Winners Feel at End of Their Ropes : But the Agony of 62-Mile Catalina Ski Race Is Worth It

Kurt Schoen and Rose Johnson disguised their pain behind smiles. There is, they said, something about winning the world’s most grueling ski race that helps hide the pain.

With a time of 1 hour 47 seconds, Schoen won the 41st Catalina Ski Race Sunday, averaging more than 60 m.p.h. over the 62-mile course from Long Beach Harbor to Catalina Island and back.

Johnson won the women’s division for the third consecutive year with a time of 1 hour 11 minutes 17 seconds, slow by usual standards but quite fast considering that she suffered a head-first spill halfway through the race.

Aside from a stampede-like start that showcased 98 colorful boats, Schoen provided the morning’s most picturesque moment. As 2,000 helium-filled balloons were released and 5,000 standing spectators cheered, Schoen, his right fist piercing the air repeatedly, blurred through the finish line behind his boat, a 38-foot streak of red power.

“This is super, absolutely unbelievable,” said Schoen, still breathing hard 10 minutes after the race. “My body is kind of going through convulsions right now, but it’s worth it. Coming through that last stretch of water all alone--there’s just no feeling like it.”

England’s Steve Moore, water skiing’s reigning world champion, finished second in 1 hour 1 minute 6 seconds, at least partially because his 20-foot boat didn’t adapt well to the rough waters.

Johnson, meanwhile, thought she might not even finish the race, much less win it. She took a big early lead, but after losing her concentration and, subsequently, her balance, she wanted to quit. The 60 m.p.h, face-first fall knocked the wind out of her, but teammates quickly retrieved her ski and her confidence.

“My face is so sore,” said Johnson, who defeated Debbie Nordblad by 11 seconds. “At that point I wasn’t thinking about winning--I was thinking about breathing. The water just ripped my goggles off and slapped my face. I thought I would have to go in.”

Sunday belonged not only to Schoen and Johnson but also to those who finished much later, long after the crowd and the applause disappeared.

There was Tamara Kahn of Oxnard, a 9-year-old who used a ski twice her size and often lost sight of her teammates--her mom and dad--because she couldn’t see over the waves.

With a time of 3 hours 9 minutes 3 seconds, Kahn finished last overall but first in her division--there being nobody else in her division. After the race, she proudly pointed out that she fell only twice because of boat wake and three other times she released the rope because her back began hurting.

“We kept giving her the option of quitting,” said mom/navigator Connie Kahn, “but she kept saying that she wasn’t finished. For a while, though, I thought she had had it.”

Tamara took up skiing when she was 3 and, although she had never skied even half as long as she did Sunday, she decided to join this race after seeing long-distance skiing on cable television.

“I had fun today,” she said.

Sunday’s race proved that skiers, much like the waves they travel on, come in all shapes and sizes. Bob Coffman finished the race in 2 hours 33 minutes 47 seconds.

Not bad considering he’s 67.

“And I’ll try it again next year,” he said, “if my wife lets me.”

Coffman, who also enjoys hang gliding, wind surfing and weightlifting, says he wasn’t much of an athlete when he was younger.

“I guess you can say I’m peaking late,” he said.