Blackburn Challenge 2014

My first Blackburn. Grueling. I am told the weather was ideal for this event. Overcast skies, temps in the low 70's, wind calm to 5 mph, seas flat to 2 feet. It was odd to paddle in a flat sea and calm wind and look to the shore to see spray geysers shooting up 10 feet.

There was a high tide about 1/2 hour before my start at 8:23. Hence we screamed out of the Annisquam River at 7 mph. I was still over 5.5 mph as we headed to Halibut Point, I felt pretty good in this first hour and reckon I was in 4th place at this point with the leaders no more than about 2 minutes ahead.

After rounding Halibut Point we headed to Straightsmouth and I dropped to 5 MPH. During the course of this leg my butt, lower back and feet became horribly uncomfortable and I debated dropping out. It was at this point that I noticed the geysers at various points on the shore and just did not know where I would drop out, then I considered the walk back to the car and decided to keep going. Paddlers in my class began to pass me. Just after Lands End I pulled over into a sort of rocky/beachy/seaweedy area and was able to adjust my seat. Afterward I felt better in the back, but my butt and feet were still in a numb type of agony and I was getting exhausted.

I began to notice that the center of my seat was too high, putting me off balance and wobbly in the waves. No problem when not so tired, but it made me uneasy this far offshore, in cold water, with 6 miles to go.

It was quite lumpy off the break-wall section and several more boats in my fleet passed me. After rounding the end of the break-wall it flattened out somewhat except for the trawlers and tour-boat wake which was more manageable for me than the unpredictable rollers. But I was totally drained at this point and was only able to manage 4.3 mph in this 1.8 mile finishing stretch. Finished in 3:59:59 or 17 out of 26.

Thank you very much to Marshal for helping me out on the beach. I was so crampy and knackered, I thought I would throw up.