{"id":16302,"date":"2019-06-12T16:27:11","date_gmt":"2019-06-12T20:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/?p=16302"},"modified":"2019-08-05T10:30:19","modified_gmt":"2019-08-05T14:30:19","slug":"rush-tickets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/rush-tickets\/","title":{"rendered":"Rush Tickets"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"issuuembed\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 341px;\" data-configid=\"37604829\/70578505\"><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"\/\/e.issuu.com\/embed.js\" async=\"true\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Summerguide 2019<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Forget starry <b>Acadia<\/b> <b>nights<\/b> and vivid <b>coastal sunsets<\/b>. <\/span><span class=\"s1\">These adrenaline <b>adventures<\/b> will take your breath away.<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>By Olivia Gunn Kotsishevskaya<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_16331\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16331\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-16331\" src=\"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Rush-tix-SG19-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"At Biddeford\u2019s Skydive Coastal Maine, instructor Rich Fowler and partner Nick Sergi have over 20,000 jumps between them.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Rush-tix-SG19-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Rush-tix-SG19-200x134.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Rush-tix-SG19.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-16331\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">At Biddeford\u2019s Skydive Coastal Maine, instructor Rich Fowler and partner Nick Sergi have over 20,000 jumps between them.<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Ever dream of free-falling at 120 miles per hour? Close encounters with creatures of the deep?<\/span><\/p>\n<h5 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>You\u2019re Gonna<br \/>\nNeed a Bigger Boat<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cIt\u2019s crazy to have a 200, 300-pound shark on your line.\u201d Twenty miles offshore, captain Ben Gardner is reeling in 300-pounders. \u201cBlue sharks, makos, threshers. Threshers are the biggest, but the most entertaining are the makos,\u201d he says. \u201cThey come flying out of the water when they\u2019re hooked\u2014ten, fifteen feet\u2014and do backflips.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">With over 25 years of fishing under his belt, Gardner is the guy you want on deck when you hook one of these. His company, <a href=\"https:\/\/kristinkcharters.com\/shark-fishing-charters\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Kristin K. Charters<\/strong><\/a>, offers inshore fishing, ground fishing, and shark fishing for groups of four. For $995, a shark fishing trip is by far the most exciting.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Have the desire but not quite the stomach to fish these beauties? It might help to know Gardner is a catch-and-release man. \u201cWe tag them for the National Marine Fisheries Services, and we\u2019ve found some of our sharks turn up all over the world: South America, Spain, the Canary Islands.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<h5 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Cage Match<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Dave Sinclair and his team at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.divefishmaine.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Sea Ventures Charters<\/strong><\/a> in St. George has just the cage for you. \u201cWe run out quite a ways, about 20 miles,\u201d says Sinclair. \u201cLike we\u2019d be going fishing, we set up chum buckets to get the sharks to come up. The cage is set up with a door at the top so the divers can pull themselves up if needed. It\u2019s about 400, 500 feet deep. We see makos, blue sharks, threshers. They range in size up to about 12 feet. It\u2019s cool being in their environment, to see them just gliding around.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p6\"><span class=\"s1\">From\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">mid-July through August, Sinclair takes groups of six certified divers out on the boat for $1,200. \u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity for photography. We\u2019ve been doing this for 20 years. We found that sharks are attracted to electronic impulses like strobe cameras, so we\u2019ve had situations where sharks will come up behind the diver. They mouth things to investigate, but we\u2019ve never had any skin broken. In the end, these sharks have no interest in eating people. They\u2019re just exploring where the scent is coming from. They\u2019re wild animals, and we\u2019re invading their territory.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h5 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Sky High<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Not everyone\u2019s got sea legs, but who wouldn\u2019t try a set of wings? <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">At Biddeford\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/skydivecoastalmaine.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Skydive Coastal Maine<\/strong><\/a>, instructor Rich Fowler and partner Nick Sergi have over 20,000 jumps between them. \u201cAbout five percent of the population wants to jump out of an airplane\u2014at least that\u2019s what the last marketing person told me,\u201d Fowler says. \u201cIt starts with signing the paperwork, which is usually the scariest part.