Kensington Canoe and Kayak Race 2014

photo credit: Mark Irish

On August 3, we competed for the third year in a row in the Kensington Metropark Canoe and Kayak Race, a 7.8 mile race on Kent Lake, Michigan. The crowd is mostly local, with just four divisions: rec boats (up to 14 ft, with a shorter course), sport boats (14 to 17 ft), competition boats (17 to 18.5 ft), and surf skis. This put us in the competition class, mingling with fast sea kayaks and even a racing canoe. Needless to say, we were not near the top in our Cruiser, but we did have a good time, and we finished with a pace of 5.4 mph vs 5.2 mph last year.

photo credit: Mark Irish

One of the highlights was testing out another pro boat, that of Dan Klinkhamer tried one when we were on a feeding team for the Au Sable Canoe Marathon. This one felt similar, but it steering was a bit different, maybe due to a combination of being on a lake (not a river) and different model. This boat is shown below, paddled by Dan in the stern and Dave in the bow. You can really see the difference in bow wave between the pro boat and the Cruiser. We're looking to buy a pro boat canoe so that next year we can participate in some of the Michigan Canoe Racing Association races, so maybe you'll be seeing some pictures of us in a boat like this soon!

photo credit: Mark Irish