Seattle's Opening Day

May 5, 2001

On Saturday was "Seattle's annual rite of spring", as it is called in the local newspapers. This is Opening Day, where numerous rowing races are held in the Montlake Cut between Lake Washington and Lake Union, where hundreds of boats line up on either side of the extension of the channel into Lake Washington to watch the races and the parade which follows, and where most everyone in their houseboats host parties for all their land lubbing friends to come and share in watching the action.

This year's Opening Day had beautiful weather, unlike that of many years previous. The sun was out, the breezes were light, and the atmosphere was jovial.

I was to meet Rusty Lane and some people who were going to try out some of his Escapades. Unfortunately, they were delayed in traffic, and did not appear for quite some time. Meanwhile, I launched my Escapade pedal boat, parked the car and trailer in one of the scarce parking spots, and pedaled over to the parade staging area near the Seattle Yacht Club.

It was amazing how many Coast Guard auxiliary vessels, Harbor Patrol and Police vessels were stationed around the area! Perhaps there were fears of another WTO riot happening, or that we would all storm past the cordoned off areas and crash the event. Who knows?

There were boats covered with balloons, motorized piers, cabin cruisers ranging in size from a tiny (14 foot) vessel to 75 feet long or more, all manner of sailboats and motor boats, many kayaks, a couple of Cadence's and Hobie Mirage's, etc.

Rusty called my cell phone and said he was at the boat launch with Michael and Glenn, so I headed back over to join them. It took about 10 minutes to get there pedaling at moderately high effort.

Rusty had to meet his daughter at a volleyball competition, so he left us to cruise, each in our own Escapade, as we desired.

After applying more sunscreen we decided to head over towards the festivities, with a short side trip alongside the old Kalakala ferry. En route we came upon one of the Seattle "Ducks". These are amphibious personnel carriers built for hauling troops during World War II, and converted into amphibious buses for the tourists. The three Escapades provided another photo opportunity for the passengers, and vice versa. (See here for some photos.)

It was a blast pedaling past the people partying on their boats and houseboats. We spent quite a bit of time talking to the many folks interested in pedal boats, including one person who was thinking of using one to commute from her houseboat to her job. It probably would take her at least as long to drive a car!

Lunch time came, and we docked at pier at Ivar's Salmon House. After loading up with fish and chips, Rusty returned and joined us. Shortly thereafter a man dressed up to resemble Ivar and a young woman dressed in a clam suit came by (see the photos). Remember the movie "Dances with Wolves"? Well, Ivar's (which has numerous seafood restaurants, including "Acres of Clams", and has the motto "Keep Clam") came up with the humorous parody "Dances with Clams". The movie studios threatened to sue, so Ivar's had to distance themselves from that theme somewhat. Anyway, no one remembers the movie any more, but the Clam Dancers live on.

This particular dancer performed on a large bowl of chowder on a boat piloted by "Ivar" for Opening Day. "Ivar" passed out free chowder coupons, too. Yumm! He also suggested that the clam dancer could possibly perform her tap dance routine on the stern deck of the Escapade, maybe during a trip through the Ballard locks. I think that she would have to be rather daring to attempt that!

After lunch we headed back to the boat launch. While we discussed the various possibilities of boating around the Pacific Northwest, and taking the boats on overnight trips in the San Juans, a couple of amphibious cars cruised by and drove up the ramp out of the water. These cars looked as good as new, even though they must be at least 30 to 40 years old.

All in all it was a great day to be out on the water.

--Michael Lampi

Take a look here for pictures (alternate site).

Return to Mike's 2001 Cruises
Return to Mike's Boating Page
Return to Mike and Kate's Home Page