Rounding the clanging, green buoy can off Beavertail Point under the watchful rotating beacon of its lighthouse perched on the cliffs marking the ‘single’ half of the ‘Double’ Beaver, I was so looking forward to a slight break from the jouncy conditions behind. Maybe a sweet run or two on [...]
Rich K had warned of sandbars when he gave the Captains’ meeting at 7:00 am. The Blackburn usually goes off at a higher tide then this year. Still, I hadn't really expected to find a bar in the middle of the Annisquam, dead on my GPS course. My first clue [...]
The Blackburn Challenge. Long considered the premier race of the northeast, conditions can vary from mild to wild, although for the last several years, the former has been the case. The conditions of the icy paddle made by Howard Blackburn that set the stage for this circumnavigation of Cape Ann [...]
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 [...]
It is axiomatic that in almost any race, the lighter you are the faster you go. At about 8.3 pounds per gallon, a small amount of water can be deceptive. Twelve gallons in your boat becomes a hundred pounds of slippery, shifting payload. Not only have you acquired a load [...]
