Paddle

This is the first in a monthly series in which we put local fitness and recreational opportunities to the test. "This is the best thing I've ever done!" a woman called out, smiling broadly as she skimmed across the water, standing up straight, paddle in hand. It was a sunny Saturday morning at Gunpowder Falls State Park in eastern Baltimore County. We were there for Ultimate Watersports' stand-up paddling class. To begin, instructor Josh Finch rounded up the 14 of us (ranging from teenagers to people in their 50s)

BARCELONA, Spain -- They weren't the favorites. They were just two men from the United States, paddling a canoe through a torrent of water, trying to claim a medal, any medal, at the 1992 Summer Olympics.But yesterday, on the man-made course in La Seu d'Urgell, Joe Jacobi, a Maryland native who trains in North Carolina, and Scott Strausbaugh got more than they had bargained for. They won the gold medal in the men's double canoe to close out the whitewater slalom competition."We came into this race feeling there were five to eight boats that could win," Strausbaugh said.

CLARIFICATION An item in the "2b" column published in Wednesday's Maryland section did not fully attribute a remark made by radio host Rush Limbaugh in which he called Maryland "a far-left kook fringe state." He made the statement on his show, which is broadcast on WMAL-Radio. It was repeated on DCRTV.COM, an Internet site for political commentary, where it was picked up by The Sun. The Sun regrets the errors. Coming to an airplane seatback near you: 36 glossy pages celebrating a place where downtown is booming and cultural attractions abound, where schools are topnotch and people kayak to work.

PITTSBURGH -- Napoleon had Waterloo. The Ravens have Three Rivers.Custer had Little Big Horn. The Ravens have Three Rivers."When you are going to play the Pittsburgh Steelers at Three Rivers Stadium, you know you are going into a war zone," Ravens assistant coach Earnest Byner said."

When 84-year-old Vincent Gerardi heads out on the Miles River, he takes along his kayak. Gerardi paddles eight miles, two to three times a week. Usually alone.Although he owns three kayaks, at 5 feet 4 inches tall and 145 pounds, he prefers his specially made Petrel. It's smaller than the others.Gerardi, a self-described Eastern Shore water rat, began sea kayaking six years ago because, he says, he has more control with a kayak than with other types of seagoing craft. And, it's less expensive.

Alex Anderson tried to slowly rotate her body into a warrior yoga pose, but her legs began to tremble, her arms started flailing and she landed with a splash in the pool at MAC Fitness in Harbor East. The 29-year-old has slid into the position easily many other times, but that was before she tried it on a paddle board floating on water. She was among a small group of women at MAC taking "paddlefusion," a new class at the athletic club that combines yoga and Pilates moves on a board similar to a surfboard.

Saddam Hussein is taking a beating these days.That's what Paul Kratzer of Salisbury intended, when he created the Iraqiwacker, a paddle-ball set with the Iraqi leader's face caricatured on the front.A hard swing of the beechwood paddle propels the rubber ball forward, then the taut elastic jerks it back and WHAM-O! The round missile slams into the cartoon face with the drooping eyelids and slack jowls that Americans have learned to hate.Score one for the Yanks.The item, which is not yet in local stores, retails for $8 in gift shops, such as Uncommon Gifts in Salisbury and Dallas Alice in Washington.

The Inner Harbor paddle boats are back.After an 11-day shutdown of the tourist attraction caused by a legal battle over ownership of the docks, the 50 brightly colored boats were back in action Thursday under the management of the Living Classroom Foundation, a nonprofit educational organization.The owner of the boats, Ed Kane of Harbor Boating Inc., donated them to the foundation after losing a public bidding process for the franchise off the city-owned waterfront.Although Kane on Thursday filed a $1 million claim against the city for damages caused by what he called an unfair bidding process, he said he decided last week that the public should no longer suffer from the shutdown.

KENT ISLAND -- A windsurfer whose sail collapsed in mid-Chesapeake Bay during yesterday's brisk, frigid winds was able to paddle several miles across the bay to safety, Natural Resources Police said.Natural Resources Police spokesman John Verrico identified the windsurfer as Michael Giblin, 26, of Arnold.Mr. Giblin, who Mr. Verrico said was wearing a waterproof suit during his venture, paddled more than three miles to Kent Island on the Eastern Shore when the sail on his board failed.The windsurfer was noticed to be missing about 4 p.m. by park rangers at Sandy Point State Park, east of Annapolis.

BARCELONA, Spain -- Beaten by a former training partner yesterday, Norman Bellingham, of Bethesda, Md., will try to win another medal this morning in the K-2 flat-water canoe-kayak finals at the 1992 Summer Olympics.In yesterday's single kayak 500-meter final, Bellingham finished fourth. The gold went to Finland's Mikko Kolehmainen, who trained with Bellingham last winter.In this morning's two-man kayak 1,000-meter medal race, Bellingham and his partner, Greg Barton, will attempt to become the first team in Olympic history to successfully defend the gold TTC medal in the event.