Adam Nagler Completes 600-Mile Paddleboard Voyage

For the second consecutive year, Adam Nagler completed a daunting voyage up the eastern seaboard to Nantucket. The 600+ mile voyage took 32 days to complete, but Nagler arrived on shore feeling much better than one year ago following his 450-mile trip.

The trip began at Cape Hatteras Light in Buxton, North Carolina. Nagler told the Current in April when he announced his intentions to attempt this trip that he felt he had “unfinished business” after settling for a journey last year that began from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia.

Nagler, 55, guessed that he lost between 30 and 32 pounds during this trip. Most of the weight lost is in his legs, but Nagler was more prepared for the inevitable weight loss this year after beefing up his pre-voyage diet with plenty of protein.

“Before this trip, I had a little bit of a belly,” Nagler told the dozen or so spectators who welcomed him ashore.

Nagler traveled on a stock 14’ standup paddleboard and wore gear you'd see surfers wearing in low 50s water. He bought the board used in 2014. He said these boards are very rare since it is a rare form of travel, but once he found one he liked he redesigned it to be capable of going on such long, grueling journeys.

Nagler said he will begin weight training in one month and get his weight up to 195. He said one key component of his diet will be Chankonabe, also known as sumo soup. This is consumed in vast quantities by sumo wrestlers as part of their weight-gain diets.

Nagler said he ran into some unexpected turbulence down by the Carolinas. He said he was towed in approximately two miles from shore on Sunday by Tommy and John Arena. He said he studied the weather before and during the trip, but even that isn’t always enough to be prepared for what mother nature throws his way.

“The gods of weather don’t care how hard you study,” he said.

Nagler’s trip was done to support Fairwinds – Nantucket’s Counseling Center, the island’s only non-profit licensed Mental Health Clinic.

Nagler said the first thing he wanted to do was have frosted flakes, fried chicken, and chocolate milk. He said he will sleep Monday and Tuesday before spending the final four days he has on island with friends and fundraising for Fairwinds. He will leave the island on Sunday and embark on a 250-mile voyage to Long Island.

Nagler said the paddle was also in memory of John Loughlin, who passed away in 2004, and in honor of Annie Backus, who was a nurse at the Nantucket Cottage Hospital for 46 years before retiring last year.

You can donate to the Fairwinds fund by clicking here and typing "Adam Nagler" in the notes.