What a difference a few weeks makes between The West End Loop Race and the 2014, Island to Island Waterman Challenge.  The Loop was brutal slugfest wherein nature punished all of the paddlers and reminded me why the heck we do these things–it takes heart.  I2I, at 32 miles, could have thrown us anything this year, but what we got was a perfectly glassy day, a great paddle battle with the 1st place unlimited team, and the overall win in under six hours.

The AlexSeal OC-1 was the perfect weapon for the day and I couldn’t ask for a better bunch of teammates…thank you Ryan Voci and Mark Urkov for hammering the paddle, as well as the pre- and after-party–total chargers (#teamthoseguys).  Video and additional pictures to come…stay tuned.