After 6.5 miles of strenuous paddling through ocean and flatwater while battling 15 mph northeast winds, Larry Cain and Tommy Buday neared the end of the North Carolina Surf to Sound Challenge elite race side by side.
The two Canadians stroked hard for the finish line, located on the sound-side beach of the Blockade Runner Beach Resort. Buday ripped off his leash a fraction of a second faster than Cain, jumped off his board, sprinted up the short stretch of sand and lunged across the line seven-tenths of a second before Cain with a final time of 1:07:57.
The 2014 Surf to Sound event, presented by the Wrightsville Beach Paddle Club, featured three days of races, clinics and activities, bringing together many of the elite paddlers in the country to celebrate the end of racing season.
When Saturday, Nov. 1 dawned freezing, stormy and windy, it was questionable as to whether the day’s activities, which included the 4-mile Harbor Island Outer Loop and the 6.5-mile Surf to Sound Challenge, would take place.
The sun peaked over the thunderclouds looming offshore just as elite division challengers were lining up on the beach in front of the Blockade Runner.
They sprinted into the ocean, fighting through the choppy surf to reach the first buoy.
“It was a rough start,” Buday said. “It was really wavy and the sun just came out so the glare was right in our eyes. It was hard to see where the buoy was.”
The competitors rounded the buoy and paddled south with the wind at their backs. They turned into Masonboro Inlet, fighting against strong winds that swept them toward the jetty rocks. After navigating the inlet, they paddled behind Masonboro Island and around the second buoy, feeling the full force of the wind for the first time.
“That headwind part just hits you and you were not moving,” Buday said. “It was paddling against a wall.”
Buday and Cain opened up a lead on the pack during the race back through Banks Channel.
“We were just battling the whole way,” Buday said. “We changed leads a few times but I just didn’t want to let him go ahead because I know he’s so strong there at the end. … It’s crazy to come down to that after a long race like that.”
Buday said he grew up watching Cain race in flatwater and compete in the Olympics, where Cain won a gold medal in canoeing.
“He’s one of my heroes in standup paddling,” Buday said. “I know how tough he is and how good a competitor he is so that was fun to go toe to toe like that with him.”
Buday and Cain were among a group of 18 competitors who came from Canada for the event, including Jessica Rando, who finished first in the women’s elite SUP 12-foot-6-inch division. She said the challenging course and welcoming community bring the Canadian contingent back to Wrightsville Beach every year.
“And it expands our summer a little bit because it’s still warm here when it’s getting cold back at home. But I don’t feel like that right now!” she added as the northeast winds swept over the beach.
An intermediate 4-mile course around the Harbor Island outer loop was also contested on Saturday. Hilarey Netsch, who travelled from Kitty Hawk with her mother, boyfriend and father for the event, won the women’s SUP 12-foot-6-inch division.
“We did this race together last year,” Netsch’s mother, Valerie Netsch, said. “She’s been training so hard, and now she won, and I can’t stop crying!”
As midday neared, thunderstorms threatened again. While several competitors were still finishing the course, the sky darkened ominously. Katie Elzer-Peters, one of the event organizers, said the North Carolina Coast Guard ordered all competitors off the water due to the potential for lightning.
“Our job is to keep everybody safe,” she said during a Nov. 3 phone interview. “We were able to get all the racers off the water, and that was over a 4-mile stretch of water, in basically 10 minutes.”
Competitors who were not able to finish the race were invited to participate in the 9-mile Blockade Runner Flatwater Championship on Sunday at no additional fee, Elzer-Peters added. Besides the races, there were plenty of activities to add to the enjoyment of the weekend despite the less-than-ideal weather.
“It’s kind of an end-of-season party with everyone hanging out and chatting,” Elzer-Peters said. “And it’s fun to see all the Canadians, they’re really cool.”
Buday said this was his first time in Wrightsville Beach, and he will be back.
“Larry [Cain] and I already started planning our Carolina Cup, to come down here in April,” Buday said.
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