The Round Shaw Row takes place in the beautiful San Juan Islands archipelago north of Puget Sound in Washington State. The course circumnavigates Shaw Island, which is centrally located between Orcas, San Juan and Lopez Islands.
This event is organized by Mike Reid, a member of the Sound Rowers who lives on Orcas Island.
Shaw Island is about twelve miles from the mainland. It is reachable via the WA State Ferry System, private boat or private airplane. With the cost of traveling by ferry in a car and a 19.5 foot long boat on the roof being $35, or traveling with a van pulling a trailer (total length 38 feet) being $152, I chose the latter option. Why? Well, the state government really needs the money, so what better way is there to help it out?
No, paying 4 times the price for a vehicle that is only twice as long really makes no sense. However, if you can car pool, you split the cost between several people who then can share in sleeping in a nice tent trailer rather than on the hard ground. In addition, this trailer has a forced air furnace, refrigerator, hot showers, etc. With the forecast calling for possible rain this seemed to be the better way to go.
Debbie and Paul came along with me on this trip. We transfered everything from their van to mine, put their boats on top of the trailer, and headed up to Anacortes from Bellevue about 10:30 AM. We arrived in Anacortes about noon, did some last minute shopping and headed to the ferry terminal west of town.
As usual for a Friday there was a line for the ferries. After about 10 minutes or so we made it to the ticket booth, forked over the money for the passage, and got into another line. It took only another 10 minutes to get through this line, which was where we were told which lane we needed to be in to get loaded onto the Shaw Island ferry at 2:45 PM.
After parking the van we ate lunch at one of the picnic tables overlooking the harbor. It was a rather bright overcast day, with a light breeze from the north that occasionally blew our paper towels around the table. Other people waiting to board ferries had their lunches, wandered about looking at the various vehicles parked in the lot, or went to the ferry terminal building to check out the snack shop.
While in line we met a couple of other folks heading to the island for the race. One person said he had been there since 10:30 AM just to make sure he wouldn't miss the boat! Apparently he missed it last year, having arrived not all that much later than we did this year. Debbie recollected how she was unable to board the ferry last year and had to find a place to stay overnight on the mainland in order to take the early ferry the next day. It was not an experience she wished to repeat, either!
The 2:45 PM ferry arrived about 3 PM and left about 15 minutes later with all of us on board. The trip to the island was beautiful. After crossing the Haro Strait the ferry passed between several other islands (Decatur, Blakely and Lopez, among others) before reaching Shaw Island about 4 PM.
The drive to the county park was short. We passed a herd of deer munching on some grass, a view of a fleet of boats anchored in Blind Bay, and some avant garde artwork sitting in a farmer's field. We drove through the park campgrounds and parked the trailer in the open grass field next to another Sound Rowers racer who already had their camp set up and boats unloaded. We were fortunate to get a site where we could view the boats in Indian Cove and points south - very beautiful and peaceful!
It took about 30 minutes to get the trailer set up. Deb and Paul got on their bikes for a quick ride back to the ferry dock. They were hoping to make it to the "Little Portion Store" to buy some last minute items they had forgotten to get in Anacortes. After a few minutes I chased after them on my bike, and made it to the store just before the 5 PM closing time. However, the nuns who run the store wouldn't let me buy anything as they are very punctual and insistent about holding to the posted hours of the store.
We had a pleasant ride back to camp, where we ate dinner, conversed with the other campers and went to bed.
The ferries to San Juan Island pass several miles to the south of the park. At about 6 AM one of them chose to blast its fog horn a couple of times, which woke me up. I managed to fall back asleep - just in time for Paul's alarm clock to go off! (Why he set his alarm clock to 6:30 AM for a 10 AM race that starts right under our noses I'll never figure out.)
I got up and had breakfast: granola, blueberries and juice. Paul made a big pot of coffee. The sun was not peeking out through the clouds. Maybe it wasn't up yet, either!
People slowly began stirring from their tents, and a couple of cars arrived carrying various types of boats: rowing shells, sea kayaks and surf skis. There were no outrigger canoes at this race.
I walked down to the beach. As predicted, the tide was going out - way out. This was just like last year, when I used my Escapade, and had such fun trying to launch it from its trailer. At least this year the Cadence would be considerably easier to wheel out into and from the water on its dolly!
