Peak's Island Race

[ccarlson]

Sorry for the double posting... I put this in "private trips" by miskake... doh!

This past Saturday, a few of us made the trek to Peak's Island for the annual race fesitivities. Gary, Gerry, Peter, and I met at the beach off Eastern Prom, loaded the boats and headed off to Peak's with a substantial tail wind and a bit of wind chop. All that resulted in a very quick passage to the island and gave me an opportunity to experience the Epic in non-lake conditions for the first time. Yes, it felt a bit squirrelly compared to the Explorer but proved itself to be seaworthy throughout the day.

Once on the beach, Jon arrived on the ferry to demo/race one of Tom's Explorers. It was also good to see Rick C there. Our plan was for the 5 miles "baby" race around Peak's Island rather than the longer Outer Green race. Tom gave us the briefing and all jumped in boats to warm up and line up at the starting line. With a brisk onshore wind, the line-up was rapidly squeezed toward the dock so the countdown was aborted and the starting horn sounded. The tailwind made for a quick passage around to the outside of the island and, once there, we were in the lee of the island where things were pretty placid. Arriving at the North end of Peak's, however, found the strengthened breeze right on the nose which made for a tough slog around to the windward side. I managed to snap a few pix at the finish line which may be seen at

http://community.webshots.com/album/559632402sMdjxP

The ensuing trip back to the put-in was directly into a 20kt wind with associated chop so was, to say the least, a real workout. All in all, a great day on the water. The race is held on the same weekend each year so mark your calendars now for 2008. You don't need to be a racer... none of we who participated are... it's just a fun time in a great paddling locale!

Carl C.