NE Surfski Downwind: Gulp… by Greg Lesher

With winds at 15+ knots from an unfavorable ENE direction, the Board of Trustees made a day-before decision to shift the NE Surfski Downwind course from its normal Kittery-to-York route down to the North Shore of Massachusetts.  We’d run 11 miles from Stage Fort Park in Gloucester to Lynch Park in Beverly, covering some of the same ground we’d paddled three weeks ago in the Kettle Island Run.  Unlike that day, however, the course wouldn’t be pampering us with well-behaved waves, mild winds, and complimentary snacks.  Instead, we’d be careening through some of the biggest waters many of us have ever paddled.  If the Kettle Island Run were the dulcet tones of Perry Como, this race would be the take-no-prisoners delivery of Ethel Merman.  I’m nothing if not topical.

Photo by Mike Chamness

Timmy and Bill K.(photo by Mike Chamness

Continue to read on Greg’s Blog:

http://greglesher.blogspot.com/2013/10/ne-surfski-downwind.html