2009 would be my 18th consecutive Blackburn; twelve of them had been oar-powered and this would be my sixth time around facing forwards, having paddled Touring Doubles with Tom Mailhot in 1998, 2006 (fog- shortened course) and 2008, Double Surfski with Pam Browning in 2003, and Touring Single in 1999. [...]
As I was driving to Gloucester from my home in Ossining I kept peering through the misty windscreen to see how much motion there was in the trees in the woods along Highway 84. In spite of the predictions for stormy conditions Mother Nature’s weather vanes seemed to standing perfectly [...]
Gil and I had Bill out for his first row outside the harbor. By the time we got to the end of Sheffield Island the SW wind was kicking up the waves up to two feet. Bill was a sailor. He had seen waves before. Never rowed in them though. [...]
‘The Blackburn Challenge.’ The very name never fails to send a shiver of anticipation down my spine. This would be my fifth running of the Blackburn, and the forecast did not look sympathetic: ‘small craft advisory, winds out of the SE at 10-15 kts., gusting to 20, potential thunderstorms, and [...]
At the gun, the largest field of surfskis ever assembled at any racing event on the east coast tore away from the starting area at a high rate of speed. For such a big crowd on the water I was impressed with the degree of order with which the field moved. [...]