The weather gods couldn't have been much kinder... it was a little warm, but over-all the weather and the seas were very good to a dedicated group of rowers who competed in the 33rd annual Isles of Shoals 7+ mile race out to the islands off Kittery, Maine.  In the photo above, some of the rowers relax after the race.  The happy guy with the trophy is outstanding rower Peter Schwab of Manhattan, who won the race for something like the 16th time.  The "short" row last Saturday (7/23) served as a warm up for Peter, who was scheduled today (Sat 7/30) to take a 45-mile jaunt across the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia in one of the new Echo recreational rowing shells (www.echorowing.com).  In warm ups for the Isle of Shoals Peter blew away the field in the 22-mile Blackburn Challenge and helped his "eight" to second place in the most famous rowing event of them all, the Henley Regatta in England.  Maine's own Hargy Heap continued to build upon his perfect record in the Isles of Shoals race: Hargy has rowed in every event, all 33 of them. 

Many of the Isles of Shoals rowers didn't head home to rest after the race.  They were off to Mystic, Connecticut for the three-day AOSA (Alden Ocean Shell Association) tour of Mystic, which was a huge success.  Plenty of good rowing around Mystic, good food, lots of fun music, dancing and plain old laughs made for an incredibly fun time.  A guided tour of a large warehouse housing lots of unexhibited boats, cars, inboard and outboard engines and ROWING SHELLS, including the first recreational shell built in 1978 by Arthur and Marj Martin in their living room, was icing on the cake for a grand tour.  Make that extra special, since Marj was with us.  The visit certainly brought back fond memories for her.  Biddle and JoAnn Morris did a wonderful job organizing and carrying out a very successful tour.  In the picture below, it's Kent Allen and Marj (Martin) Burgard enjoying a row off Mystic Seaport.

I plan on putting a few pictures on my web page here, but most will go onto one of the free internet sites for posting pictures since I can put them up full resolution.  They display in a smaller, screen friendly size, but when you download any you get the full resolution size which is good for printing.

Since 4 to 5 a.m. and our scheduled departure for Breckenridge, Colorado isn't too many hours away, I better go pack some more of my plunder... two shells are already on the car... have a great August all... it was fun seeing you!... Jack