Building Madonna Arms for Charity: The Recap, or What I Can Remember of It

Night before, went to bed at 10p, reading and trying to calm the nerves. Woke up at 2am, thinking, "no, don't be awake *now*" and thankfully, fell back asleep. Damned alarm went off at 5:15, stayed in bed until 5:30, planning to hit the road at 5:45. This was not going to be a "dress for success" day. I figured those around me would probably see me at my worst in other ways, might as well get the "just outta bed" look to complete the picture. Went into the kitchen and found this (what a great kid, huh?)

Get to the beach. Damn it's early. Last time I was up this early on a Saturday I hadn't gone to bed. Didn't stop for coffee as I knew WCs would be few and far between. Check in, find my Pod, doing the "one stroke at a time" mantra in my head. Look across, can't see Long Island. Still. Ugh. Thanking god the storm hit Friday night.

Meet the podmates. Cool group of guys, Jenny and me the only fems. Kayaks are all labeled with our names but of course we realized that after we had all packed our stuff into the wrong ones. I ended up crossing in Podmate Paul's boat, more on that later. Gil was in mine, so I *knew* it would get across safely!

Here's a shot of Pod 8 Merrill Lynch (go bulls) getting ready:

All of a sudden Miles and Scott are charging over and Scott is saying "Eileen Scully!" and I'm thinking "holy crap I forgot something or the sheriff is here with a warrant for my arrest" but no, Scott has his hand out and is congratulating me on being the top fundraiser for my pod ! YAY! That pumped me up .... thanks guys !

So we get instructions to line our kayaks up in as straight a line as we can, hold our paddles in our right hands (the *other* right, I needed so much more coffee) and face West for the photo. But WHOA big noise and in swoop these helicopters over around above and beside us taking photos - so cool! Can't wait to see those !

Shirleen Safety Queen has a bull horn (hey wait wasn't I supposed to get one of those?) on a lifeguard chair and is counting down the minutes until launch. We are apparently in the 8th group of a total field of 9 to launch, so we're starting off at the back of the pack. That's cool, I just don't want to drop back and be DEAD LAST. I know, I know, all that crap about just finishing is an accomplishment, and the lowest GPA West Point grad getting an award just for finishing, but sorry, I am a Scully and last is unacceptable. So there's some extra motivation. Here's the view from where we were of all the paddlers lined up, ready to go. Very very cool.

The national anthem gets us all in the right frame of mind, I wish I knew who sang it as she had a lovely voice and hit those high notes like a pro! She's on the lifeguard chair holding the bullhorn in this photo. You can see my patriotic pod mate Matt singing his lungs out too. Ploverville are nowhere to be found because they dont know the words.

And then, before you could say "home of the brave" - they started launching ! Here's what it looked like from my spot on the beach - particularly love the pod going off into the sun glare. The plan was to launch multiple pods at a time, but stagger their positions on the beach. These KFAC folks really thought about this! I was very impressed. And apologies for the quality of most of these photos - those waterproof disposables are great but they have limitations.

Pod 9 - Ploverville - AKA the UN - were right next to us, and I tell ya, these guys DEFINE team spirit! I'll admit to a little pang of Pod Envy. They had all this crap tied to their kayaks, which I am sure the fish and such will be happy to digest over the next week or so - but they looked *hysterical* out there. Just a great group of folks that could not stop laughing. Even brought their own megaphones. Where are those pics guys ? Send and I'll post here!

Jen and Gil, pre-launch smooch moment. Let's go !!

And here it is - the view from my cockpit. Fired up and still can't see Long Island. Head for the stacks - that's all I remember from the 45 minute navigation session a few weeks ago. I couldnt remember what they said was "bad" and I figured there were enough people paddling in front of me that I could just follow. Remember that I said that - just follow.

Here's Jenny, feeling strong, looking great, still laughing ! (as a matter of fact, Jen is always laughing - isn't that why we adore her?)

Podmate Matt looking like a pro all tricked out in EMS gear - and podmate Walter sneaking into frame.

Great shot of Jen with that little lighthouse behind her. Great light, great smile! Too bad the photo quality isn't a little better but oh well.

Shot from a little farther out - you can see the lighthouse wayyyy in the background of this one. We are making progress!!

I had to stop turning around. Just head toward those stacks, follow the paddlers in front of you. Dig deep and get there. It was a beautiful morning, as you can see here ---

Then it started really getting hard. I started thinking I was crazy for signing up for this. Who was I kidding, I am no athlete! Much better from the spectator side. Fighting strong wind and currents with no respite in site. Realized I was drifting much farther east than anyone else in my pod. Than anyone else for that matter. And nothing I could do would get me closer to the rest of them. Slight panic, huge frustration. Heavy torque on the arms to try to at least stay where I was and not drift any farther east. This is everyone else to my right.

