The pedal/paddle/rowing season is off to a great start. After the high winds and waves at La Conner and the breezy winds on Lake Sammamish, the calm, flat waters of the Sound Rowers American Lake Classic were a definite relief. While we could have had rainy, windy weather we in fact enjoyed overcast skies with temperatures in the upper 50's and only a light northerly breeze. Since this was on a lake there were no currents to contend with, either!
Rain had been forecast (isn't it always?) and it had been rather wet the preceding week. Still, the rain stopped at dawn and I encountered none on the way down to Tacoma.
As it has for the past 19 years, the race starts at Bill's Boathouse on American Lake. Bill's is a rather funky 60's kind of place, with all sorts of boats to rent, docks from which to fish, a store in which you can buy fishing gear and licenses, etc. It also has a marvelous collection of wooden power boats, circa 1940's, all beautifully finished and painted and displayed with loving care. There is even a Model A (or Model T? I didn't take a close enough look) parked beside them, all indoors.
Anyway, to get to the water one has to carry their boat from the parking lot down an alley to the roof of Bill's, over a walkway on the roof, and down a ramp to the dock. This generally seemed to work OK for most people, though last year I chose to launch my Escapade at the ramp on the far side of the lake and pedal across.
This year, since I was using a Cadence, I would be taking the same path as everyone else and save myself the trip across the lake - as well as boat launch fees! Rusty Lane, owner of Pedalcraft, Inc. and Vince McGowan were instrumental in getting my boat down to the water. Thanks for all your help, guys!
Registration was at a table inside the store area. Racers were given what looked like dryer fabric softener sheets with number stenciled on them, and safety pins. I guess the dryer sheets were to make us smell better after the race was over, or something, except mine had no scent whatsoever. Perhaps my slightly sore throat was affecting my sense of smell.
We had the standard pre-race meeting. This time, however, a couple of differences from previous races were noted. The first difference was that people were explicitly told that there would be a 5 minute warning (2 short blasts on a horn), a 1 minute warning (1 short blast) and a start signal (long blast). Anyone caught starting at the one minute mark would be severely penalized.
The second difference was that since this race consisted of three laps around a triangular course, with sharp turns at each corner of the triangle, it was definitely possible for this event to be a contact sport. It was even possible that someone might try to bribe someone else to accidentally block following racers with their vessel. All of this was meant in fun, of course!
Unlike many other Sound Rowers races, I actually got into the water well in advance of the 5 minute warning. I spent the extra time warming up, checking out the new propeller and taking photos of the other boats.
For this race I was also trying out a new method of protecting my camera from the elements. Since I have been unsuccessful in finding a source for a commercially made waterproof housing for my Casio QV3000-EX digital camera - believe me, I've tried several that are supposed to work but don't - I made one from some plastic bags, a hose clamp, a piece of aluminum from an old computer cabinet, an acrylic tube, a plexiglass plate and some "Marine Goo" adhesive. A short length of rope and some duct tape to secure the rope to the bag served as a camera strap for around my neck. Anyway, the end results is that the camera was protected from water, I could access all the controls, but the plastic bags made the LCD nearly impossible to view. Unfortunately, the clamping mechanism obstructed the optical viewfinder, so my camera was definitely turned into a "point and shoot" model. I have some ideas now as to how to fix some of the shortcomings, so hopefully future photos will be better composed.
By the time the 5 minute warning sounded most of the boats were already lined up for the start. Vince chose a position near the dock, and I took one closer to the island. My strategy was to try to keep the distance to the first buoy as short as possible. Vince's strategy was to get to the first buoy after much of the crowd had passed. There were definitely going to be too many boats in too small an area around that first turn!
The 1 minute warning sounded. Incredibly, considering what happened at Lake Sammamish, not one boat jumped the gun. I guess people took the warnings to heart, though I saw some people chomping at the bit.
The starting signal sounded and immediately water was being thrown back and into the air by all the paddles and oars. My Cadence quickly ramped up to speed as I pumped those pedals for all I was worth, and my camera was snapping pictures left, right and ahead.
