Escort Boats for Lake Ontario Crossing Race

[SpecialK]

Hi everyone, the first ever 32-mile paddleboard race across Lake Ontario this set for this year, and paddlers have started looking for escort boats.

Some details:

Date: September 10th or 11th

Location: Crossing from NOTL or Fifty Point Beach, to Cherry Beach in Toronto (depending on wind).

Time: 7 am. Paddlers will be on the water anywhere from 5 to 8 hrs.

Boats: VHF radio; big enough to carry a 14' board (if necessary).


Each boat will follow a paddler across the lake (think M20 or Catalina). A field of 35 paddlers is set, and it should be an amazing and widely-followed community event with people coming in from 3 provinces and 5 states.


Compensation will be agreed on by each boat/paddler, but drivers can expect to have all of their gas/travel costs covered, at minimum, plus some extra for their time.


If anyone has any contacts on Lake Ontario, please let us know.


Thanks!

More race info is here: www.niagara2toronto.ca

[PonoBill]

If you don't get enough boats for each paddler you might try some of the tried and mostly true methods used for channel crossings. You can do a diamond pattern with leading boats, trailing boats, and side boats. Have all paddlers carry a waterproof cell phone with GPS and a rescue number set for speed dial, If they can give their GPS coordinates it's much easier to find them. Thirty five boats proceeding slowly across Lake Ontario will raise a cloud of nasty exhaust no one wants to paddle in. 35 inexperienced escort drivers will create their own hazard, in many cases a bigger hazard than being lost and alone on Lake Ontario.

[SpecialK]

Thanks for the idea - we thought a long time about that one. But there's no cell coverage out there and the Lake is too big. We've done the crossing a few times now, and you're invisible in no time.