2025 Whitey Harrison Classic
Lee, Allen, Tyson, Chester, & Claudio; Photo by Ash Seraphin
Last weekend’s “Whitey Harrison Classic” 9-man Outrigger race was the tightest race for the longest distance I’ve ever been a part of…21.5 miles of literal back and forth lead changes, ultimately to end up on the losing end.
However, it was not for lack of effort and grit. The race had a fair start, all the teams were calm on the starting line until the horn blew. From the very beginning, our NAC crew and the Hanohano crew from San Diego jumped out into the lead, and it only grew as the race progressed. I felt our starting crew of Lee, Matt, Chester, Judson, Allen, and myself had good blend and speed with less effort than our competitor. The plan was to let Hanohano make their changes (the switching of the three extra paddlers from an escort boat) before us, hoping that they would slip up with a slow change so we would be able to create space between us – a lot like a penalty shootout in soccer – but they never missed. They kept the pressure on us each and every change, and we took turns leading the race multiple times before the first buoy.
Matt (Pre Injury!), Allen, & Jud; Photo by Ash Seraphin
Going into that first turn, I noticed that their escort boat made a slight mistake and dropped their incoming paddlers off their canoe’s intended line. This caused them to divert slightly and opened the door for us to get to the inside line. We made a clean turn and started to open up a gap of about three boat lengths. But as the story of the day went they battled right back, and kept the pressure on us. After the second turn, with about six miles to go, the worst case scenario happened – an injury. During a change into the canoe Matt injured his ribs, and although he toughed it out for the rest of that piece, there was no chance he could continue with the rest of the race. Hanohano now firmly had the upper hand as we were down to eight paddlers.
Around the same time as Matt’s injury, Hanohano made the call to change their steersman, which seemed to give them a second wind that helped them hold us off longer than earlier in the race. With about three miles to go, and five boat lengths to make up, we threw a Hail Mary. We moved Allen up to stroke seat one, hoping the move would yank us back to even. It worked. We sprinted our way back, closing about a 50 yard gap and put the pressure back on Hanohano.
Chester, Claudio, & Jud Battling Hanohano with Less Than Three Miles to go; Photo by Ash Seraphin
In an attempt to be tricky, with only one chance left to change paddlers before the mile sprint to the finish, I called for a fake change. I hoped that a fake change would allow us to gain ground and build a gap while Hanohano was slowed down by their last paddler change. But it wasn’t meant to be – Hanohano had more burst with their fresh paddlers and made my decision to fake a change look silly. We rounded the final buoy just behind their crew and fought the whole way, but just missed out on winning by seconds…after racing for 21.5 miles. Brutal.
It was a tough loss, but I’m very proud of the grit and fight shown by our NAC paddlers (Lee, Matt, Chester, Judson, Allen, Justus, Claudio, and Tyson) and I’m very excited for the next two races ahead!
Will Reichenstein, NAC Men’s Outrigger Coach