Most of the rowing shells were quickly in front of the pack. It was almost as though they leapt out of the water ahead of me so sudden was their appearance. Still, I was pedaling very strongly - too strongly, however, and I knew I would be unable to keep up this pace for much longer. Regardless, I wanted to make it to the first buoy before the rest of the pack turned it into gridlock.
I reached the first buoy just before the first dragon boat and another kayak. This gave me the the inside track around it, requiring me to make as tight a turn as possible. The Cadence was able to do a pretty good job even though it is over 19 feet long.
After the turn I quickly got back up to speed and headed directly for where I remembered from the previous year the location of the second buoy. For some reason everyone else was taking a much wider tack, leaving me alone much further out in the lake. A few moments of self doubt ensued before I decided to continue on my initial course.
About this time I remembered to start my stopwatch. Better late than never, as this could give me some idea of the lap split times, but my personal record of the time for the entire race would be just a little short!
A few minutes later I could just make out the second buoy. Sure enough, it was dead ahead of me. The other boats would have to start heading back towards my line of travel, meaning that with a little more effort I had a good chance of making it there before them! Pedal! Pedal!!
By a mere couple of feet I managed to make it there just barely ahead of the first dragon boat. All right!
By this time it was apparent that I was not going to be able to keep up this pace. Between the 2nd and 3rd buoys the first dragon boat finally pulled ahead. I was pedaling beside the 2nd dragon boat, and noticed a double kayak in its slipstream. Aha! I could do the same thing and let my muscles recover. Behind the kayak I went.
It was a little nerve wracking drafting the double kayak as it drafted the dragon boat. If I got more than 6 or 7 feet behind then the drafting effects became nonexistent. If I got too close then there was the possibility of collision. Still, my muscles thanked me for the reduction in pedaling required. I was able to cut my effort down by at least 20 to 30%, or so it seemed.
When we got to the buoys the dragon boat had to take them with a wide turn, so the double kayak, the single and I all tried to cut the corner closer to gain an advantage. At the first buoy, lap 2, I was able to gain the position right behind the dragon boat. This was a much better position, as the wake enabled me to use even less effort to keep up.
After a short while my muscles had seemed to recover a bit. The first dragon boat looked like it might be within capture range, so off I went pedaling madly towards it. I managed to get within about 40 feet or so of it, but my legs just could not keep up the pace. Back behind the second boat I went!
I stayed behind the dragon boat for most of lap three, as the effort of trying to catch the first boat really wore me down. However, just as we reached the midpoint of the last leg of lap three I pulled to the side and made a sprint for the finish. Slowly, slowly I managed to nearly pull even with the bow of the dragon boat when they also started their finish line sprint. They managed to get their bow across the finish line only 8 feet ahead of my bow (regardless of what the timing officials claim). Whew! What an effort!
My finishing time was recorded as 57 minutes, 20 seconds, 17th in a field of 49 or so boats. The distance covered is claimed as about 5.5 miles. Not having a GPS on board I could not argue; however, from MS Streets & Trips and some guesstimation as to the actual locations of the buoys I think the distance is 6 or possibly 6.5 statute miles.
I stayed out on the water taking pictures of the rest of the boats as they came down the final leg. A couple of rowing shells came in, some double kayaks, and Vince finished about 8 minutes later.
After a while it seemed that pretty much all the boats had finished. I got out and then realized how much I had put into this race. My legs were quite wobbly, and Rusty offered to lend me his hand a couple of times. In addition, the thin closed cell foam padding I used under my back apparently was not quite up to the task as I had two very sore spots right above the buttocks at the base of the spine. Oww!
The lunch was sponsored by the Gig Harbor rowing club, the race entry fee and Bill's Boathouse. There was plenty of fried chicken, home made potato salad, fruit, soft drinks and cookies for all to have their fill.
After lunch Dave, the son of Bill (of Bill's Boathouse), handed out the awards. A new course record was set, withthe 4 man kayak completing the race in 44 minutes, 28 seconds! Also, some 12 year old kids were the youngest racers ever in the race.
Dave had quite a few humorous anecdotes to relate about the people and the event, and provided a lot of entertainment. Good work, Dave!
The complete set of photos I took during the race can be found here.