There was this ~~asshole~~ dude paddling backwards. What, are you freakin kidding me? You can't really see him because it was hard taking the pic while I was giving him the finger.

Ok now these are my "feel my pain" shots. They tell exactly how I was feeling out there. Sense the loneliness, the agony, the desperation? And you are right, you still can't see Long Island. Ugh. The soundtrack to this part would have Pod Leader Eric's voice yelling "Eileen! Bring it in a little!" and the bubble over my head would say, well, you probably know what it would say.

Let me just interject here with a shout out to John, Jeff and Greg who are swimming these waters on saturday - after being out there in a hard-to-sink craft and feeling the currents, the wakes, the waves, the wind - you guys are HARD CORE and deserve some serious respect. Craziness.

About this point, I came to the realization that if I was going to stop and shoot photos for y'all, I was going to go even more off course, which means a longer duration to the misery of it all. I didn't even stop for hydration. I also realized that one of the chase boats (love you!) was staying pretty close to me on my left (east) side, trying to pen me in. Were they taking bets on me ? I'll never know, but I was grateful for your presence. VERY grateful. Don't have a shot of them (see above for why).

Then, out of nowhere, appeared my superhero. Now those of you who *really* know me, know my weakeness for superheros. It all started back in the late 70s with Christopher Reeve and Superman. Saturday it was Paul. Came out of nowhere to shepherd me to Long Island. Paul, my hero, my podmate. Just took it upon himself to make sure I was safe and ok. What a guy. I secretly wondered if he just wanted to make sure the kayak with his name on it made it across.

So now I'm laughing again, back in the game, sharing my frustration and getting back to the "good place." Honestly, without Paul's intervention, I never would have made it. Incredibly grateful, and he has my loyalty for life. Seriously. So fast forward in blogger time, and WHOO HOO - looky here - we FINALLY could see the stacks ! For REAL !! (click the photo to enlarge and see the STACKS)

Talk about wind in the sails. Even though the view of the stacks seemed to not change for a looooooooong time. They didn't get any closer, but they didnt get any farther away either. But the best part was, Paul pointed out to me that *we* hadnt changed course, but all the other kayakers were veering in our direction! So (he says) we were the ones on course the whole time (yeah, right, but I'll buy). And I had someone very cool to laugh with, who I learned was actually capable of rescue should I need it. So another thing I learned is that if you drop enough F bombs while kayaking, God sends you your very own superhero. At least that's what the God who loves *me* does. Takes me to the brink, pushes me a bit beyond my capabilities, then sends in the reinforcements. Very cool. So no more photos for a while, but this next one HAD to happen.

Just as we got the beach into view, and could see some of our fellow paddlers waiting on the beach, we pass this gorgeous boat with beer drinking fun guys cheering us on - we were seriously almost there. Being the wallflower that I am, I yelled back to them "Throw me a COLDIE for chrissakes!" and next thing I knew, fun boat crew is tossing us Buds ! How awesome is THAT? LOVE you guys !! And you looked damn good out there ..... (and my weakness for sailors doesnt hurt)

overheard: "we're throwing the kayakers beers!"

So here's Paul, toasting with the beer, and look at those stacks NOW baby! Almost to dry land .... I cannot tell you how much I just wanted to get out of that boat.

And who knew those brainiacs at Old Town built their kayaks with cup holders ?

Here's the shot you've been dying to see - me pulling into shore. FINALLY! Where are the marching bands ? the dancing girls ? the news crews ? who cared - I MADE IT ! check out red hat chick getting out of my way ..... but what you cant hear are all the "where'd you get the BEER?" shouts - yes that's right, Paul and I had everyone on the beach willing to get back in their kayaks to find the kind boat crew who hooked us up lol.

Loaded up on the trasport boats back to CT (and we made the first boat out - yay!), thanks to the captains for the ride and Stews for the lunch (I would have eaten ANYTHING by that point) - here's a pic of the spread (wraps, waters, apples, chips and cookies) :

Pod mates Christian, Walter, and Matt then Jenny and Gil on the boat - we weren't too chatty, just wiped and trying to find a comfortable place to curl up and ~~die~~ sleep.

Paul scored a wall, smarty pants. He was also the first one asleep.

That's it for crossing photos. Once we got off the boat, they loaded us into buses to get back to the lot where our cars were parked. I couldnt wait to get home and shower. I also knew if I stopped moving, I would never get to the post-event party. As it was, I hardly made it.

Quick recap of the party. I was dead. We ate lobsters. Katy was my date and possible DD, Fred and Jo-Ann came with Collin who gave me the greatest smile and hug. Drinks were free and generous and I only had one. Here's Terry O and cute Carter OO trying to drum up excitement for the auction. We were dead, man. Spent. Beat.