Gardiners Island to Fishers Island: Prone Paddle
June 13, 2024 Dawgpatch Bandits, Kyle Stürmann and Drew Harvey, successfully completed a prone paddle from Gardiners Island to Fishers Island. Launching from the north point of Gardiners Island and heading Northeast towards Fishers Island, this paddle took Stürmann and Harvey into uncharted waters for the Dawgpatch. Passing well to the southeast of Great Gull Island, Little Gull Island and across “The Race,” a notoriously deep channel in which all of the Long Island Sound empties into the Block Island Sound, it is safe to say this was a true open water paddle. Landing on the south side of Fishers Island to finish, this paddle marks the first Point to Point Challenge to tag Fishers Island. It is also worth noting that Harvey and Sturmann are the first two members of Dawgpatch Bandits to step foot on Gardiners, Plumb and Fishers Island through purely self powered means of transportation i.e. Swim and Prone Paddle.
This paddle was completed with a guide boat, which carried extra supplies and also provided transport from Sag Harbor to the start point and back to Sag Harbor from the end point. The guide boat, was captained by Dave Harvey, and crewed by Kai Stürmann.
The paddle covered a distance of 9.58 NM = 11 miles and was completed in approximately 3 hr 15 minutes with near perfect conditions.
Date of Completion: 06/13/2024
Mode of Travel: Prone Paddle
Distance: 11 miles
Moving Time: 3 hrs 15 min
Levels of Support: Guide boat provided transport to start and from finish point and carried additional snacks/supplies. Paddlers did NOT get in to the guide boat at any time during the paddle.
Trip Report:
4:00 AM wake up, 5:00 AM dock departure on boat (boards secured to rails), drop boards and paddlers off at Gardiners Island start location, North Point of Bostwick Bay 6:15 AM, paddle start 6:35 AM. Landfall on south side of Fishers Island 9:50 AM.
Weather conditions were near perfect. Sunny, light winds and high to ebbing tide. Course to Fishers Island 35 degrees (NNE) off of Gardiners start point. Route followed a truly straight line. Visibility was clear, making it easy to site location markers from the boards with little need for the support boat to guide paddlers. First marker was “Little Gull Island Horn” in the distance to the North marking approximately the half way point. The second marker was “Race Rock LT.” Paddling felt clean with little to no push from wind or current felt. Conditions allowed for easy transitions between knee and prone paddling. Staying far to the Southeast of the Gull Islands, land was distant from all directions for the majority of the paddle. As the Race Rock marker drew closer Fishers Island can clearly be seen and a final push was made across “The Race” with water depths of up to 338 ft. The landing was made on a beach on the south side of Fishers Island in between the air field hangar and the “Antenna” atop of Mt. Prospect. The waters on the shores of Fishers Island were as clear and clean as paddlers and crew had ever seen in the Northeast. Water temps were in the low 60s. Wet suit tops were worn with board shorts. Minor swells out of the Block Island Sound were felt through the deepest sections (see chart). Boat traffic was minimal.
Equipment Used:
Kyle Stürmann was on a 12’ Bark Ghost Commander.
Drew Harvey was on a 14’ Bark Grey Hound.
Additional Notes: First Point to Point to involve Fishers Island. First Point to Point to include the newly donated Dawgpatch Boat, a 21.5’ Seaswirl Striper. Drone footage was taken by crew member Kai Stürmann.
