Budd Inlet Race

September 22, 2001

On Saturday, Sept. 22, the Sound Rowers in conjunction with the Olympia Rowers had their 4th annual Budd Inlet Race. This race is located off the shores of Olympia, WA, on the southernmost reaches of Puget Sound. The course starts at the Swantown Marina, heads at a bearing of 316 degrees (magnetic) to a channel marker, then heads to a boat moored across the inlet at a heading of roughly 20 degrees, and then returns to the start. The total distance is about 7 nautical miles, which is approximately 8.06 statute miles.

The record for this course in a rowing shell is 53 minutes. The record for a pedal propelled boat is 1 hour, 48 minutes and some odd seconds, set by me in my Escapade. A couple in a SeaCycle set a record for pedal propelled mixed doubles in 1998 with a time of just over 2 hours.

Unfortunately, just like the previous weekend which canceled the Bainbridge Island Marathon, there was a significant amount of fog obscuring the course. However, it soon lifted enough that the start of the race was delayed by only 30 minutes to 10:30 AM.

Rusty Lane brought a pair of WaveWalkers with him, including one for me to use in this race. As we had some time before the race was to being, we were able to adjust the seat positioning to suit my body, and to do a little pedaling around the marina to get used to the boat.

I tried an earlier model of the WaveWalker at last year's Hydrofest in Michigan. There did not appear to be many changes to the boat since that time. It is still a well made, fiberglass hulled beauty, with a somewhat unusual catamaran style hull and a large open cockpit. The term catamaran is used rather loosely here. The hull is somewhat shaped like the letter "w". The pedal drive unit is suspended in the center and the seat rests o the top of the central "peak" of the "w".

This hull shape provides quite a bit of stability to the three foot wide vessel, even though your body is at least half a foot above the water. There is a large amount of storage space in the boat, too, as well as enough room and displacement to carry a second person in calm waters.

Since I was planning to race, and was not too sure about the amount of protection from spray and waves, I gave my camera and excess equipment to Rusty for safe keeping. Also, unlike an Escapade, which has a deck above the hull which tends to keep things dry throughout the cabin, the WaveWalker hull was also the deck. This meant that any water that entered the boat stayed in the bottoms of the "w", and anything stored around the cockpit should be able to withstand a little moisture.

The first thing I noticed about the drive train was that it was designed for someone who enjoys pedaling at a slow (<60 rpm) cadence, or really had the muscles to push the pedals hard. My preference is to pedal moderately lightly at about 80 or 90 rpm.

The second thing was that I had to secure my shoelaces from flopping about. The ones on my right shoe almost immediately got caught in the chain drive.

The next thing about the drive unit is that it is not aligned with the seat. The pedal unit is offset to the right an inch or two due to the way the pedal motion is converted into propeller motion. This was not a problem for me, at first, but my right size 12 shoe did not have much clearance between the crank arm and the lip of the cockpit.

10:30 finally came, and the starting horn sounded. Everyone immediately started paddling, rowing and pedaling madly northward into the fog. Within about two minutes I got a pounding headache, my legs started hurting and my bottom started complaining about the fiber glass seat. This was not looking like it was going to be fun, and I seriously thought about turning around right then and there.

After a bit of soul searching I decided that I would continue on, even if it took me a couple of hours to complete the course. With the exception of the fog, the weather conditions were very similar to the previous year, and this would be an excellent experiment comparing the WaveWalker with the Escapade. So, onward I went, straining at the pedals, trying to keep the other racers in sight, and following my compass as best as possible.

This year it seemed that the field was much faster than previous years, or I was a bit slower. Everyone pretty much left me in the dust, er, wakes within ten minutes of the start. Also, remembering from last year that I headed too far west to reach the marker, this year I stayed much further east. However, after a while I realized I was *way* too far east, and had to head about half a mile due west in order to reach the marker! Oops!

Cruising through the calm water I saw several seals poking their heads up out of the water. They stared at my boat as I approached, but quickly dove under before I could get close. Likewise, a number of seagulls took flight as I went through an area in which they were floating. All except one, that is, who was nervously sitting on a floating bit of a log as I passed by.