It started to drizzle lightly, so upon returning to the trailer Paul and I set up the awning. That helped to provide shelter for those poor unfortunates who only had tents and didn't want to hang around the park shelter.
More boats arrived, and the drizzle stopped.
I saw an old car trailering a gorgeous wooden boat down to the water and decided to follow. The baby blue car had a silver horse statue as a hood ornament. This made an excellent hand hold for a couple of kids that were climbing all over the hood with their sandy feet while mom and dad attended to the launching of their boat.
When they tried to drive away from the water they found that the car had sunken into the wet sand. It took the combined efforts of about half dozen people (me included) to push them out. That happened to me with my car last year!
It began raining. I ran back to get my boat and hauled it down to the water. Paul helped me launch, and returned the dolly to the trailer. I posed for a picture (taken by Beverly Torok-Storb - thanks!) and hurried to put my socks and bike shoes on. I paddled out to the starting line where everyone else was waiting in the drizzle. Yes, I paddled. There were quite a few weeds in the water here, and I did not want them to foul my propeller. Further out, where the boats were waiting, the water was deep enough that I could begin using the propeller without fear of fouling.
It began raining harder.
This race could be taken in either the clockwise or the counter-clockwise direction. Last year I took the counter-clockwise direction under almost identical water conditions. It took me nearly 4.5 hours in the Escapade, mainly due to some horrendous currents on the west side in the San Juan Channel. This year I decided to try making those currents help me out by going clockwise. As can be seen in the photos above, however, all but 6 boats decided to go counter-clockwise. Hmmm...should I go with the majority? Nope!
The race started shortly after 10 AM. I managed to have my GPS all set and ready to go, but forgot to set my stopwatch. Sigh...
I tried to take as many pictures as I could, but the rain kept getting on the camera lense housing. I was starting to run out of dry things with which to clean it.
We made a quick transit to the south end of the island. A guy in a rowing shell quickly took the lead, and turned to the west into the San Juan Channel. A sea kayaker and I caught up with a group of pleasure kayakers that had left the island earlier that morning, and passed them.
My legs were feeling pretty good, and the Cadence was performing flawlessly. After trailing a guy in a sea kayak for a half mile or so I decided to push a little harder and pass. This would help as I could now see what was in the water, such as bull kelp or deadheads. I could also better plan my route through the tide rips and eddies.
The rest of the field was starting to fall further behind in the still morning. The kayaker noticed that it was counter-productive to try to ride in my wake. The thrust from the propeller pushed him backward!
I suggested he try going slightly to one side or the other, but he declined.
It was a completely different experience from last year. This time it was cool, wet and cloudy. With the help of the current in the channel I was easily moving at speeds of 7.5, 8 and even 9 mph! Last year it was sunny, hot and you had to line me up with an object on the shore to see if I was moving.
Even the tide rips were pretty easy to handle. Sure, there were waves of up to three feet from crest to trough. If you planned it properly you could simply enter them at an angle, or even straight on and get through them without much water entering the cockpit.
Thinking about the other boats in the race I checked behind to see how they were doing. As far as I could tell they were still under way, with no apparent problems.
The three trouble-prone points of southeast Shaw Island were passed quickly in succession. I reached Post Office Point, which makes one end of a long bay on the west side of the island, in record time. This was great!
Up ahead in the wet gloom I could see a ferry making its way from Wasp Passage southward towards Friday Harbor. There were very few other vessels in the channel. I turned on my VHF and fiddled with the scan buttons. At least now I could hear if there was trouble, or report any that I might encounter.
Pedal - pedal - pedal. Sweat was dripping from my forehead and into my eyes. By the time I reached Neck Point I had finished one of my bottles of Vita Rain. Meanwhile, the VHF reported that the emergency with the 44 foot cabin cruiser that had run aground somewhere in the vicinity was now over. Everyone was rescued!
There was yet another group of pleasure kayakers heading south in the drizzle. I gave them a wave and kept on pedaling, wondering if they were keeping warm and dry. One of them called out, saying she liked my hat, which was keeping me cool and my glasses relatively dry.
