Commencement Bay Race
May 15, 2004
Race Course

The Commencement Bay Race starts on the shores of Commencement Bay at Headshaw Park, located on the north side of Tacoma, WA, heads about 3 miles southeasterly to the furthest reaches of Commencement Bay, goes around a couple of buoys and returns to the park.

The race is listed as being about 7 miles in length. This means that relative to some of the other Sound Rowers races this should be a fairly fast race. The first boats would probably be done in around 45 minutes or less. Based on my typical speed I would expect to finish in roughly an hour.

Parking Lot

Unlike the previous two years where I had no trouble getting to the park, this time I made two wrong turns along the shoreline highway before finally arriving at the park. Hmm, I guess I should have printed the driving instructions after all!

Even with the wrong turns I still managed to get to the park early enough to have my choice of where to park.

Staging area

With the help of Rainer Storb the Open Water Cycling Cadence was moved from roof rack and onto its dolly. Shortly afterwards I carted the boat to the open grassy staging area between the picnic area and the stony beach.

It was a cool, overcast morning. The temperature was in the 60's, with a forecast indicating it would reach the upper 60's, with the possibility of rain later in the day. There was no wind to speak of, so the water was almost as smooth as glass. Even with the overcast I decided it would be a good idea to put on sunscreen.

Registration

Registration was located at a picnic table in an area of trees by the parking lot. I paid my $7, returned to my car and stripped down into my racing clothes.

The launch area was a very stony beach, covered with rocks the size of one's fist. Between the rocks and the staging area was a concrete path and numerous driftwood logs and timbers. There actually was a section of sandy gravel just above the extreme high tide level, so I guess that made it qualify as a sandy beach!

Yeah, right.

Tailgate party

Many other racers had also arrived early. As they waited for the pre-race meeting a number of them congregated in the parking lot and had something of an impromptu tailgate party. It is possible that the proximity of the one and only Port-a-potty for miles around had something to do with this.

Second Cadence

Rusty Lane and his brother Larry brought another Cadence to the race. This boat was intended to be used by Debbie Natelson as her only other boat (a rowing shell) was totaled when it fell off her van. Someone, who shall remain nameless, had forgotten the straps were loosened in order to remove the boat. Oops!

Pre-race meeting

Shortly after Rusty's arrival the pre-race meeting was held. Todd Silver, the race director, had a sketch of the bay and all the new obstructions on the course. He commented that there were more freighters, barges and log booms scattered about the course this year than for any previous race. Still, they were generally out of the way and could serve as course markers if necessary.

As we did for last year's race we were to start in a line by the pier and head towards some large black container cargo cranes located at the end of the bay. Near them we would find a large yellow navigational buoy. Turn right, and head towards a large barge carrying a gigantic mound of sawdust. Go around the barge and head back to the starting line, staying relatively close to the shore at the end.

All in all, it is a pretty straightforward and simple course.

Heading to launch area Cadence valet service
Launching Second Cadence

After the meeting everyone headed to the launch area. Rusty and Larry carried Deb's Cadence down to the water and helped her launch. They also helped carry my boat over the rocks and assisted in my launch, too. Thanks, guys!

Since I had to wade into the water I was wearing my water shoes. In order to race, however, I had to put on bike shoes so they would snap into the clipless pedals on the boat. This meant taking off the water shoes, drying my feet, putting on socks, lacing and velcroing the shoes, which takes a bit of time. The one minute signal was heard just as I finished with this task and headed towards the starting line. I guess there would not be too many pre-race on the water shots today!

Deb Heading to launch area Waiting to go Dragon boat waiting to go

The boats were spread out quite a bit. Most were more or less lined up as requested by the race officials. Several boats, including both dragon boats, were several lengths behind this line. Perhaps they felt they would be better off missing the frenzy of smaller boats and their paddles or oars at the start!

Go! On our way

Within a few moments I heard a countdown, and then we were off!

It was a fast start. The dragon boats actually started moving during the countdown but were still behind when the starting signal was given. Everyone else seemed to leap away from the start, and the formerly placid waters were churned into froth. A couple of kayaks that had been near me moved ahead - and my GPS was showing a speed in excess of 8 mph! Wow - could those guys keep this up for 7 miles?