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">From May to October, thrill seekers take a Cessna 182 10,000 feet up before free-falling in tandem (i.e., harnessed to an instructor) with either Rich or Nick. Imagine the Maine coast racing toward you from that vantage point!<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cWe free-fall down to 4,000 feet. It\u2019s falling for about a mile. Freefall speed is 120 mph. Once your parachute opens up, you have a ride down to the ground, about five to seven minutes,\u201d Fowler says. \u201cThe emotions on the ride [up] to altitude run the gamut from people crying to hysterically laughing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">This weekend, check out<strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skydivenewengland.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Skydive New England<\/a> <\/strong>in Lebanon. \u201cWe have an on-site restaurant called the Ripcord Cafe,\u201d says Danielle Sutton, a licensed instructor with SNE, \u201cas well as bunkhouses to rent and grounds to camp on if tandem students would like to spend the night. Often on Saturday nights, we provide live music entertainment after the plane lands for the day, theme parties, and lawn games.\u201d Weekend jumps start at $235.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Zip Linin\u2019 Away<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n<p class=\"p6\"><span class=\"s1\">T<\/span><span class=\"s1\">here may be no snow on the slopes, but that\u2019s no reason to stay off the mountains.<strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sundayriver.com\/summer-activities\/ziplines\" target=\"_blank\">The Twin Zips<\/a><\/strong> at Sunday River are 750 feet long, side by side. For $15 each, you and a pal can go head-to-head.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">At Sugarloaf, groups leave every 90 minutes to soar through the trees on six zip lines 20 to 30 feet above Gondi Brook. At 25 miles per hour, each tour takes about 75 minutes. <\/span><\/p>\n<h5 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Ready For Takeoff<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n<p class=\"p6\"><span class=\"s1\">L<\/span><span class=\"s1\">ooking to get your feet off the ground? <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.schoolofpersonalflight.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">David McNulty\u2019s School of Personal Flight<\/a><\/strong> may be your next step. McNulty teaches powered paragliding, similar to paragliding but with a motor. \u201cWe don\u2019t have mountains [to jump off] along the coast, so we put motors on our backs. We take off from airports or fields. I do a lot of the training out of my house in Arundel, but a lot of the flying is done at the Biddeford or Sanford airports, depending on the wind.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p6\"><span class=\"s1\">P<\/span><span class=\"s1\">owered paragliding is expensive: SPF prices start at $3,500 for a beginner with no experience or equipment. McNulty suggests a tandem flight with him first. \u201cI had a guy up from Massachusetts, and he wanted to tandem flight. So we met at Sanford airport, and we flew for a bit, and he said that was enough. Now we\u2019re talking to him about getting gear! It\u2019s a good way to dip your feet in the air, so to speak.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">What\u2019s it like up there? \u201cIt shouldn\u2019t be this easy for a human being to fly,\u201d McNulty says. \u201cIt might be the new, unique perspective that is the wow part. I couldn\u2019t think of anything else after coming back from my first flight.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h5 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>All Aboard<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Hang on to your paddles\u2014it\u2019s going to be a bumpy ride! Maine rivers are calling, and the Kennebec and Penobscot rivers provide prime Class IV and V rapids throughout the summer. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">At <a href=\"https:\/\/www.northernoutdoors.com\/?gclid=CjwKCAjwmZbpBRAGEiwADrmVXjMyhOPVb_HJOKw4wTXWo4qpgFzaeqheLgCOZANvA4iT1eGQ2X-j-RoCEZ0QAvD_BwE\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Northern Outdoors<\/strong><\/a>, based in The Forks, arrive Friday night and set up your tent along the Kennebec ($13 per night) in a prime spot (hopefully with Kennebec River Pub &amp; Brewery within walking distance). Hold off guzzling too many Let \u2019er Drift Summer Ales, though. \u201cThe Kennebec trip is an all-day activity,\u201d says Russell Walters, who joined Northern Outdoors as a kayak guide in 1983. \u201cYou\u2019re on the river at 10 a.m. We raft for a few hours until noon, then pull ashore for a cookout on the beach. We get back on the river before 1 p.m. and reach The Forks around 2:30 p.m. or so. You\u2019re on the river for three hours, traveling 12 to 13 miles.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Prices for rafting range from $69 to $134 per person. On Wednesdays, Maine residents raft at half price.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Rush-tix-SG19.pdf\">view as pdf<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chase that adrenaline high by land, sea, and sky.<br \/>\nBy Olivia Gunn Kotsishevskaya<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[398,402,404,399,127,323,322,403,400,401],"class_list":["post-16302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-adventure","tag-deep-sea-fishing","tag-diving","tag-experience","tag-maine","tag-portland-magazine","tag-portland-monthly","tag-sharks","tag-whitewater-rafting","tag-ziplines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16302"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16545,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16302\/revisions\/16545"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}