Tuesday, May 24th – Kayak Learning Center, Lynch Park, Beverly, MA
After a long cold damp spring, we finally had a great evening to kick off the 6th season of the Salem Sound Surfski League last Tuesday night.  For those of you not familiar with the league, Ed Duggan owner of the Kayak Learning Center, host a great league on Tuesday nights, running from late May to late summer.

To kick off the season we had Rod McLain, Bill Kuklinski, Bill Stafford, Greg Lesher, Kirk Olsen, Me, Francisco Urena and Mike McDonough ready to battle it out.  Greg’s girlfriend, Marybeth, took some great photos of the race ( visit Picasa for all her photos )

Each week Ed chooses one of 5 different courses, tonight would be course #3 – a triangle course out to “Coney Island”, over to “Black Rock” then back to the start at Lynch Park.  As Mike said the course was “a little bumpier than average” for Salem Sound.  With course 3 we definitely would get a taste of many types of conditions with the outgoing tide, encroaching thunder storm winds and boat traffic from the two channels we would be cutting across.

My Garmin Connect Link

After a clean “Le Mans” style start we were off.  Mike quickly settled into the lead as we headed out to Coney Island, the beamy conditions were definitely something some of us had to pay attention to…

Once we get around the point at Lynch Park and head across the channel, the water starts to get bumpy that Salem Harbor is known for here locally.  During this first leg, I chose to stay up wind of the group to get some cleaner water, while the rest of the pack settled into a nice line.  Once we got around Coney Island, the group began to split from what I could tell.  Mike was still in the lead about 5 boat lengths ahead of  Bill S. with me a couple of lengths behind Bill, then followed by Greg, Rod ?, Kirk ?, Francisco and Bill K.  Crossing over to Black Rock, Mike kept his lead while Bill S., myself and Greg stayed hot in  pursuit.  About the last third of the leg to Black Rock I was able to catch some nice bumps and slip past Bill S. just before we to to the turn.   Once around Black Rock I was then able to focus on Mike while keeping an eye on Bill and Greg who were battling it out for 3rd and 4th.  Mike was hugging the coast a bit more then me to avoid the incoming tide.   I don’t think Mike saw me coming up on his port side until we were pretty close to the last turn around the point at Lynch Park, but I was slowing gaining on him…game on!  Mike poured it on but fortunately all my winter erging and  flat water work was paying off for this early season race and I was able to have enough left in the tank to power past Mike as we came to the final turn.

Head to the finish…  As you see in the photo above I almost made a huge tactical mistake and actually paddled past the turn to the finish…I remember seeing someone farther down the beach thinking it was Ed.  Fortunately I saw Ed far to my starboard and corrected course heading to the finish at the “wall”.

Approaching the finish I was able to maintain a slight lead over Mike, while you can see Bill S. and Greg battling it out for third and fourth place.  The calm water of the cove always makes for a nice flat water type sprint finish to the beach.


Bill S. was able to hold off Greg’s last minute push and take 3rd by a few seconds.  I believe the four of us all finished within 40 seconds.   So the final order was Me, Mike, Bill S., Greg, Rod (OC1) ? ,Kirk ?, Franciso and Bill K.  What a great way to start the 6th season of the league!!  Hope to see more ski paddlers come join us this this week!!

To see the league standings please visit:  Salem Sound League Standings