The day began fairly bright and mostly sunny. The drive to Lakewood, WA, from Bellevue for the Sound Rowers American Lake Classic was quite uneventful.
I arrived over an hour ahead of the scheduled start of the race, but the parking lot was almost completely filled. I managed to fit into a spot under a tree with low hanging branches, obviously not a choice location for all the other folks with vans and pickup trucks!
The narrow lane to Bill's was swarming with people carrying their boats to and fro, and with some people in cars trying in vain to find a close spot to park.
En route to the Boathouse I spotted a rather unique roof rack. It was made from fairly large diameter copper plumbing pipe and fittings. With some rather flimsy and extremely long sections of electrical conduit this rack was designed to hold two quad kayaks on the roof of the vehicle and to keep them from flexing in opposing directions.
The path to Bill's goes between two houses down a hill. At the Boathouse you have a choice of going down a set of stairs or walking across the roof and down a long ramp to the dock. I chose the roof, following a guy carrying a purple rowing shell.
Since the weather was good registration was moved onto the tiny lawn beside the docks. After signing the waiver and paying my $7 race fee I received what looked like a dryer fabric softener sheet with a number written on it in a large font. It was supposed to be pinned to my shirt or PFD so that the race timing officials could see it. Unfortunately, in my case, there was no place on me to pin it that would not be in the way. Duct tape appeared to be unavailable as well. Perhaps it could be pinned to the Cadence hatch straps.
Making an appearance this year were three 4 man kayaks. They were certain to be among the first to complete the course, having a bit better maneuverability than any of the rowing shells and comparable speed.
Back at my car I unloaded the Cadence. Across the lane was Steve Wells, the local Maas rowing shell dealer, and Sharky. Apparently Sharky had her boat all of five days, and was now entering in her first race! Way to go!
Paul Rollinger had been doing some scouting and determined that for people with carts (or trailers) the best place to launch was at a ramp adjacent to a fenced in parking lot next to the Boathouse. There was no dock or parking associated with the ramp, but this route would not require two people to carry the boat over railings, down wooden ramps, around other boats, etc.
After handing my camcorder to Paul so he could take some videos of the race, and loading up the Cadence with the camera, PFD, water, bike shoes, sunscreen lotion, etc., I wheeled the boat down the lane to the water.
There actually a sort of makeshift dock, too, in the form of a small platform trailer someone left on the shore. It was just long enough to let me step into the cockpit of the Cadence without having to get my feet wet.
I stripped down to my shirt, bike shorts and bike shoes. The gate between the ramp and Bill's was open, so I left the dolly and excess clothing in a heap in a corner at the Boathouse.
Launching was a piece of cake, though I did have to pedal in reverse for quite a while to clear the docks. A couple of minutes later and I was at Bill's - just in time for the pre-race meeting.
Dave Anderson, the race organizer and son of the owner of Bill's Boathouse, was regaling the group about the history of the race, the kind of people who were racing today, the course and the fact that this was opening day for fishing. It was given with a rather humorous tone, but with warnings that some of the racers don't give way for anything, even docks!
After the meeting everyone began launching their vessels. As my boat was already in the water and tied up to a slip I was able to quickly depart the scene and start taking photos.
Today was the first time in a couple of weeks that the Cadence was on the water. The previous times, at Lake Sammamish and Phantom Lake, the boat had a decided tendency to pull to the left. It also did not seem to go quite as fast as it used to.
In the interim I took apart the rudder assembly and realigned it. To my eye it did not seem out of alignment to begin with, but I did it anyway. In addition, the propeller was cleaned, primed and painted a nice gold color. The color combination with the maroon colored hull was excellent.
Anyway, today the boat no longer had a strong pull to the side. It seemed to have excellent acceleration, too.
As I was pedaling around I noticed that one of the OC-2's had capsized during their warmup. The two women were able to right their vessel and reboard without assistance, though there were plenty of offers.
There were some 53 boats on the water for the race. With everyone trying to warm up in generally the same area one had to keep their eyes open in order to prevent collisions. Some of the faster boats headed to the outskirts in order to have a carefree time.
I practiced my slalom skills and took advantage of whatever photo opportunities I could find.
