It was great to see many fresh new faces this morning at the Mid-Hudson Bridge: Devon Clifford and father Richard as Devon’s kayaker, Ricardo Grossman all the way from Mexico City, and Caitlin Rosen as volunteer.
The sun was out, there was a light breeze and we splashed quickly at 9 am. It was great to be in the water with David, reminiscent of 8 Bridges last year. He handed over Agent Orange boat duties to Lisa and John who brought up the rear of the group. Terry Laughlin also volunteered and spent a lot of time oogling over Grace’s amazing technique, which is a huge compliment coming from Terry.
We spent the first two hours covering a pretty, narrow stretch. The river then opened up near New Hamburg with our first sighting of the Newburgh Beacon bridge eight miles in the distance. The current picked up here and we flowed past the Chelsea Yacht Club and towards the bridge. This is familiar territory for me since I swim here often on weekends, so it was extra enjoyable to swim by. The wind started gusting for the last two hours as a head wind or a cross wind from the west, and it was quite bouncy at times. My paddler Terry has a flag on the back of her kayak so I was reminded all too often that I didn’t like the direction of the wind today.
Everyone had a great swim today and we all finished well before the ebb current.