Hmm, could the channel marker be the tower of pylons with the fog horn blaring? Everyone else seemed to be going around it, so I did, too. Later on I overheard the race director saying that he completely forgot that the marker did, indeed, have a fog horn, which would have made it much easier to navigate!

By this time the fog was giving way in patches to clear blue sky. I headed across the channel towards what looked like a couple of orange spots on the horizon with some adjoining tiny boat-like black dots approaching it, hoping that was the next turn. A very light breeze had started, which helped to keep me fairly cool.

By this time my bottom, back and shoulders were not very happy with my choice of chair. I tried cushioning the seat with my PFD, which worked for a little while, and which reduced the distance to the pedals. This enabled me to press on the cranks much harder and go faster - until my muscles gave way a short time later.

Bending over and pedaling with my hands actually worked fairly well. It gave my legs a much needed rest, removed the pressure from my bottom and back, and felt pretty good. Unfortunately, the WaveWalker does not track in a straight line, so I was constantly adjusting my course with my elbow against the steering bar or removing my hand from the pedals (stopping pedaling) and adjusting course with it. A steering mechanism on a hand crank or having the availability of steering pedals when one switches to use one's hands for propulsion would be a great improvement.

Eventually one of the orange spots on the horizon turned right and headed back to Swantown Marina. The other spot remained in position, and the other vessels seemed to be heading around it. As I got closer I finally could make out that the orange spot was actually a large inflatable buoy strapped onto a power boat.

The second course marker had been found, and reached!

By this time the seat was unbearable. I adjusted the tilt of the seat further back and shoved the bottom of the seat forward. This appeared to help quite a bit, but the offset pedaling was also starting to take its toll. Every few minutes I switched to hand cranking or sitting on my pfd. I really wished I had my nice, comfy Escapade seat!

In addition, the seat back extended up to my neck. This blocked what little breeze there was from behind, and also hit the brim of my hat unless I slouched forward. It appears that the seat needs a bit of work.

The sun was out in full force, and the tailwind was not much faster than my progress. There were a couple of boat wakes that made the otherwise fairly calm waters a little more interesting, but nothing that really put this boat to the test.

Once or twice the propeller snagged something or hit something floating in the water. However, upon a little reverse pedaling and/or examination of the prop through the very handy transparent access port in the hull the obstruction disappeared.

Rounding the last point prior to the marina the Harbor Patrol boat came alongside to see how I was faring. After giving him the thumb's up, I inquired as to what my velocity was. After pacing me for a while he said it appeared to be about 5.4 statute miles per hour. This seemed to agree with my observations, too, given that this was about my steady pace throughout most of the race.

I eventually reached the finish line, and was greeted by Rusty in the other WaveWalker. Whew!

The grilled salmon, corn on the cob, salad and brownie picnic lunch served after the race by the Olympia Rowers sure hit the spot!

This boat and race sure took all my energy. My finishing time was 1 hour, 41 minutes and 7 seconds, for an average speed of about 4.75 mph. My time in my Escapade last year, where I had to deal with fixing a pedal that came off, getting and returning a wrench, and removing a windshield, was 7 minutes longer.

Final verdict: The Wave Walker is a good boat, but needs some tweaks in order to make it work better. In no particular order:
1. The seat needs to be replaced with something that is truly comfortable for more people for long periods of time.
2. The steering needs to be set up so that either the boat tracks a straight line better, or alternate ways of steering should be made available when one uses their hands to pedal.
3. "decklets" should be placed in the bottom of either hull to keep things a bit more dry.
4. The pedal drive needs to be centered.
5. The pedal drive needs to have a bit less resistance in its mechanism.
6. The pedal drive needs to be able to accommodate people who normally pedal at a faster cadence.

Otherwise, the ease with which one can beach the boat (pulling up the drive unit), the relative lightness (130 pounds) and the overall construction quality make this a good alternative to those folks who want an stable alternative to a kayak, and don't necessarily want to launch from a trailer.

Thank you, Rusty, for the use of your boat!

Pictures can be found here.

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