Eventually people began forming a rather ragged starting line between Silcox Island and the buoys anchored near Bill's dock. I positioned myself near the middle.
As promised the 2 minute warning was not given until everyone was ready. This delayed the start until about 10:13 AM. As the countdown was announced it was echoed by the racers so that it could be heard further down the line towards the island. By the time it reached "One" a couple of racers had already started. This was not really a problem, as those people were typically the fastest racers anyway and this got them somewhat ahead of the mayhem.
The mass start was rather messy. Boats got quite close to each other, and the rowers had to be careful so as to not get hung up on other craft and vice versa. The formerly smooth water boiled from the action of the paddles and oars, and a couple of times I had to shift my balance or adjust my position so as to prevent capsizing!
Eventually the boats more or less organized themselves into pace lines. This significantly reduced the randomness of their positions, and the boats began traveling in groups going more or less the same speed.
I fell in behind a double canoe that was going about 7 mph. It seemed like a reasonably comfortable pace, and one that permitted me to take photos without too much effort.
As I passed a fishing boat I noticed that the occupants were assisting a capsized racer. Oh, well. These things happen!
Soon afterwards we approached the first buoy. That is, me and about 20 other boats! Many of the racers took the turn wide; the canoe and I cut a very sharp turn directly adjacent to the buoy and headed straight in the direction of the second buoy. I could hear the noises of other boats and their riders behind, some of which definitely sounded like they were trying to avoid collisions or to recover from them!
Going about the same speed as me and the double canoe was an OC-2 piloted by Vern Heikkila and Bill Anderson. In past races I was definitely faster than Vern and his wife. It would be interesting to see if I was faster than Vern and this new motor he had recruited. Anyway, they paralleled us for a while. Suddenly they took advantage of a momentary lapse in my following the canoe (I was taking a photo) to sneak in and grab the position directly behind it. Rats! These guys weren't about to let me back in, either!
I ended up paralleling the OC-2, which turned out to be a good idea as at the second buoy they managed to place their bow over the middle of the double canoe!
Throughout this time our little group of paddlers and pedaler had more or less been keeping pace with one of the rowing shells. I tried catching up to him and, in fact, he slowed down slightly to let me try to draft his wake. Unfortunately, however, I never got quite close enough to get any benefit. My legs and lungs were also telling me that I had better conserve some energy or the next two laps just might be really tough.
I thanked him and waved him on.
That OC-2 kept really close to the double canoe. I figured that there was no way I could cut in except at one of the buoys where the OC-2 would make a larger turn. So, right at the buoy in front of Bill's Boathouse I made my move.
Yay! I got in, a bit to the consternation of the OC-2 paddlers.
I also got a photo of Paul Rollinger, who was in a kayak taking videos of the race. "Hey Paul, you had better not dunk my camcorder!"
Since this was now the second lap I decided to try taking a movie sequence using my digital camera. Unfortunately, however, the camera decided not to comply. While concentrating on it and bracing through the wake of one of the fishing boats - you guessed it - the OC-2 sneaked in and grabbed my spot behind the double canoe! Rats!
The outrigger of the OC-2 was right next to me, so I grabbed it. Hey - perhaps they could give me a tow! Well, umm, that would probably be frowned on.
Vern called to me and asked that I be careful and to not lift the outrigger. He said that if I lifted it a couple of inches and let go that they could capsize.
Hey - what an idea!
Flipping my competition over was not permitted by my personal rule book, enticing though it seemed. Instead, I decided to parallel them all the way to the first buoy and see if I could repeat sneaking in behind the canoe.
Unfortunately for me, however, the double canoe took the outside turn to the OC-2. I quickly pulled behind the OC-2, which had a sizable wake in which to draft.
The double canoe was running somewhat slower this lap and began trailing behind. I kept close to the OC-2, and was able to keep pretty close behind. The bow of the Cadence lightly touched their stern only a couple of times - mainly while I was taking photos, of course. No harm was done!
It was getting pretty warm, even though the sun was being filtered somewhat through some light clouds. My Sound Rowers cap was sitting in a puddle on the floor of the cockpit, and I didn't think very much of putting it on my head in order to shade my eyes. My water bottle was about 2/3 gone, having been drained steadily throughout the race. Would there be enough to last to the finish?
