Today was the first Sound Rowers race of the season: La Conner.
The rains stopped just before I pulled into the parking lot in La Conner. This was good. However, on the way to La Conner the the winds were blowing so strongly from the south that flags not only were forced straight outward, but even upward. This could be a problem during the race. At least here at the start we were well protected. Still, I decided to wear a full jacket PFD, nylon shell, nylon shirt, long sleeved wicking t-shirt, bike shorts, wool leg warmers, and clipless bike shoes. The nylon pants and sweatshirt were left behind so I'd have something dry to wear after the race.
A friend of mine helped launch the Cadence pedal boat I was borrowing for this race. He also was generous in lending me the use of a spare GPS unit so I could monitor my speed and distance traveled. Thanks, Paul!
There was a considerable ebb tidal current flowing through the channel towards the south. It caused a fair amount of difficulty to maintain station at the starting line as the boats were shoved towards one bank or the other. When the starting signal was given there was a knot of boats around me, including a boat that was headed 180 degrees in the wrong direction!
Due to the number of boats in this race and the speed of my Cadence, I found myself in a tight knot of kayaks and OC-1's as we headed south through the channel at 7.5+ mph. Rather than play bumper boats I chose to move out into the middle of the channel where there were only a few rowing shells and double kayaks to contend with.
I was getting quite warm and decided to open up my jacket and roll up my leg warmers.
The Swinomish Channel exits onto Skagit Bay where one makes a right turn to the west. With winds from the south at 15 to 25 knots some rather good waves were whipped up. Combined with a tidal current of about 2 to 3 knots, this caused the race to turn into something of a biathlon for many of the participants. Paddling (or rowing) and swimming were on the agenda for about 10 folks, with a bunch more just turning around shortly after leaving the relative serenity of Swinomish Channel. Even the protection of some log rafts and Goat Island to the south were insufficient to calm the waters. However, once beyond the island, the only thing preventing really big waves from crossing the course was a log boom that extended to the first green buoy. Waves could be seen breaking over the log boom and continuing northward almost unimpeded by the encounter.
This was not much of a problem so far, except that I had to continually make course corrections towards the south. The wind and current were very strong, and I was getting a bit wet from the spray.
At the first green buoy the protection from the log boom ended. The GPS read only 3 miles, meaning I had another half mile to go before reaching the turn around point of the second green buoy. Boy, that water was looking nasty!
There were a couple of boats heading toward me from the west. Whether they had actually made it to the turn around buoy or just gave up and turned back, I don't know. I presumed the former.
Going to the buoy wasn't all that bad. One could almost surf with the waves and get a slight push from the wind. Some fellow boaters apparently got pushed over, but that's their story. I didn't see anyone in the water except right at the Swinomish Channel and sand bar, or at the shore of Goat Island.
Somewhere around here the GPS began beeping that it had lost the satellite signals.
Returning to La Conner, however, was more than a little difficult!
With a long hull stern driven propeller boat I found myself spinning the propeller in the air as each wave passed under me. This made forward motion a bit slower than normal, and the steering quite a bit more difficult.
I did not take any pictures during this time as I was mostly concerned with staying upright! The camera case dug into my bottom as I tried to protect it from major splashes as well as to not lose it overboard.
Attacking the waves at an angle got more propeller bite time, but also caused the boat to rock more. Waves were also washing into the cockpit which, on this boat, meant that I had to start pumping while pedaling. (Vince McGowan, a fellow Cadence pedaler in this race, said he has a speed bailer and it worked quite well. He, however, had the sense of mind to turn around before getting himself into deep do-do.)
Eventually I was able to make it back to the semi-protected lee of Goat Island, and had only the tidal currents to contend with. Still, those currents slowed me down to a relative crawl at 5.2 mph - and my legs were starting to talk to me.
As I passed the island I noticed a single kayak on the shore being emptied of water. Further down the shore I saw a double kayak undergoing the same operation.
Passing the sand bar I saw a man straddling his boat with his paddle hanging off to one side with what I later identified as a paddle float. He was just sitting there. I yelled to Rob O'Brien, who was just ahead of me in his single rowing shell and asked him if he knew what was going on, as a large sailboat turned around and headed for the guy on the sand bar. Rob and I both started heading for the guy. As I neared the sand bar I decided that I would end up being a hindrance than help as 1) my boat needed deeper water to prevent the prop from bottoming out, and 2) I was having enough trouble staying upright to be able to lend much of a hand. So, I explained this as best I could over the wind and waves to Rob, and continued on to the channel.
Afterwards, Rob told me the sailboat had to abandon the effort as it was too shallow. Rob told the guy to stand up and, lo and behold, the guy was able to get his boat back under way.
I chased a guy in an OC-1 back up the channel to the finish line, and with a last ditch effort managed to cross at about the same time he did: 1 hour, 13 minutes, 27 seconds for a distance of about 6.9 miles. 19th place overall out of 60+ boats! What a workout!
The event concluded with a lunch of hot soup (all you can eat of four different types) and bread at the local hall, after which the awards were presented to the winners of each category.
Photos I took during the race can be found here. Photos taken by another friend of mine can be found here.
P.S. Had I taken my Escapade I certainly would have finished with a slower time. However, I would have been almost completely dry (except for sweat and a little spray) and would not have had to resort to wrapping my camera in shrink wrap plastic. I might have been able to offer assistance to some of the other boats--assuming they were still there by the time I arrived!