There was a small tide rip at Neck Point. I remembered that I hadn't taken any pictures in the earlier ones due to using both hands in keeping upright, so here was my chance to take one. Ok, so these waves look pretty small, even to me. I'll have you know that in the other rips to the south Deb actually had waves washing over her back while she was rowing her shell! Still, this marked the end of the free ride portion of the race. Now I would have to go to work!
There is a little cove just northeast of Neck Point in which a couple of mooring buoys are anchored. One of them has a floating shark's head next to it - a little marine humor.
Shortly after passing the shark's head I spied the first of the counter clockwise racers heading my way. Sure enough, it was a double rowing shell piloted by Rob O'Brien and Jeff Knakal, some of the strongest and fastest of the Sound Rowers club.
I cheered/jeered them on. It was about 50 minutes into the race, and we were both at about the halfway point.
Fairly soon afterwards some other rowers and kayakers came through Wasp Passage, following Rob and Jeff. I had to take care to get out of the way of the rowers, as they did not always go the direction I predicted, and there were quite a few patches of kelp and other weeds in the narrow channel.
In fact, shortly after entering the passage my speed dropped from 7+ mph to 5.5, and I was pedaling harder than before. There definitely was a counter current here, and I was just going to have to tough it out until I reached an eddy or the wider channel further east.
As the channel widened the oncoming racers were scattered across its width. I made a couple of detours in order to get close up shots. Ok, so this wouldn't help my time but I felt the need to document all these intrepid souls who took part in this truly soggy event.
The only problem was the lens of the camera was getting rained upon. With only a wet cloth to wipe it the darn thing was just getting smeared. Sigh...at least the home made waterproof casing was keeping the camera functional!
My speed kept dropping, even after leaving Wasp Passage. It was now in the 4.5 mph range, which is much too slow for it to be current related in this area. It had to be caused by weeds fouling the prop.
I headed to a dock and got out. Sure enough, there was a big, blobby weed slowing me down. However, it wasn't on the propeller. It was hung on the propeller shaft support skeg!
I got back in and found that the sea kayaker I had left behind had caught up. Well, at least now I would have company and competition!
For some reason I was getting tired. I was still sweating profusely, and drinking from my water bottle as well as my other bottle of Vita Rain. My shirt sleeves were rolled up, and my leg warmers were still around my ankles - where they had been since the start of the race. There was a light breeze through my hat, but it was not enough to stop the sweating.
The kayak began pulling ahead.
About this time a large yacht passed going eastward. I noticed that its wake was pretty considerable. Better yet, it was going in a direction that could be useful to surf on, at least for a short while.
As the waves approached, I angled the Cadence so as to present the port side of the stern to the wave. This allowed the boat to slip more gradually down the wave and travel along the its front.
Immediately the boat's speed increased to 5.5 mph, then to 6.0, then to 6.5 and even 7 mph! Wow! This was excellent! My pedaling cadence likewise increased, as this was something like pedaling downhill.
After 5 or 10 seconds the wave seemed to disappear, only to be replaced by another shortly afterwards. This kept on, and on, and on. I swear, it seemed like it was 3 or 4 minutes before finally I got too close to shore and had to abandon the wake for deeper water.
This had been both exhilarating and tiring. The boat was moving at 4.5 mph again, but as far as I could tell there was not much of any current in any direction. It felt as though I should have been going about 6 or 7 mph, considering the effort. It had to be weeds again.
However, rather than make way to yet another dock I decided to plug on, trying to keep up with the sea kayak. This was probably a mistake.
We came across yet another tide rip, so there had to be some currents flowing through here regardless of the weeds on the prop.
I began to tire out. A curious seal poked his head out of the water and stared at me. I thought he would disappear before I could snap his picture, but no - he kept on looking at me while I took several shots. Meanwhile the kayak disappeared south into the mists.
Since I was taking it a bit easier I decided to snap a few photos of the tidal zone creatures still exposed from the ultra low tide. There were quite a few orange and purple sea stars plastered on the rocky shoreline along the northeast corner of the island. You could actually get close enough in your boat to reach out your hand and touch them if you chose to do so.
Finally, just before turning south on the last leg of the race, I could see Mount Baker appearing on the eastern horizon. It sure looked pretty through the misty clouds.
After passing the northeast corner I decided it was time to perform another weed removal. I remembered there were a couple of gravel beaches nearby, so I headed for the first one. It was deep enough that I could get right up to the shore, take off my shoes and socks, and step almost right onto the beach.
