Ride the Bull 2023 Summary

Despite questionable weather forecasts, a small but dedicated group of paddlers met this weekend in Jamestown, Rhode Island to compete in the 11th annual Ride the Bull race. As a light rain slackened to a mist and then stopped altogether, co-directors Tim Dwyer and Greg Lesher reviewed the course with the field. The 8.8 mile course would see paddlers completing two full loops along the coast, turning on a small rocky island and a couple of buoys (G7 and G11), followed by a shorter loop out to G7 and back to the finish.

As always, the scenery and excitement of the course drew a healthy percentage of out-of-town paddlers. Ed Joy (three-time RTB champ), Ronald Rivera, and John Hair made the trip out from New York, while Rob Jehn and the formidable double’s team of Erin & Alan Lamb trekked from New Jersey. In addition to the race directors, other New England paddlers included Dave Grainger and the tandem of Mary Beth Gangloff & Kirk Olsen. Last year, Sean Brennan salted away a win in the early stages, but Rob and Ed waged a fierce battle for the next position, with Rob eventually landing silver. Could he land his first Ride the Bull victory this year?

A fast start from West Cove saw Ed, Rob, the Lambs, and Ronald vying for the early lead, with Greg lagging slightly behind. On the crossing to the entrance to Mackerel Cove, Ed and Rob pulled ahead from the others. Clearly they’d be duking it out for the win. Turning into the cove, Greg took a tighter line than the other boats, getting ahead of Ronald and the Lambs. After turning around the rocky island and heading out of the cove, Ed and Rob had some navigational difficulties, allowing the pursuit group to close the gap somewhat by the G7 turn. Still, they enjoyed a 10 boat lead over Greg, with a couple/few boat lengths separating Greg from the Lambs and Ronald.

The remainder of the first loop saw the distance between the Ed/Rob, Greg, and Lambs/Ronald groups widen. Behind the last group, however, Mary Beth & Kirk were starting to close the gap. On the second approach to Mackerel Cove, Ed broke free from Rob. By the second turn at G7, Ed had a dozen boat lead on Rob, with Greg about as much further back from the latter. It looked for a while as though Greg might catch Rob, as he decreased the gap to scarcely 5 boat lengths by the second turn at G11. Meanwhile, Mary Beth & Kirk joined the Lambs and Ronald in pursuit of the double’s title (and 4th overall position).

On the final mini-loop, Ed continued to look strong in the lead, with Rob managing to reopen the gap between he and Greg. After the final turn at G7, however, Ed had trouble getting a bead on the proper finishing cover – a navigational error that nearly cost him the win. In the end, however, Ed finished 5 seconds ahead of Rob at 1:14:31, with Greg taking the final podium spot 30 seconds later. Although Mary Beth & Kirk were tight on their heels, Erin & Alan managed to eke out the doubles title at 1:16:54, winning by scarcely a boat length.

Here are the full results:

You can find more detailed race results at SurfskiAmerica.