The seventh Sound Rowers race of the season was the Rat Island Regatta. The course starts at Fort Worden State Park located at the northeastern tip of the Olympic Peninsula, just north and bordering on the neat old city of Port Townsend, WA. From there it heads southeast past the downtown area towards Rat Island, circles the island in (this year) a clockwise direction and returns to the park.

With the recent full moon and the extra low minus tides, however, Rat Island was certain to be Rat Peninsula if one was too slow reaching it!

I got up at the wee hours Saturday morning to take the Edmonds-Kingston ferry over to the west side of Puget Sound. The 7:10 ferry would get me to the other side with plenty of time to drive to Fort Worden, prepare for the race and even socialize a bit.

At the ferry terminal I picked up Paul Rollinger and his bike. He was planning to help with the race timing and various other things that needed doing.

The crossing to Kingston was uneventful. The drive through Port Gamble, on the other hand, was quite interesting as the town was hosting a Civil War battle re-enactment. I just had to stop and take some pictures and see what was going on. The photos above were of the Union camp. The Confederate camp was somewhat out of view just over the hill behind where my car was parked.

All too soon we had to go if we were going to make the race on time. Shortly after Port Gamble we reached the Hood Canal floating bridge. Some time later, after driving through Chimacum and Port Townsend we reached the park.

It was quite overcast and a bit cool. I was happy to be wearing a couple of layers of clothing as the boat was taken from the car and made ready for the race. Steve Chapin was busy scurrying about, unloading a trailer, setting up the registration table and doing all those things a race director needs to do at the last minute. As he also planned to race it was a good thing he had the assistance of a cadre of volunteers.

An easel was set up with aerial photos of portions of the course posted. One could readily tell from the change in coloration where the water was deep and where it most likely would be shallow or nonexistent from today's deeply ebbing tide.

On the back side of the easel was a nautical chart and a display showing the results from previous races. It had plenty of information for those interested in such things.

With the arrival of two 8 man rowing shells by water and numerous others by car it started getting pretty busy in the registration area. I managed to get lucky boat number 13 for the second race in a row. Maybe I should just stencil it onto the hull!

With a little help getting the boat over some partially buried logs I dragged the boat closer to the water. Meanwhile, Steve called the pre-race meeting to order.

For the start everyone was to line up between the end of the Marine Lab pier and a large yellow buoy anchored out in the bay. After the signal was given we were to head towards Point Hudson and then southeast towards Rat Island. Upon reaching the island we were to head around it in a clockwise direction and return to the start.

Steve warned us that the waters around the island were shallow and would soon be dry land due to the strong ebb tide. We were to be prepared for portaging if necessary!

Armed with that information we were sent off to get ready to race.

I removed all but one layer of clothing and put on my water shoes and PFD. The water was a bit chilly as I waded into it to launch the boat. It wasn't as cold as I remembered it being last year when it was downright painful to be in it for more than a few minutes. After getting in and rinsing the sand off my feet I put on some nice, warm wicking sports socks, followed by my nice, wet water shoes. The socks kept their warmth regardless.

While warming up pedaling around the bay I managed to get some photos of some relatively unusual (for Sound Rowers races) boats. These included a fairly short rotomolded plastic kayak, a coxed four man row boat and a three man rowing shell.

In the middle of all this I managed to find my boat crossing a rope floating in the water. It was apparently stretching from the yellow marker buoy towards shore for a length of at least 50 feet. Oh, no! I was worried that it would get snagged by the prop or, at the very least, between the prop and the rudder.

As it turned out, however, the experimental fin on the stuffing box on the boat pushed the rope far enough away that it missed both the prop and the rudder. Hurray!

All too soon the ready signal was given and everyone more or less lined up. There were a few stragglers still getting their boats to the line when the starting signal was given.

Quickly I accelerated up to 7 mph. This kept me even with most of the pack, though the top notch rowers and paddlers were even faster on the start. Seeing some opportunities for drafting near the shore I headed that way. Unfortunately, however, those guys were going faster than I wanted and were soon out of reach. Rats!

Shane was paddling nearby in his fairly new Black Pearl surf ski. I tried to draft him but it didn't work out, either. There wasn't enough of a wake to make much difference.

Off to the side the 8 man Orange Crush with the Tuf As Nails crew could be seen approaching. Aha! An 8 man shell has quite a bit of wake, and these folks were going fast. If I could reach them in time it just might work!

Quickly I turned for an intercept course, pedaling hard. I actually pedaled a bit too hard while taking photos and nearly ran into their stern. Oops! That mistake was costly. By the time my boat turned to follow in their wake they had already gotten too far ahead for me to catch. Rats!

I guess I'll just have to do this race by myself.

The water was pretty flat, and the wind was minimal. The overcast sky helped to keep me from overheating, though from time to time it felt good to drag my hands through the cool water.

At Point Hudson we ran into a sailing regatta departing Port Townsend. Some of the boats got a little close, but overall there appeared to be adequate clearance for all concerned.

There seemed to be some disagreement among the racers as to exactly where one should head in order to reach the northern end of the channel separating Rat Island from the mainland. The field seemed to be quite wide. I picked more of a middle course, remembering that being more or less where the island was located.

Behind me the second 8 man shell and Jim in his Cadence could be seen - well, in the photo, anyway. The photo was taken holding the camera out behind me. I'd have had to imitate a character in the Exorcist to be able to see them from where I was sitting!

