SUNDAY OVERCAST ROW

The Capt'n was able to grab a few personal shots as the Motley crew departed on this slightly cold and slightly breezy Sunday morning. my appologies to Frank and Loretta for missing shooting them. They were too quick for me. I promise next time

Great Race 2011 revisited

Thrilling at the start...the water was fresh and turquoise at Devereux. But it got dark and turbulent as we rounded the first bend.
I was surprised that many of my RnR mates dropped out after the first mile since I'm sure they all have rowed in worse conditions. But hats off to them for reading and heeding their own risk meters.
Challenge to row in the waves... 3 footers with lots of random chop.
A following sea on the rebound gave us good surfing. If you caught a wave just right, you could just lay back and ride. Felt like 8kts.
I never saw Emily and Thomas in the double. They must have been flying.
Terri, Chris, Jean, Howard and Kimberly all seemed to take things in stride. Terri was in my sight the whole distance about 100 yards back. Steady and nicely balanced all the way.
Eileen had no worries. Fountain of positive spirit. Born to row.
Jigger blew past all of us in his Zephyr by the time we got to Castle Rock.
We were rowing gingerly near Marblehead Rock through some annoying chop and a fair headwind. All of a sudden Paul’s Aero went belly up and Paul was in the water. No breaking waves, but a bad catch of the oar in the stew. I took the opportunity to stop and have a light snack while waiting for him to recover. One cup fusili in boiling water, two tbsp pesto, …sterno would not light so I had to eat it Al Dente. No shortage of water in the cockpit for washing dishes. One sorry chap in a kayak crossed the finish line ¾ submerged, his boat was so full of water. Where was I…..oh yeah…
Back in his seat and shaking off the mishap, Paul gave a thumb's up, hollered out a "Rock n Row, Baby" or maybe that was just the sound of a masterful recovery, and then he was back at it! He chose a tight path around Children's which I thought was risky due to the current. He could have been pushed right into the rocks. My strategy was to tack out until the waves could push me straight to the far end of the island but Paul called it right and ultimately had the advantage from there to the finish. All the while, Dave Greten was taking the long way around and even rowed behind the little islands on the inside of Children's… probably added a half mile to his route by that! Nevertheless he came close to beating me at the finish. Strong rower, Dave.
Jim was heroic. The oarlock on the Aero he was rowing came (or was) loose, so a couple minutes into the race, he turned around. I thought he was ill and didn't realize until the end of the race that he had grabbed Capn's Aero and started over. In terms of a staggered start time and sheer resolve, he smoked the lot of us!
So at the end of the season, we should all relinquish our medals......Paul's to Jim, mine to Paul, Dave's to me...although Dave should get a medal for the extra half mile! Maybe I should just forfeit mine because earlier in the Summer I promised to fix the Aero oarlock.
Scratch that...I'm not giving up my medal...Even though the race was rather incestuous, I register it as a personal triumph ...so let's just make a new medal for Jim!
All in all, mates, we did well. Those who decided to turn back did so wisely. It takes as much fortitude to do that as to continue on. Those of us who did continue, powered through the race very carefully and it was a total frolic!

A LITTLE PIRATE HUMOR FROM JAY PARIS

A pirate walked into a bar, and the bartender said, "Hey, I haven't seen you in a while.
What happened? You look terrible."

"What do you mean?" said the pirate, "I feel fine."

"What about the wooden leg? You didn't have that before."

"Well," said the pirate, "We were in a battle, and I got hit with a cannon ball,
but I'm fine now."

The bartender replied, "Well, OK, but what about that hook? What happened to your hand?"

The pirate explained, "We were in another battle. I boarded a ship and got into a
sword fight. My hand was cut off. I got fitted with a hook but I'm fine, really."

"What about that eye patch?"

"Oh," said the pirate, "One day we were at sea, and a flock of birds flew over.
I looked up, and one of them shit in my eye."

"You're kidding," said the bartender. "You couldn't lose an eye just from bird shit."

"It was my first day with the hook."

PIC OF BERTHA LOADED FOR MHD GREAT RACE

ROCKERS TAKE HOME THE MEDALS FROM THE ROTARY GREAT RACE

Yesterday September 10th wasn't the easiest rowing day of the season but that did not deter the hearty souls of RocknRow as they stormed Devereux Beach in Marblehead for the MHD Rotary Club recreation of the Great Race. Tough water entry due to surf and tides were easy compared to the chop and wind that met these hearty souls on the way to rounding Childrens Island before returning home. 20 Rockers took on the challenge of these grueling conditions with 7 of them returning to safe haven soon after departure. Thats how tough it was that day. We miss counted oars, misplaced a seat, had on the water equipment failure but in the end the club reigned surpreme when it came to wins and medals. 10 in all. Pictured here from left to right are: Eileen,Kim,Dave,Emily,Thomas,Terrie,Paul, and Seth. (missing are Jean and Jigger). Another great day in RnR's history. Congrats to all who took on the challenge. Many thanks as well to our shore crew who helped getting our peaceful warriors back on terra firm

A little history...

A friend of mine is thinking about taking an epic row and in the discussion, asked if I had ever done anything like that. I had once tied to row from Boston to Little Cranberry, Maine and even kept a blog of it. In sharing it with him, I did a little revisit of that week in 2005 and thought I'd pass along the link to anyone who comes across this on a bad weather day and wants some light reading of some not so light foolishness.

http://bos-lci.blogspot.com/

IN CASE YOU FORGOT THIS IS WHAT THE SUN LOOKS LIKE

After two days of consistent rain and wind, I'm beginning to feel we will not see the sun ever again. So I give to you free of charge a beautiful Marblehead Sunrise

IT'S ALL ABOUT BEING ON THE WATER

For those of you who have known me even for a short time know that for me, it's all about being on the water. While these last few years rowing has occupied a large percent of that activity, there was a time when fishing was the sport of my passion. I had the opportunity to return to the roots of my earlier love affair by traveling to the Miramichi River last week in search of the king of all fresh water preys, the Atlantic Salmon. They say it takes 1,000 case to hook up and land your first salmon and I must agree with that accessment. Shot on top is a hook up of a very large fish. Shot on bottom is a baby grilse which is the definition of any salmon under 8-10lbs. Of course RnR gear is front and center. Only 3 hours north of Houlton Maine, you thought I was in another world. Eagles, geese formations, moose and deer surrounded a pristine water shed that is nurtured and protected to sustain these incredible fish for generations to come. The whole experience got me "hooked" on trying it again. Do I hear a fishing trip in RnR's future?