The fourth Sound Rowers race of the season was the American Lake Classic. It starts at Bill's Boathouse located on the east shore of American Lake, near Tacoma, WA, and circles Silcox Island in a clockwise direction three times. Each lap passes right by the dock at Bill's, making it a bit more exciting for the spectators than the typical Sound Rowers races.

Since the parking lot at Bill's always fills up I decided to get there nearly two hours before the race was scheduled to start. Even so, there were about 20 other cars parked in front of mine!

I grabbed my camera and headed down to the boathouse to check out the activities.

It's good to have been here before. There really are no signs indicating exactly where Bill's Boathouse is located. You just have to walk down a narrow alley towards the water. Before reaching the water, however, you are confronted with the ground level roof of a building. At this point you decide whether to enter the covered stairway or to walk on the wooden pathway over the roof to a long ramp that reaches the docks.

The correct way is to take the stairs.

After going down the stairs and into the newly remodeled store and dining area I found the race director's wife and daughter handling the registration tasks. There were some delays getting folks registered as the boat numbers had not yet arrived. Still, I paid my money and was going to be rewarded with boat number 1!

I wandered around taking photos of the store, some antique gas outboard motors and the docks, and headed back to the car to get my Open Water Cycling Cadence.

With the help of some other folks the boat was carried over the wooden walkways, wheeled down the ramp and launched. There was a gap between a motor boat moored to the dock and the other side of its slip that was perfect for the Cadence, so that's where it was tied up.

Jim Szumila arrived with his Cadence, so I helped him bring it down to the water, too. He tied it up close to mine as the space on the docks was pretty well taken by other boats. Apparently very few of the other boats are set up to be moored!

David held the pre-race meeting a bit later than scheduled. He informally introduced some of the competitors, noting that some of them become quite intense when they get out on the water. He also requested that the rowers not perform point turns at the buoys as nearby paddled boats would probably not give adequate clearance for the maneuver to complete without causing a collision. He also mentioned that boats were supposed to pass under the banner stretched between the dock and a sailboat moored further out into the lake. This would be somewhat constricting, but make it easier to determine the proper placement of the finishers and cause the boats to be quite close to the spectators lining the dock.

I quickly removed my overgarments and stashed them in a corner of the open air rowing shell storage shed along with the dolly. After swapping out the flash memory card from the camera for a fresh one I began to put the camera into its waterproof casing.

Oh, no! The casing was coming apart at the seam!

Well, it wouldn't keep the water out if it were submerged for long, but it would keep the camera dry from splashes. I sealed the casing as best I could, got into the Cadence and pedaled out onto the water.

Just as I was about to snap a photo of the junior women's quad kayak I noticed that the optical port was fogging up. Rats! The dessicant was not doing its job.

Hmmm...if the dessicant wouldn't keep the lens from fogging, and the casing wasn't really waterproof, then I might just as well not use the darn casing after all!

I removed the camera and kept it bare for the duration of the race, hoping it wouldn't get too wet.

As I was cruising around, a guy on a Hydrobike came pedaling past. When asked he said he wasn't going to be in the race. Rats! It would have been fun to put the manufacturer's claims of performance to the test.

Jim came out in his Cadence and started warming up. His boat was outfitted with road bike pedals and toe clip, but his shoes were perhaps not the best suited for racing. I should talk - my water shoes and stock flat rubber grip pedals definitely were not designed for optimal recumbent power transmission!

The 5 minute signal was given. Racers began lining up as best they could between the dock and an outlying buoy. As there was a bit of a breeze coming down the lake from the south it was difficult for the boats to maintain their positions. In fact, the entire field began drifting backward somewhat due to some confusion as to the actual starting line.

I pedaled a bit out in front, trying to line up between the dock and a buoy. Eventually I was joined by everyone else. Perhaps they didn't want to start a boat length behind.

After quite some time the starting signal was finally given. We were off!

As usual for this race it had a fast start. Lots of water was thrown into the air by the paddlers, and I had to wipe the camera off pretty frequently to keep the spray from accumulating. There was a light chop caused by the wind and the other boats, but nothing big enough to wash over the bow.

Pedaling furiously with the heart rate monitor reading 158 bpm, I closed in on an OC-2. It would be good to draft their wake.

I was rather surprised to see that many of the rowing shells were still within relatively close range. Normally by this time they would be many lengths ahead. Perhaps the headwind and light chop was slowing them down more than I thought!

Within a couple of minutes we were at the first buoy. It was pretty crowded, with rowing shells mingling with paddled boats, each trying to take it as tightly as possible.

Just after rounding the buoy I took some shots of the oncoming field. Boy, there are a lot of people back there!

Off we went in the general direction of the second buoy.

Several boats took a course close to shore. Others, like me, stayed way out in the middle of the lake making a straight line to the buoy, which was barely visible in the distance.