Breakaway group

Near the shore I could see a double kayak and several other paddlers moving very quickly. Should I try to catch them? Nope - they were going too fast and I was too far away. Besides, they just might run out of energy well before the finish - I hope!

OC-2 ahead Rear view

There was a familiar OC-2 just ahead. Those guys could go reasonably fast and their wake would be just the ticket to giving me a nearly free ride while taking photos. After them!

Meanwhile, a couple of kayaks were trailing just behind me, probably with similar ideas about either my boat or the OC-2.

Far ahead See ya later!

The OC-2 was going around 7 mph, which suited me just fine. I was warming up and finding that my new sweat banded visor was working quite well in keeping sweat and bright sky from my eyes and still letting the cool air reach my scalp.

It was good I had two water bottles this trip. The first one was draining pretty rapidly as I took sips from it every couple of minutes. Huff, puff, huff, puff!

After a while I decided that I could go a bit faster than the OC-2 was moving. There were some other boats ahead that could provide a tow - if I could catch them - and this was a fairly short race. It was time to move out.

Boats ahead at end of bay Getting a tow Passing an OC-1

There were a couple of other boats in our little group that had the same idea, so I took advantage of their wakes for a while. Still, even these guys were not really moving as fast as I wanted, so after a few minutes I left them more or less behind as well.

Passing a freighter Paralleling a rower

We came within a few hundred yards of a freighter anchored at the north side of the bay. Wait a minute - the buoy is off to the south! We were definitely going rather wide for the first turn!

Fast pace line

Off in the distance the faster boats, including the double HPK and several single HPK's could be seen against the backdrop of the log boom and the dark shoreline. They were really moving!

The faster rowers were out of sight.

Shane Baker, who was on an OC-2 at the Lake Whatcom race a couple of weeks earlier, was paddling his Orange Crush HPK today. He had been somewhat ahead of me earlier, and was now nearing the yellow buoy. Hmm, it might just be possible to catch him though he generally is a pretty tough competitor. Maybe if I hadn't followed this somewhat wayward group of boats that actually had been heading slightly too far north I'd already be there with Shane. Oh, well...no more excuses!

I made a bee line to the yellow buoy. Unfortunately, however, this meant that my course was crossing the flow from the mouth of the Puyallup River. By the way, if you can properly pronounce that name then you are considered a local. Anyway, the flow cut my speed down to nearly 6 mph - and I was working harder than ever! Drat! The sooner I made it to the buoy for the turn the better.

Shane at yellow buoy

Shane made his turn and was now heading towards the sawdust barge. The lone rower was pretty close as well. After them!

As I approached the buoy I could see the current washing against it, creating a stream of ripples in the water towards the west. Yes, there definitely was a flow against the racers. I had to take the turn a bit wide in order to prevent being thrust against the buoy.

The fast HPK's could now be seen making their way towards a large freighter docked along the shore near a grain elevator. They were easily 5 minutes or more ahead, and looked like they were still going strong.

Heading towards 2nd turn Tacoma aroma

I was just happy that the prevailing wind was from the south. If it had been from the east then we would have been subjected to "the aroma of Tacoma". These days the aroma is considerably more pleasant than it used to be; i.e., instead of including smelter fumes, sawmill smoke and the fine odor of paper mills it just had the paper mills. Anyway, today the air quality was pretty good. In fact, I have yet to be subjected to bad air in the three years I've been racing here.

By big barge Making 2nd turn

It appeared that I was making some progress towards Shane. My speed was back up to nearly 7 mph and the cool breeze was helping to keep me from overheating. Soon I was alongside the rusty bucket of a sawdust barge with its tremendous mound of amber colored tree fragments. A quick turn around the mooring buoy and I was headed back towards the starting line.

The GPS indicated an elapsed distance of just over 3 miles. Three more miles to go!

The rower was falling behind, but some of the other boats that I had thought I had lost were actually fairly close behind. Both dragon boats were still behind, but the shouts of the coxswains could be heard over the water cajoling the paddlers to put forth more effort. I had better get moving!

