March 29, 2024
Annapolis, US 47 F

What REALLY happened to those paddle boarders in the windstorm?

The following appeared on the CapitalSUP website in response to the news that a group of paddle boarders had to be rescued from the Severn River during this past weekend’s wind storm.

Friday was windy.  Really windy.  Myself, Brian Schmid, and Mary Howser decided to go for a downwinder.  A downwinder, for those who don’t know, is when you launch upwind of your destination and essentially surf home.  It is a one-way trip that is entirely dependent on windy conditions.

Friday had a small craft advisory and extreme wind gusts, but I, Mary, and Brian are all experienced, highly trained paddlers.  Even with all of our experience, we decided to meet at the Capital SUP shop to go over our game plan, make sure we all had the appropriate safety gear and were thoroughly prepared for the conditions.

Mary and Brian were both wearing drysuits and I was wearing a 4mil wetsuit.  We all had leashes, PFDs (life jackets), thick booties, and warm headwear.  We were prepared to spend time in and on the water for a long duration of time.

We were initially going to go for a 9-mile trip but decided it would be a smarter move to shorten the trip to 5 miles to ensure that we had the necessary energy to make it home safely given the conditions.

We had been coordinating with 2 other experienced paddlers who we knew were going to start at the same time as us, but do the longer 9-mile run.

We launched onto the Severn River with the plan of heading south and turning right around the Naval Academy to end up back at Capital Sup on Spa Creek.The conditions were awesome in every sense of the word.  Waves were big, the wind was howling, and a ton of fun was had.

The three of us navigated the largest, widest part of the Severn and were a few hundred yards away from reaching the Route 50 bridge when four large boats with flashing lights flew up on us….

Read the rest at CapitalSUP

Previous Article

Daily News Brief | March 6, 2018

Next Article

How healthy is the South River? Now you know!

You might be interested in …