Marathon SUP

Marathon SUP from WaterTurtle Productions on Vimeo.

St Patricks Day seemed fitting for a marathon paddle. Matt Cesmat, Rob Cornwell, and I launched at the northern end of Lake Norman at 7am and paddled 27.2 miles south to the other end.





We never left the water or our boards, although we stopped several times to eat & rest. Total time was just over 7 hours. As far as we know, we were the first to stand up paddle across Lake Norman's entire length north/south. It turned out to be a beautiful day with almost no wind. When some light puffs came up, they were in our face out of the south instead of the forecasted northerly light wind we thought we would have at our backs. Saw some interesting sights - ospreys and their nests, island with houses, and a real helicopter dock (in the video).

Big thanks to Matt for scouting out the course and launching spot...and to his son Nick for dropping us off at the launch. I'm very grateful to have shared the experience and accomplishment with Matt and Rob. It was a long and tough paddle, but fun and a great way to see parts of the lake I've never seen before.














The day after was another beautiful day with no rest. Spent the afternoon with the family on bikes and SUP boards. We went out to dinner on the water by boat. My beautiful bride drove the boat while I SUP surfed its wake 2.5 miles all the way to the restaurant nonstop! Talk about some serious leg burn.




Wrapped up the weekend barefoot on the boat at sunset.