Sure enough, there was quite a bundle of green stuff wrapped around the propeller shaft. This stuff was impervious to the forward, backward pedaling technique for removal, too. I should have stopped earlier!
While I was detained by weed removal a man in an Alden rowing shell overtook and passed. I hurried back into the boat, shoved off and put on my socks and shoes. Meanwhile, the rower managed to get a couple of hundred yards ahead. Competition!
Ahh, it felt good to be pedaling and actually moving fast in the water again! The boat was moving at 6+ mph, and I was quickly gaining on the rower.
The rower could see me coming, of course. He tried to speed up, but I was still gaining on him.
Up ahead we both saw the entrance to what seemed to be Indian Cove. However, I remembered that there was a small cove between our position and Indian Cove, and this would be the wrong place to turn. Still, the rower made his turn and I continued on ahead.
I called out to the rower, and told him of his mistake, but he did not seem to hear. I yelled again, and again. Finally, the rower understood and headed back out. Too late for him, I had already gone ahead and made the turn around the next point and towards the finish line.
The low island I saw at east end of the cove early this morning at low tide seemed to have disappeared. Threading my way carefully among the anchoring buoys I headed straight for Mike Reid's cabin cruiser, hoping that the eelgrass fields wouldn't snatch defeat from the jaws of victory over the rower. Nope - the weeds were deep enough now! Onward to the finish!
Upon crossing the finish line, with a time somewhere around 2 hours and 42 minutes, I asked Mike how many boats were still out on the course. He said there were about eight more, including the rower who was finishing shortly after me. Oh, well.
The shoreline was pretty deserted. Well, who in their right mind would be standing there in the rain, anyway?!
I beached the Cadence, took off my shoes and socks, and wandered on rubber legs back to the trailer. As I did so I noticed that Rainer Storb's van was leaving, along with their boat. In fact, most of the cars were getting packed and leaving as well. The rainy weather couldn't have been a factor now, could it?
At the trailer I found my water shoes and the boat dolly, and headed back to the boat. With the help of the guy in the rowing shell I took the Cadence out of the water and hauled it back to camp. It was lunch and shower time!
After getting into a change of clothing I went out to see how things were going with the others. Mike Reid had gone home, as had most of the other racers. Jeff Knakal was thinking about doing that, too, but we (Debbie and I) decided to stay and enjoy the rest of the weekend. After all, the rain had finally stopped and it looked as though the sun was coming out.
Jeff Knakal took the Cadence out for a test spin around Canoe Island, during which his wife appeared - just in from the ferry! She was originally planning to enter the race, and was going to have walked onto the late Friday night ferry to the island and stay the night. However, she was not feeling well, and decided to call it off. On Saturday, however, she was feeling much better and decided to come over anyway. Jeff was quite happy to see her.
While Jeff was pedaling around Canoe Island, a double masted sailing vessel came into the cove and dropped anchor. After Paul returned, Debbie took the Cadence out for a test run. She headed to the sailing vessel, and was accosted by someone on board. It turned out to be an old friend of hers, the captain of the schooner Zodiac! What a small world!
Sherri and Peter and their family and friends came over to the park shelter with various things for the traditional pot luck dinner. Paul returned from his and Ann Tzjung's impromptu trip around the island in kayaks just in time to help prepare a chicken salad. I contributed a marionberry pie and pasta, along with some steamed green beans and broccoli. I must confess, however, that I consumed all the poached wild king salmon I brought along and made!
Everyone had a great time, and had plenty of excellent food to eat. When the sun finally set we bid our farewells, and I went back to the trailer. That bed sure felt good!
In spite of the drizzle, it ended another beautiful day, and an excellent race. Congratulations, Jeff Knakal and Rob O'Brien, for setting a new course record and finishing in less than 1 hour 40 minutes! Thank you, Mike Reid, for staying out there in all the rain! A special thanks goes to you, Sherri and Peter, for organizing and carrying through with the apres race pot luck even though most everyone else departed the scene!!
The complete set of photos I took during the race can be found here. Additional photos taken by another person before the race can be found here.
The course I followed during the race and some metrics can also be found there by clicking on the last picture above.