Frogma: The Gowanus Challenge was SuperFUNd!

Sunday, June 16, 2013

The Gowanus Challenge was SuperFUNd!

So about that canoe race on the Gowanus - there was no way I was going to be organized enough to race yesterday -- but even if I could have, I don't know if I could've resisted the chance to go take some pictures of the craziness. The Gowanus Dredgers launch site is at 2nd Street, and there's a bridge at 3rd Street that made the perfect photo perch. OK, the guy with the drone probably got the best shots of all of us, but it was still a ton of fun.

Here a few of my favorite photos from the day. There are lots more pictures over on a Picasa gallery I'll link to at the end -- if you were in the race, you are probably in there, go check it out!

I got to the Gowanus around 10:30, with the race scheduled to start at 11:00. I had actually never been to the Dredgers' launch site before but when I turned a corner and saw the scene below, I figured I was in the right place.

Sam Adams beer was a major sponsor and sent a team. Here is a Brewer-Patriot making devil horns at the drone. "I didn't agree to drones!"

Here is the drone, just in case you thought I was joking:

Here's the starting line - canoes and the one brave haz-mat suited SUP'er awaiting the starter's gun.

GO GO GO! Some people took it very seriously.

Others...eh, not so seriously. Sandy and Danny in their double Greased Lightning cut off the Hazmat Viking.

And then we had the Brewer-Patriots...um, gentlemen, are you aware that the race has begun? :D

Sandy and Danny did eventually win the kayak division - here they are coming back the other way. There were rumours of this Grease-y couple bribing canoes to cut off their closest competitor, "Rising Dolphin"...

But despite the failure of the canoes to impede the progress of the guy in the pink unitard, he was still unable to catch the blazing Greased Lightning. Here he is heading for a 2nd place finish.