Lake Samish Salmon Row & Paddle 2009

26-Sept     Bellingham, Wa.

This is always a fun race, lots of different types of boats come to this race…rowers, sea kayaks, river kayaks, surfskis, OC-1, 2, and all sorts of rowing shells. The Canadian contingency consisted of Best Fast and John George (in a Huki double), Chris D (Uno), Warren Bruce (V10), Trista Bilmer (her new Honcho ski) , Paul Hansen (wooden kayak/ski) and myself (V10 Sport).

It was a beautiful sunny day.  There had been some reports that the wind was to kick up big time as the day progressed; however, upon arrival to the lake it was pretty flat and calm.  The event was extremely well organized, great directions with parking, coffee and registering.

After a quick pre-race meeting, everyone set off to hit the water. The race committee decided that they would kick off all of the rowing shells 10 minutes before the rest of the paddlers.  This seemed to work out fine;however, once the rowing shells started the rest of the gang didnt seem to want to wait around…everyone was pumped to get started.

After a bit of jockeying around for position and a few last minute boats trying to squeeze into the front, the horn went off and the race was on. I tried to place myself next to a double ski and a OC-2, unfortunately they were super fast off the line and i wasnt with them for long.  Luckily, there were many other boats to ‘tag’ along with. Maybe after 5 minutes into the race i was coming up to a paddler that seemed to have flipped out of their surfski. It appeared to be Chris D.. With a quick chat indicating he was ok i kept pressing on, knowing that in a short while he would be on my tail…. then passing me.  I was trying to hang on to Paul Hansen’s wash but he was too strong and was slowly pulling ahead.  At this point I was pretty much on my own except i knew there was at least one OC-2 team that seemed to be a few feet from my stern (i could hear their voices).   Soon enough Chris came along side of me, telling me his paddle got caught under an OC-2’s alma causing him to flip.  I didnt have much sympathy because even with flipping over he still was going to pass me!  I did muster up a ” go gettem tiger” as he zipped by me but i think he could tell my heart wasnt in it!! :~)

Just after the half way point one of the OC-2 teams and  Sherri Cassuto in her ski began passing me. We duked it out going back and forth for a while but my endurance gave out and both passed me.  I tried to stay on their wash up until we went under the bridge, then they put a 1-2 boat gap in between.  It was a  fast paced race for me and great competition.

Trista said she went slow,  getting adjusted to her new ski but still managed to come in at a decent time.  Ben/Johnny finished in the top 10, Warren in 16th, Chris D. in 19th and Paul Hansen in 25th….a great day for a paddle and the food afterwards was excellent (as always).

Results can be found at http://www.salmonrowandpaddle.com/results.php

Pictures are on the Sound Rowers.org site under the Photography section