The drive from sunny and warm Bellevue to overcast and cool Westport took nearly three hours. Thank goodness the race was scheduled for 1 PM. If it was like the others I would have had to get up much earlier than normal. Still, a 1 o'clock start meant that either lunch would have to be early or postponed until after the race. I chose the latter.
Brady's Oysters was a major sponsor of this race and the location of the start of the race. There were still a couple of great spots left in their parking lot upon my arrival at 11:30. With the help of Paul, another racer, I took the Cadence from the roof of my car and placed it on the dolly. I filled it with the equipment for the race and carted it over an area where a number of oyster bins were stored near the registration area.
Registration was on the lawn between the store and the wetlands area where we would be launching. On the table next to the registration forms were several hand made wooden trophies that would be awarded at the end of the race. They looked pretty nice!
Several other people were taking their boats down the gravel drive to the edge of the water. I followed suit. Since the tide was coming in I decided to leave it rather high and dry with only the wheels of the dolly in the water and the bow resting on a seat cushion on the gravel drive.
Vern Heikkila, the race director, assembled the racers for the pre-race meeting. The course would follow that of last year's race very closely. We would start at the highway bridge, head north to a buoy, make a 180 degree turn around it and head back to the highway bridge en route to the entrance of Mallard Slough. We would then go to a buoy at the end of the slough, make another 180 degree turn and come back the way we came. Once again at the mouth of the slough we would turn right into the mouth of yet another slough, go around yet another buoy at the end of that slough, and return to its mouth. Just beyond the mouth was another buoy around which we would go and then head up the Elk River a short way. Making yet another 180 degree turn we would then head back to the bridge and the finish line.
While this race definitely puts longer boats at a disadvantage with all the turns it still is fun as the fastest racers can be encountered again and again during the race.
It was time to launch. The tide had come in enough that the Cadence was now fully afloat, the seat cushion saturated with seawater. As I struggled with removing the dolly, which had become entangled with the rudder, Paul waded out to assist. Thanks, Paul!
I reset the GPS, turned on my heart rate monitor, put the camera in its waterproof bag and got on board. After changing from water shoes to socks and bike shoes I got under way soon afterwards.
A pair of women in an OC-2 ran into some submerged rock or oyster harvesting equipment. Hmm, I had better take extra care going through that area!
The incoming tide created a fairly strong current. This made it a bit difficult to keep station at the starting line, and trying to maneuver between the boats for photo opportunities was not always successful. I nearly collided with Theresa in her rowing shell; instead, I was able to stop and slowly get pushed against one of the bridge pylons where I was then able to get into position for the start.
The gentle headwind was not helping things, either.
After a few moments the signal was given and off we went!
Several single rowing shells and kayaks were almost immediately in the lead. I tried to make my way over to the OC-6, figuring that I would be able to use their wake to my advantage. Unfortunately, however, there were just too many boats between us. I tried to just stay near Theresa, though her shell provided no assistance whatsoever.
My speed was about 8 mph and my heart rate was about 165 bpm. I was definitely going anaerobic!
Suddenly I ran into a small mat of weeds. It was mostly eelgrass, but its effects were still to slow me down a mile or two per hour. I ran through the weed removal process, pedaling backward and then forward, and this appeared to clear the prop. Now there was no way I was going to catch the OC-6!
Nearing the first turn I found several rowing shells apparently sitting still. They had apparently gotten too close to each other in trying to make the turn, and now had to slowly extricate their oars and boats without flipping or damaging each other.
I made a wide turn around the group and headed back towards the bridge.
With all the mess at the first turn I found myself nearly alone. The fastest racers could be seen off in the distance, and the rest of the field was passing off to the west. My speed was still about 8 mph, this time assisted by the tidal current.
Just after passing the bridge I heard a clunk and a cry of "What the ...?" behind me. A rower had managed to pass too close to a bridge abuttment, striking one of his oars against it. He was OK otherwise, so I continued onward.
Meanwhile, Steve in a rather beat up kayak had caught up and slowly passed. I tried to follow in his wake, but another weed mat encounter put me 30 to 40 feet behind. Hopefully there wouldn't be too many more of those!