Nearing the north end of Rat Island we encountered some fairly rough water where the stuff draining from the channel meets the water emptying from Port Townsend Bay. There were some standing waves, whirlpools and other fun things that most of the other boats generally tried to go around. I chose to go through.

That strategy worked fine until it began to get very, very shallow. Hey - over there the water is fairly smooth, and smooth water runs deep, right? That saying might be true in some instances, but here smooth water means no water! My boat ran aground and shortly thereafter Jim's boat joined mine.

Off to the west a small traffic jam occurred as the 8 man shell ran aground, blocking some other boats from passing.

Getting out of the boat I first tried walking east to find deeper water. No luck. Jim and I both walked west through the fast moving stream of water and south, trying to keep the propellers from dragging on the bottom. Eventually we found a channel of adequately deep water and got in.

Shortly after leaving the shallows we found ourselves being propelled southward at 8, no 9, now 10+ mph! Wow! It was no wonder that all the boats that had passed while we were grounded had disappeared from view. The tidal current must have pulled them around the island and into the bay.

Jim and I traveled more or less together through the section at the south end of the island.

During this time the sun began making a more continuous appearance, too. I was starting to get warm, and the camera lens was starting to fog. Not wanting to have to remove the camera from the bag I decided to try heating the fogging glass window with my hands, hoping to evaporate the fog. It took a few minutes, but sure enough the fog dissipated. Yay!

By this time the other racers were mere specks on the horizon.

I yelled to Jim. "Hey - let's try to catch the Heikkila's - the folks in the OC-2. I think we can do it!"

I didn't hear the response, but decided to go for it anyway.

Meanwhile, the Port Townsend Harbor Patrol was keeping pace. Were we the last boats on the course? Did the portage put us that far behind? It was hard to tell.

Over towards town the Adventuress (or was it the Adventurer?) had just set sail. It looked quite beautiful with its many sails billowing in the light breeze.

Another sailboat left the Port Townsend marina and headed north. It was then I could tell I was gaining on the Heikkila's OC-2, with my speed in the neighborhood of 6.5 mph. Pedal harder!

A few minutes later and I reached Point Hudson. The OC-2 was closer still. For some reason I was reminded of times I've biked when I was trying to catch up to another cyclist. I would get close to them on the hills but was still quite far away since it took much longer to climb the hill than it would to travel that same distance on level ground.

As it turned out this was quite similar. Just past Point Hudson we entered a vast eddy. My speed, which had previously been over 6.5 mph dropped to 5.5 mph or even lower. I double checked to make sure that no weeds were fouling my prop. Would it be faster if I headed way out in the bay and try to reach the northbound part of the eddy?

Looking over in that direction it wasn't very obvious as to where that was. It was probably a better idea to just slog through the eddy and try to reach the finish line as fast as possible.

Sure enough, I crept closer and closer to the OC-2. The closer I got the more energy seemed to flow through my legs. Eventually I was right on their stern.

Should I stay there and rest? No! It was time to pass and sprint to the finish!

"Hi, Vern and Janet", I called. "Beautiful day for a race, isn't it?"

"Sure is", replied Vern.

And then I was off.

I could hear them paddling rapidly behind me, calling out every so often when they switched sides.

Ahead the second 8 was rowing steadily towards the finish. There was no way that I'd beat them over the line. Still, let's see how much distance I could put between me and the OC-2!

I pedaled with every last bit of energy I could muster. My legs and throat were starting to complain, and my water bottles were nearly depleted. Not much farther!

Finally, the horn sounded and my race was over. Almost immediately my legs started cramping, even though I was still pedaling. Ouch, ouch!

About 20 seconds later the OC-2 crossed the finish line. I cheered for them, and then for Jim as he crossed nearly two and a half minutes later. Good work!

While waiting for more boats to cross the line so I could take their pictures I let the Cadence drift. The eddy current, combined with the northerly wind was pushing my boat at almost 1.5 mph to the southeast. No wonder we were going so slowly through the last leg of the race!

Eventually there were no more boats in sight. I beached the boat and stumbled up the beach to retrieve the dolly. It felt good to walk, though my muscles were still complaining. Soon the Cadence was on its dolly and out of the water.

This year I brought along a complete change of clothing, soap, towel and wash cloth. While the shower water was cold it still felt good to wash away all the sweat, grime and sand. Ahh!

Lunch was served shortly afterwards.

As in years past it was a pot luck affair. This year the main entr? was grilled salmon, donated by a local fisherman. It was delicious! The other food was quite good, too.

As far as I could tell just about everyone got their fill.

One special event was the celebration of Rainer Storb's 70th birthday. In his honor a large sheet cake was brought out, which was quite tasty! I would have had seconds, except my belly was already filled from the other delectable morsels (seen in a photo above). Happy 70th, Rainer!

The awards ceremony saw plenty of first places finishes. The overall race winners and the recipients of the race Cup were Jeff and Theresa Knakal in their double rowing shell. They managed to cover the course just over the record with a time of 56:59. They were followed by Steve Chapin, the race director, in his single shell with a time of 59:07.

My time was 1:19:48, which was a couple of minutes slower than last year's. However, last year I didn't have to deal with portaging, either! Jim finished with a time of 1:22:18.

At the end of the ceremonies additional awards were given, honoring a variety of esoteric categories.

About this time the last boat arrived. The indomitable woman paddling the rotomolded kayak managed to cross the finish line and reach the shore with what may be a new course record for the longest time: 3:45:00. Congratulations!

Thank you, Steve Chapin, for a well run race.