Paddlers battle to finish line in Rangeley Oquossoc Adventure Rendezvous (2024)

ADAMSTOWN TOWNSHIP — The water always finds a way in — especially here.

A spray deck lines the full length of Mark and Allisen Risinger’s 18 1/2-foot canoe. From a tarp-like surface that protects the boat’s insides to a skirt that keeps their bodies dry, it should, in theory, be easy for the Saco couple to stay dry.

The Rangeley Lakes region, though, can be humbling on any day. On days like Saturday? Forget it. Between the long distance, chilly air and rippling winds that produced notable waves, there was no way to get anything but drenched along a 20-mile paddle across Rangeley, Mooselookmeguntic and Upper Richardson lakes.

“It was brutal,” Mark Risinger said. “I actually swam because I was trying to put the (deck) back on and fell out of the front. I had to make sure to jump out so I didn’t take her with me. … The big waves out here, that was tough. We were just eating them over the bow.”

That was the story for each of the 74 paddlers and 47 boats that made the journey from Rangeley Town Cove Park to the Mill Brook boat launch in Adamstown Township on Saturday morning. The first day of the two-day Rangeley Oquossoc Adventure Rendezvous marked a new competition in one of Maine’s iconic regions.

The competition brings paddlers along a stretch of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail, which stretches from Old Forge, New York, all the way to Fort Kent. The NFCT has hosted a number of similar competitions across Vermont and New York in recent years but still yearned to expand to the northeasternmost state.

“(NFCT Director Karrie Thomas) called me and said that they wanted to do an event here, so started working on it last summer and pulled it together over the winter and spring,” said event organizer Linda Dexter. “It’s a tough paddle. Even in August, this place can get pretty cold, and the waves can get rough. It’s definitely a trip.”

That might be an understatement. After 6.5 miles along the north shore of Rangeley Lake, competitors must do a mile-long portage to Mooselookmeguntic, which they will then paddle for 9 miles. Then comes a 0.7-mile portage to Upper Richardson, where they journey another 2.8 miles to the finish.

The first team to finish that jaunt Saturday was that of Mark McAndrew, Scott Edwards and Clyde Yarnell of Vermont and Paula Lunt of Tenants Harbor. Powering through rough waves, chilly weather and even a cut to Yarnell’s knee, they reached the Mill Brook beach in 3 hours, 50 minutes, 3.2 seconds.

“The portage was rough; I think we slipped, and that’s where Clyde (cut his knee),” McAndrew said. “Our long (26-foot) boat gives a big advantage. It does take on a lot of water, but at one point, we did have to pull over and empty it out because there was a lot coming over the sides.”

It was far from the longest NFCT journey for the team, which frequently competes in a 90-mile race on the trail in the Adirondacks. Yet the conditions Saturday — particularly those along the final stretch — seemingly lasted forever as they fought toward the finish line.

“When we turned the final corner, we had a quartering following sea, and that’s really a tough one to paddle in,” McAndrew said. “If you get the right angle, you can surf, so we were coming in at 6 1/2 mph surfing, but if that’s not the angle you’re going to go, it really pushes you around.”

Paddlers set off from Rangeley in two different waves at 8 and 8:30 a.m. with McAndrew’s team crossing the finish line just before noon. Sunday’s race, which goes in reverse order with the start at Mill Brook and the finish line in Rangeley, will begin at 8:30 and 9.

A warmer day is expected for Sunday with the high in Rangeley to reach 75, notably warmer than Saturday’s high of 61. Rain could also be in the forecast Sunday after being less of a factor on Day 1, and wind gusts in the 30s could also be in the cards again.

Don’t expect it to derail the day for these paddlers, though. There will always be some challenges along the way — and for one competitor, Saturday’s conditions weren’t worth complaining about at all.

“I go lobstering,” Lunt said. “This is a beautiful day for me.”

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