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. [...]
The wind and waves that could've been wasn't, and so we prepared for a long slog that morning. The start was not that fast and at mile 1, we were probably a group of 15 skis, all too close together, weaving in and out of buoys and slower boats that [...]
Many thanks to all the paddlers, rowers, US, Coast Guard, City of Portland, Maine, USCA and volunteers who made this day so pleasant even though the weather wasn`t. Special thanks to timer, Diane Fournier of the Mt. Ararat High School Track and Cross Country teams. Dr. Dwight Blease for pitching [...]