Casco Bay Crossing: Prone Paddle
Athletes: Fin McLain, Zac Wogan, Mike Ballin
START POINT: Portland Head Light, Maine
END POINT: Small Point, Maine
Mode of Travel ( Ex: Run, Swim, Bike, Paddle, Hike) : Prone Paddle Board
Distance: 21.71 miles
Date of Completion: 08/08/26
Levels of Support: Support boat the whole way, carrying food and water
Trip Report: Departed from Portland Head Light (had to start at an adjacent beach due to early morning access) at 4:30am. All paddlers had headlamps, with Fin carrying a radio. With fog and rain in the forecast, we were not sure that today would be our day.
Our first support boat, Chickadee, met us 100 m offshore and guided us in the dark across the shipping channel and past Ram Island before first light. From there the fog started to lift, and we could see Halfway Rock in the distance. Wind and tide were at play in the early morning, with an incoming tide pulling us towards shore and an east wind at 3-4kts.
We had 2 stops to fuel along the way; Chickadee was stocked full of food and drinks for the paddlers and support crew. With an advantageous current between miles 8 and 10, we made it to Halfway Rock at approximately 7 am. We got permission to land our boards and climb to the top of the lighthouse. It was surreal being up there, in what feels like the middle of the ocean, looking out at large pods of seals, groups of birds, fishermen working, and our support crew.
At this point, Chickadee peeled off and headed back to Portland while Rawhide and Loon took over. Leaving halfway, we had a strong current going against us, with the wind picking up to 5-8kts at a variable direction. We had said that if Loon had its sails out, we were screwed, as there would be a lot more wind than is comfortable. We pushed on for 2 more miles, starting to see Small Point through the haze. Loon then departed to sail back to port while Rawhide took us the rest of the way.
At roughly mile 15, the crew on Rawhide spotted a whale breaching 0.5 miles ahead of us. As we got closer, it continued to travel perpendicular, breaching every few minutes (although it was difficult to see from the boards). At approximately miles 17 and 18, the Rawhide crew observed two bait balls and rushed over to target the feeding tuna (it got a lot more sharky without the boat close by).
Finally, after 6h10m, we rounded the corner of Small Point, completing the Casco Bay crossing (which, to our knowledge, has not been done on prone paddleboards before). After taking a minute with the crew of Rawhide, we landed on shore at Small Point at 11 am with a total elapsed time of 6h24m over 21.71 miles.