The fastest racers were already on their way out of Mallard Slough. These consisted on a man in a rowing shell, a guy in an HPK, another rowing shell, a couple more boats and the OC-6, which was being paced by Shane in an HPK. A couple of other rowers followed.
Steve made his turn and kept to the east side of the slough. I made the turn and returned to the west side, figuring that since the slough formed something of an arc it would be faster to go around the inner diameter than the outer. Of course, this also meant that I would be much closer to the incoming slower racers, but there was plenty of room to avoid them.
Sure enough, I overtook and passed Steve before the next turn buoy.
The return from Mallard Slough was nice and cool with the headwind. Turning into the next slough, however, we were with the wind and it was getting quite warm even with the generally overcast skies. I had to dip my hands in the water multiple times to cool them off, and wipe away the sweat streaming down my face.
The leaders were already leaving the slough and making their turn into the Elk River.
There was a woman rower who seemed to be having troubles with her turns. On the straight aways she sped far ahead, but several times I nearly caught up to her at the turn buoys. She might have been teasing me, or perhaps she really did have troubles with negotiating those turns.
The water was fairly murky with the overcast skies. Last year I could sometimes see the bottom and narrowly escape the shallows. This year, with the higher tide I had no problems whatsoever. I could probably even have tried some short cuts that had proven disastrous at last year's lower water level. Naw - I didn't want to invite trouble, especially since I knew the course pretty well. Some of the rowers tried them, however, and subsequently thought the better of it.
At the end of this slough I was still being trailed by Steve, a guy in an OC-1 and eventually by a bunch of other people. I cheered them on as I passed on the return leg, heading to the Elk River. They responded in kind.
By the time I made it to the entrance to the Elk River the leaders were already passing by, heading to the finish line. I managed to snap a few last photos and cheered them on.
This section of the race was prettier than the earlier sections. Instead of traveling through a flat wetland area with monotonic marsh grasses and weeds this area was lined on one side by trees of varying heights and species, the occasional house, hills, etc. The sun started to come out as well, which certainly helped with the shadows and lighting.
At this time my energy level was starting to decrease. Not having had any food since breakfast - well, ok, I did have a Rice Krispy treat and a can of soda an hour before the race - I found that I had troubles getting my heart rate to exceed 150 bpm. Slowly but surely it started decreasing, too.
My legs were starting to argue with me as well. I could feel my calf muscles were on the verge of cramping even though I had been drinking water quite frequently. I hope they would hold out to the finish!
I passed a waterfront home that had a crowd of people on the deck overlooking the water. They caught sight of me and cheered me on. That felt good for my spirit!
I waved and pedaled harder.
Nearing the last stretch before the finish line at the bridge I cleared one more mat of weeds from the propeller and tried to sprint. Nope - my legs just wouldn't permit it. Sigh.
I crossed the finish line with a time of 1:09:05, for a distance of 7 miles as measured by the GPS. My heart rate monitor indicated I was in the zone for 1:06:41, with an average rate of 147 bpm. This was not bad considering that the monitor was actually on for 1:18:25!
I circled back and took pictures of the rest of the incoming racers. Steve was the first one across the line after me, with a time 55 seconds longer. The rest mostly arrived in ones and twos, though there was a fairly competitive finish between an OC-2 and a guy in a kayak that he had bought at a garage sale a day or two before. The garage sale kayak won!
After most of the racers had finished I pulled the Cadence from the water and rolled it up to the car. The garden sprayer worked well to wash most of the salt water from the hull and the silt from my feet. It felt good to change into some dry clothes, too!
The awards ceremony was preceded by drawings for door prizes. The prizes included dry bags, fresh crab, fresh marionberry pie and assorted other goodies. I was not so fortunate this year and didn't get anything. Rats!
The awards ceremony was then held. Jeff Knakal won first place overall in his rowing shell, and received one of the wooden Elk trophies. Way to go, Jeff! The last person across the line received another trophy, otherwise all the first through third place finishers received ribbons.
Thank you, Vern, for hosting an excellent competition!
Photos I took during the race can be found here.