I began pushing a little harder. Shane was hugging the shore, possibly to reduce the effects of the incoming tide. This made a somewhat longer course than the straight line to the finish. I decided to go directly towards the finish, some 3 miles away.

Late racer

Approaching the vicinity of the gray freighter I saw a man in a yellow and white OC-1 change course from coming towards me to heading back towards the finish. As he was not going particularly fast I soon caught up to him. Apparently he was late to the start of the race and decided to go out for a paddle anyway. It certainly was a good day for it!

Shane by freighter

Shane was now coming alongside the gray freighter. Meanwhile, the freighter that had been sitting on the north side of the bay was being pushed to the west. Soon it would be departing for distant ports. It was a good thing that the racers had all passed it by!

Even with the cool breeze I was going through a lot of water. My first bottle was gone, and the second one was half drained. Sheesh - the sun wasn't even out! Perhaps I'll need to get one of those hydration systems installed after all. There would not be adequate room in the cockpit for all the drinking water I would need for longer races later this summer.

That freighter was moving faster than I thought. With a blast of its horn it started turning its propellers and began making its way out of the bay. The wash from its stern was pushing towards the south side of the bay - right towards us! Even though the vessel was nearly a quarter mile distant, and heading away, it still was having an effect.

Oh, well, just treat it as an eddy current in the wrong direction and carry on.

Shane's course and mine intersected, and he ended up about one hundred yards ahead. It was time to catch him!

Pedaling with a cadence of about 85 rpm and pulling on the steering bars for leverage my speed increased to about 7.5 mph. Imperceptibly at first, but becoming more obvious over time, the gap between our two boats began closing. Could my legs hold out?

The muscle strain was slowly building. It required concentration to keep pushing and to keep my mind from wandering. During this time I decided to refrain from taking photos as this definitely would cause me to pedal slower. Instead, the camera was balanced on my arm on the side of the Cadence at the end of reach of the neck strap. It was not the most comfortable of positions, but it kept the weight of the camera off my chest and let the breeze flow there. Pedal, pedal, PEDAL!

Shane was now about 40 feet ahead. I was nearing my limits, but with one final burst of energy I finally caught up to the stern of his boat. Hurray! Now I could take a rest in his wake!

Caught up with Shane

Unlike several other boats that I've drafted this one did not seem to weave from side to side. That made it a bit easier to follow. Also, since this boat had a rudder in the water the additional wake meant I did not have to pedal with as much effort to keep up. My leg muscles thanked me profusely.

The finish line was now about 2 miles away. We were going about 7 to 7.5 mph, which was just fine with me.

Some of the other boats that had been behind appeared to be catching up. Perhaps they had been following in my wake, or perhaps they were just toughing it out. Anyway, we were not alone.

Attempted break away

A couple of times Shane tried to push ahead and drop me. Nice try, Shane!

I was able to catch him within a couple of seconds.

Attempting to pass

Nearing the finish line I decided to see if I could possibly push past and finish at the same time, rather than with the time on his tail. Seeing that he was heading to the north of the finish line buoy rather than to the requested south side, I began angling in that direction. I should have known better.

Finish line

Even though I ended the race going further and faster than Shane, he managed to cross the finish line just before me. Rats! Anyway, thanks for the tow, Shane.

My boat came in 16th place out of a total field of 37 boats. While the time of 56:33 didn't break the previous record, it still was pretty good. The fastest time was 42:58 by a double rowing shell operated by the race director, Todd Silver, and Rainer Storb.

Deb approaching beach Cadence parking

Debbie Natelson in the other Cadence managed to break the previous women's pedal boat record with her time of 1:12:01. Considering that this was only the second time she had ever even been in a Cadence, she did spectacularly well. She even beat her time from the previous year when she was rowing a shell!

Race results

The last boats came in with times of 1:24:27 and 1:28:56.

All in all, it was a fine day and an excellent race. Thank you, Todd Silver, for organizing it!


Photos I took during the race can be found here.
Other photos and videos can be found here.

Route & my stats

My route and statistics


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