cool off. “It was like a sauna out there,” he said.
Wades Beach was a party in full swing beginning in the early afternoon, with barbecue, beer, watermelon and the Andre Phillips band keeping the spirit alive with long, Caribbean grooves.
Fergus Sloan, a race organizer, who took a 9-mile course prone on a board, paddling with his hands, said the race had “a special feeling,” and a perfect day for the Island and bringing attention to the conditions of our waters. “The race will open some eyes to this beautiful resource we have all around us,” he said.
Islander Peter Farrar, 71, had an exceptional race, finishing second overall in the men’s sea kayak division, finishing his circumnavigation in 3:17:16.52.
Mr. Farrar described the conditions as “a little bumpy.” He’s been using the sea kayak for about two years, but has been using a lighter vessel for more than 10 years.
Islander Scott Feierstein, 40, who placed first in the 18-49 age group of the SUP 9-mile division, said even though the conditions were tough, he was elated at his finish. He started paddling in May and “after 10 times I was hooked.”
Taking up the sport was also a wise economic move, Mr. Feierstein said. “If I was going to have a mid-life crisis,” he said, “I couldn’t afford a sports car. So I got a racing board.”
Here are some results from Saturday’s race:
Stand Up Paddleboards Male – 19.5 mi
Place Name Bib No Age Age Group Place Total Time Address
1 BILLY SWEZEY JR 93 27 1 Top Fin 3:37:48.60 103 US-1, JUPITER, FL, UNITED STATE
2 ANDREW DIMA 131 18 2 Top Fin 3:41:57.19 100-12 Shore Front Parkway, Queens, NY,
3 CARL-HENRIK BENGTSSON 113 44 3 Top Fin 3:59:59.25 15 LEONARD STREET, NEW YORK, NY, UN
Stand Up Paddleboards Female – 19.5 mi
Place Name City Bib No Age Age Group Place Total Time Address Line 1
1 JULIETA GISMONDI 80 31 1 Top Fin 4:17:03.69 140 CARYL AVENUE, New York, NY
2 STEPHANIE SHIDELER 45 41 2 Top Fin 4:25:37.13 LONG BEACH, NY, UNITED STATES
4 MARY SCHEERER 33 57 3 Top Fin 4:41:56.60 1668 SAG HARBOR TURNPIKE, SAG HARBOR, NY
Surfski Single – 19.5 mi
Place Name City Bib No Age Age Group Place Total Time Address Line 1
1 JESSE LISHCHUK 77 21 1 Top Fin 2:44:13.20 9 BRENTWOOD COURT, NEWTOWN, PA,
2 JEFF COWLEY 110 49 2 Top Fin 2:53:16.84 3 EVERGREEN PLACE, LAFAYETTE HILL, NA
3 BOB CAPELLINI 39 65 3 Top Fin 3:16:50.42 1769 VICTORIA ST. BALDWIN NY
Surfski Double – 19.5 mi
Place Name City Bib No Age Age Group Place Total Time Address Line 1
1 JIM HOFFMAN 70 57 1 Top Fin 2:47:41.07 36 PADDOCK LANE, BEDFORD, NY,
2 TIMOTHY DWYER 76 56 2 Top Fin 2:55:18.32 21 BULOID AVE. NA
OC-1 – 19.5 mi
Place Name City Bib No Age Age Group Place Total Time Address Line 1
1 BOGDAN KORDULSKI 56 47 1 Top Fin 3:13:35.20 36 DEERFIELD DRIVE, NEW CITY, NY,
2 WILLIAM BALDWIN 5 53 2 Top Fin 3:42:45.07 PO BOX 3238 SAG HARBOR, NY 963
3 CURTIS PARKER 35 60 3 Top Fin 3:46:28.56 SOUTHAMPTON, NY,
Sea Kayak – Men – 19.5 mi
Place Name City Bib No Age Age Group Place Total Time Address Line 1
1 MARK WEBBER 83 61 1 Top Fin 3:17:16.52 2461 TOWN LINE RD, SAG HARBOR, NY
2 PETER FARRAR 49 71 2 Top Fin 3:32:44.25 29 OSPREY RD, SHELTER ISLAND, NY
3 JAMES PERRY 105 43 3 Top Fin 3:59:34.24 SAG HARBOR, NY,
Sea Kayak – Women – 19.5 mi
Place Name City Bib No Age Age Group Place Total Time Address Line 1
4 SHARI HYMES 34 54 1 Top Fin 4:00:20.20 PO BOX 2955 SAG HARBOR NY11963
7 ELIZA GATFIELD 38 49 2 Top Fin 4:17:39.11 PO BOX 258, WAINSCOTT, NY 11975
13 DARA MULLEN 11 55 3 Top Fin 4:59:55.58 16 ROBERTSON LANE, HAMPTON BAYS, NY
Sea Kayak Men 9 mi
Place Name City Bib No Age Age Group Place Total Time Address Line 1
1 EDWIN MANGUAL 60 54 1 Top Fin 1:46:26.97 269 FOSTER AVENUE, MALVERNE, NY,
2 ALFRED BALDWIN 73 58 2 Top Fin 1:46:38.12 2860 JOHN ANDERSON DRIVE, ORMOND BE
3 DENIS HARRINGTON 58 74 3 Top Fin 1:48:00.87 203 SALEM RD, POUND RIDGE, NY,
Sea Kayak Women 9 mi.
Place Name City Bib No Age Age Group Place Total Time Address Line 1
KATHLEEN KING 40 57 1 Top Fin 2:20:36.19 1605 DEERFIELD ROAD, WATER MILL, NY
MARILYN DELUCA 52 67 2 Top Fin 2:41:04.03 166 HOG CREEK ROAD, EAST HAMPTON, N
SUP Men 9 Mi.
Place Name City Bib No Age Age Group Place Total Time Address Line 1
1 VAL FLORIO 124 54 1 Top Fin 1:50:32.64 Sag Harbor, NY, United States
2 WILL YANDELL 126 46 2 Top Fin 1:51:39.55 17 Mayflower Ct, Centerport, NY, United States
3 GASTON GALINANES 29 18 3 Top Fin 1:52:00.03 152 Shade Tree Lane, Riverhead, NY
SUP Women 9 mi.
Place Name City Bib No Age Age Group Place Total Time Address Line 1
NORIKO OKAYA 101 45 1 Top Fin 2:02:25.42 28-21 37TH STREET, LONG ISLAND CITY
JESSICA OSBORNE 82 32 1 Top Fin 2:06:56.22 PADDLE DIVA
ANN WELKER 117 53 2 Top Fin 2:26:43.58 16 SHORE DRIVE, SOUTHAMPTON, NY, UN