As we approached the end of lap 2 I noticed that the center of the LCD on the digital camera was getting rather cloudy. Oh, no! Condensation was building up on the inside of the waterproof housing, regardless of the fact that there was a packet of dessicant in there as well.
After making the turn at the end of the second lap I decided to open the housing and let it air out. Perhaps that would do the trick - assuming that I didn't have an accident and somehow get the thing wet.
I was able to unscrew the fastener to the camera case and open the bag. The flow of air was indeed reducing the condensation.
By the time we reached the first buoy, lapping some of the slower racers, the condensation was gone. I proceeded to seal the camera back in the bag.
Just after the second buoy I noticed that the racers that had been ahead of us seemed to be a little further away. Also, the OC-2 did not seem to be going quite as fast as before. The GPS concurred, reporting a speed of about 6.5 mph, which was a little slower than before. Perhaps they were getting tired. Anyway, I decided that my legs and lungs could probably work just a little bit harder all the rest of race and leave these guys behind.
I pulled out from behind and started pedaling faster.
Gradually I increased my speed and began pulling ahead of the OC-2. They took notice and tried to follow in my wake, but apparently the propeller wash negated any positive influence that my hull's draft created. Hah!
By the time I rounded the second buoy they were still pretty close. Hmmm, I had better put the pedal to the metal!
After taking a couple more photos I put the camera away. Time for some serious pedaling!
Ahead I could see the rowers that had previously been fairly close. For some reason they had gone somewhat off course. Perhaps they were trying to compensate for the light northerly breeze, perhaps they simply could not see the finish line very well. Regardless, there would be no draft assistance between here and the finish line for me.
I drained the last of the water bottle and pedaled faster. Breathe, pedal, breathe, pedal, breathe!
Dipping my hands in the lake helped significantly to keep me from overheating. Ahh, that felt good!
As I reached the finish line I snapped a photo of the race volunteers lining the fishing dock. Rats! The lens was getting clouded again! This might be a real problem for this bag
Finally, with a time of just over an hour (1:00:25) and covering a distance of 6.8 miles (according to the GPS), I finished the race. Whew!
I circled back. After removing the camera from the waterproof case I began taking photos of the other participants.
While doing this I noticed a number of people that were headed towards a park located a few hundred yards north of the boathouse. I pedaled over that way and pointed them in the right direction. Apparently they were a bit confused!
Just after a two young girls in a two person fast sea kayak and a guy in a single fast sea kayak passed, neck in neck, I decided to turn and give them chase. Revving the Cadence up to 10 mph (a personal best!) I soon caught up to them and said "Hi there. Great race!".
After a few more photos there appeared to be quite a long time before anyone else would be finishing. I pedaled over to the dock and tied up.
While walking about the dock two of the youngest racers crossed the finish line. These guys might not be the fastest, but from their faces it looked like they had a great time nonetheless.
I brought some of my stuff back to the car. On the way I helped a couple of other racers with their boats, loading them onto their car tops. Unfortunately for me, this meant I arrived late at the lunch table. While there still was some delicious fried chicken, there was almost nothing else to be had. Sigh...
Lots of people were milling about the dock next to the Cadence. Oh, yeah - I was going to offer demos! Perhaps I had better get over there and do something.
While letting people try out the boat the awards ceremony started. Suddenly I heard my name being called, so off I ran. Luckily it was between demos!
It's hard being in two places at once.
The fastest time for the race was 45:49, and turned in by one of the K-4's. The next fastest was 47:05 by a 1X rowing shell. My place overall was 24th out of a field of 53 boats. The slowest time was 1:44:39.
In the middle of the ceremony Paul Rollinger took me aside and said there was a great photo op available in the parking lot. We left the ceremony and headed up there to find that disaster had befallen one of the boats.
Apparently someone in a big U-Haul truck with a box over the cab thought they could somehow pass under the extremely long red double rowing shell that was on the roof of a Eurovan. Needless to say, it couldn't. While the ultra lightweight ultra expensive carbon fiber hull could withstand the rigors of two healthy rowers it was not up to stopping a multi ton truck!
According to the wife of the owner of the boat, it was a good thing that he was on the other side of the country that day.
Photos I took during the race can be found
here.
Other photos and videos can be found
here.
