The Epic Battle to Break the Mississippi River Canoe Record
How two rival teams fought storms and sleep deprivation to claim an 18-year-old paddling FKT
两支敌对球队如何克服暴风雨和睡眠不足，夺得一名 18 岁划桨 FKT 的冠军
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Around 4 A.M.
凌晨 4 点左右
on the Mississippi River north of Memphis, Tennessee, last spring, Bobby Johnson was sitting in the bow of a four-person canoe, peering into the night.
去年春天，在田纳西州孟菲斯以北的密西西比河上，鲍比·约翰逊坐在一艘四人独木舟的船头，凝视着夜色。
In front of him, through the dark, he could make out a wing dam, one of the underwater structures used by the Army Corps of Engineers to push water into the main channel.
在他面前，透过黑暗，他可以辨认出一座翼坝，这是陆军工程兵团用来将水推入主航道的水下建筑之一。
Most boats can’t pass over wing dams without losing a propeller or a motor, but a canoe can usually glide by without a scrape.
大多数船只无法在不失去螺旋桨或发动机的情况下通过翼坝，但独木舟通常可以毫无刮擦地滑行。
As the boat crossed it, though, Johnson noticed a pull to the right.
然而，当船越过它时，约翰逊注意到右侧有一股拉力。
For a second, he wondered why Casey Millhone, a 20-year-old in the stern who was taking a semester off from Colorado College, had ruddered that way.
有那么一瞬间，他想知道为什么凯西·米尔霍恩（Casey Millhone）——一个20岁的船尾小伙子，正在科罗拉多学院休学一个学期——会那样做。
He quickly realized she hadn’t: a massive whirlpool was drawing them in.
他很快意识到她没有：一个巨大的漩涡正在吸引他们。
Johnson, a lanky 43-year-old car dealer from Florida, was one of four people in the canoe trying to break the 2003 record for paddling the Mississippi River from end to end.
约翰逊是一位来自佛罗里达州的 43 岁瘦长汽车经销商，他是独木舟上试图打破 2003 年从一端划到另一端的密西西比河纪录的四人之一。
That year, canoeing icon Bob Bradford and his partner, Clark Eid, raced down all 2,350 miles in just over 18 days.
那一年，皮划艇偶像鲍勃·布拉德福德 (Bob Bradford) 和他的搭档克拉克·艾德 (Clark Eid) 在短短 18 天多一点的时间内跑完了全部 2,350 英里。
Johnson’s team was helmed by 62-year-old K.J.
约翰逊的团队由 62 岁的 K.J. 领导。
Millhone—Casey’s father, who in 1980 set the Mississippi paddling record at 35 days.
米尔霍恩 (Millhone)——凯西 (Casey) 的父亲，1980 年创下了 35 天的密西西比划船纪录。
The elder Millhone called the new crew Mile Marker Zero, after the channel marker south of New Orleans that demarcates the official end of the river.
老米尔霍恩将新船员称为“零英里标记”，以新奥尔良以南划定河流正式终点的航道标记命名。
The group was rounded out by a barrel-chested 61-year-old named Rod Price, also from Florida.
最后一位是来自佛罗里达州的 61 岁、胸肌发达的罗德·普莱斯 (Rod Price)。
Both older men were asleep when their craft approached the swirling hole in the river.
当他们的船接近河中的漩涡洞时，两位老人都在睡觉。
The canoe went straight in, riding down it like a hill.
独木舟径直驶了进去，像小山一样顺着坡道而下。
The front plunged through the far side of the whirlpool, and Johnson was submerged up to his neck.
锋面从漩涡的另一侧冲入，约翰逊被淹没到了脖子。
Fortunately, the spray skirt across his lap kept enough water out that he popped up on the other side.
幸运的是，他膝盖上的防水裙挡住了足够的水，让他从另一边弹出来。
The stern naturally followed Johnson down into the vortex, then up the other side.
船尾自然地跟随约翰逊下降到漩涡中，然后上升到另一边。
When the canoe exited, it spun.
当独木舟离开时，它旋转了。
Casey screamed as it tipped, then she stood up and—mimicking a sailing move called hiking—leaned out over the water to keep the boat afloat.
当船倾斜时，凯西尖叫起来，然后她站起来，模仿一种称为徒步旅行的航海动作，探身在水面上以保持船漂浮。
It worked.
它起作用了。
The two sleeping team members woke up in half a foot of freezing water, shivering and disoriented.
两名正在睡觉的队员在半英尺深的冰水中醒来，瑟瑟发抖，迷失了方向。
But the vessel righted itself.
但船只自行恢复正常。
The team fractured, turning their joint attempt into a bitter race.
团队破裂了，他们的共同努力变成了一场激烈的比赛。
Meanwhile, a thousand river miles to the north, a pursuit was underway.
与此同时，在以北一千英里的地方，一场追击正在进行。
The day before, when the sun rose, another team of four paddlers walked their canoe down to the Mississippi River’s headwaters in northern Minnesota’s Lake Itasca.
前一天，当太阳升起时，另一支由四名桨手组成的团队划着独木舟，来到明尼苏达州北部艾塔斯卡湖的密西西比河源头。
Team Mississippi Speed Record was helmed by Scott Miller, a bearded, 45-year-old nurse and former Eagle Scout from Minneapolis.
密西西比速度记录队由斯科特·米勒 (Scott Miller) 掌舵，他是一位留着胡须的 45 岁护士，也是来自明尼阿波利斯的前鹰级童子军。
The year before, Miller and the Millhones had been teammates, working together to break the record.
前一年，米勒和米尔霍恩一家曾是队友，共同努力打破了纪录。
Then, just as they were about to set off, the team fractured, turning their joint attempt into a bitter race.
然而，就在他们即将出发时，队伍却出现了裂痕，让他们的共同努力变成了一场苦战。
By the time Miller and his team launched, K.J.
当米勒和他的团队推出时，K.J.
Millhone and his crew were almost halfway down the Mississippi.
米尔霍恩和他的船员几乎已经到达密西西比河的中途了。
This could have been a disadvantage—at the headwaters, the river levels were lower and the water was slow.
这可能是一个缺点——在源头，河流水位较低，水流缓慢。
But there was an upside: by watching their progress, which was publicly tracked on Garmin and the real-time boat-racing site Race Owl , they could see Mile Marker Zero’s times at each checkpoint, so they knew exactly how fast they needed to go to win.
但这也有一个好处：通过观察他们在 Garmin 和实时赛艇网站 Race Owl 上公开跟踪的进度，他们可以看到 Mile Marker Zero 在每个检查站的时间，因此他们确切地知道自己需要多快才能获胜。