Hot day and flat conditions. It doesn’t get any better than this! Okay, maybe not for the pure enjoyment of surfski racing(catching waves) but those conditions suit me and I look forward to them. When the weather forecast for the Blackburn Challenge was calling for hot and flat, I was pretty stoked.

Craig Impens – 1st Overall


At the starting line, I opted for the extreme right side of the lineup hoping for the best current. Craig Impens, Bryan Heath, Joe Glickman and others were more out in the middle.

Eric – 2nd Overall

At the gun, I had a nice clear place to paddle alone and kept an eye to my left where Bryan moved to the front and set the pace going out the river. When the race settled down, Craig, Bryan and myself shared the pace making with Bryan doing the bulk of it. When Craig took a pull, the pace went up a notch or two and when he backed off the throttle after his pull, I was pretty grateful. We each took turns pulling, yet none seemed too willing to pull for very long except Bryan, after all, it was very hot and the race is long. It should be noted here that Bryan was paddling in a skirted kayak so it had to well over 100 degrees inside his boat and my unstated plan was to try to make him boil over and explode a little later on. Nothing personal mind you, just business.

Brian Heath – 3rd Overall

Feeling good, strong and incontrol, I decided to see if anyone would follow me if I took a different line around Halibut Point than the others. Moving to the right and hugging the rocks, I took note that none seemed all that interested in staying close to me and none was going by either. Perfect!!

Joe Glickman – 4th Overall

As the lead pack came around the point, we began to feel a little bit of wind in our faces but, with a there were a few small runners to be had that were traveling in our direction. With a small acceleration, I grabbed a runner or two and immediately gained 2 to 3 boat lengths on Bryan and Craig. Right away I thought to myself, ” it’s way too early to be in front of this race” but nobody was on my wash, so I had to keep moving and at least make myself hard to catch. A small runner here and a small runner there and boy was I going fast and God was I getting tired!! To make a long grind a short story, I paddled alone off the front of the race for at least 10 miles eventually gaining 1/4 to 1/2 mile on Craig. The runners were gone and the breeze on the face was steady and Craig Impens was on his way back to me. At the breakwater at the entrance to Gloucester Harbor, Craig caught me and said “Nice Race Eric” and stepped on the gas. I thought to myself at that moment”Dang, he looks fresh and got some speed left too”. This is going to be a painful few minutes down to the greasy pole and sure enough it was painful but in a very satisfying kind of way. ~ Eric