Adrian, in a single rowing, was about 100 yards ahead of me and off to the side. Ahead of him was a fishing boat, and it looked as though Adrian would soon collide! I shouted "Look out, Adrian!" at the top of my lungs. Just in time he was able to come to a stop, inches from the hull of the fishing boat.

Unfortunately for him, his oars became entangled with the fishing line and it took several minute to get free. He apologized to the fisherman and went on his way.

Meanwhile, a yellow double shell nearly collided with me as it overtook my boat. No harm was done as I got their attention before their oars caught up with my cockpit. I steered away and continued on withthe race.

I continued trailing the OC-2 as we sped down the 3rd leg of the course back to the finish line at about 7 mph. There were fewer photo opportunities as most of the faster boats were already ahead, and we had passed the slower boats. At least the wind was now coming from the side, providing a much needed cooling effect.

The cheers of the spectators lining the docks were fun to hear. I drank some of my Gatorade and bore down on the pedals as we headed into a somewhat stronger headwind at the beginning of the second lap.

I fell behind the OC-2 a couple of times while checking to make sure that no weeds were fouling my propeller. Yes, this year even on such an early date on this lake there were weeds floating here and there in the water. Apparently, though, none had found their way to my propeller - or they succumbed to the sharp blade on the shaft!

The second leg of the second lap was pretty hot and boring. Boats were no longer passing or being passed. The fisherman was gone, probably deciding to go to a quieter part of the lake. I decided then and there I would take the course in the reverse direction after finishing this lap. This would provide me with lots of photo ops of people who aren't normally captured in the photographic record.

I let the OC-2 go on without me being on their tail.

After a while I reached the finish line, made a turn around the sailboat and fish pen, and headed back down the course.

This was more like it! It was pretty easy getting moderately close to the oncoming boats, snap a shot or two and cheer them on.

The fastest racers passed before I reached the second buoy on lap 3. They were truly hauling!

Janet approached in her kayak, and asked if I saw what had happened to some of the racers who apparently were having troubles. I had not, and told her so. She said that there had been quite a few collisions and capsizes, some due to the wind and waves, and she had been providing assistance.

She continued towards the finish line, lap 2. I continued to the second buoy, rounding it a bit wide so as to not collide with the other boats, and headed towards the first buoy.

At times the boats came by too rapidly to get individual photos. My pedaling slowed substantially dueing this time to let me better compose the shots. Ah, well. So this wouldn't be a record attempt...!

Somehow I managed to take this picture of Rocky beside his overturned OC-1, and not realize there was someone in the water who could probably use help. All I remember is that there were quite a few boats off in the distance, and I extended the camera's zoom to the maximum to take the photo. My eyes and brain at the time just did not identify a "Man Overboard" situation, otherwise I'd have gone over to help. Sorry, Rocky!

Rocky did get assistance from someone else and continued on.

Meanwhile, I continued around the first buoy and headed to the finish line.

About two thirds of the way to the finish I encountered a 3 man dugout canoe that was seriously taking on water. The stern was below the surface and the three guys were sitting at various depths in the water. When asked if they would like assistance they refused; instead, slowly they made their way towards the island. (They eventually finished the race, with a time of 1:30:20!)

I took a couple more shots, filling the flash memory of the camera. After getting rid of some bad images there was room for more, so I continued shooting until it filled again. Time to go in!

After changing into dry clothing and swapping out the memory card in the camera I returned to the lower levels of the boathouse. The race organizers had just put out platters heaped with sandwiches, chips, potato salad and fruit. Yumm!

A plate full of good stuff was shortly in front of me at a nearby table.

There were tables indoors as well as outdoors. People quickly filled all the available seats and were noisily recounting the day's events. The piles of food quickly disappeared as everyone had their fill.

I pulled the Cadence up onto the dock and with the assistance of Jim we brought it up to my car. We hurried back just in time for the start of the awards ceremony.

David Anderson related a number of stories while we were waiting for the folks on the computer to crunch the numbers. Some of the stories had to do with the history of the race. Others were more related to the achievements of some of the more notable individuals who had participated in one or more of the races. For example, several of the people were past, present or on track to becoming members of the US National teams, even finding places on the US Olympic teams in canoeing, kayaking and rowing.

Eventually, the number crunchers finished their work and the awards were handed out. The first boat across the line was the men's quad kayak, with a time of 50:06. Considering the course was about 6.5 miles long and had quite a few turns, this was quite fast. I managed to get first place in the pedal boating class with a time of 26 minutes! So much for computer data entry!

In reality, I took about 66 minutes and finished in 25th place in a field of over 70 boats. Jim finished a couple of minutes behind me in his Cadence with a time of 1:09:12. Way to go, Jim!

After the ceremony I returned to my car to finish tying the boat to the roof rack. Boy, was I exhausted! It was time to head home.

Thanks, David, for hosting another fine race!