Paddle the Shores

Just a short week after Budd Inlet was an event at Ocean Shores, WA. Called "Paddle the Shores", this two day event included a race on Duck Lake, seminars, demonstrations and boat try outs, and a poker paddle that included boating on some very pretty canals.

There - I'm all done!

Well, the long story is that it was rather chilly on Saturday morning with temperatures in the upper 50's. There was a light northwesterly breeze off the ocean. Even when the sun rose up into the sky as the morning wore on it stayed relatively cool.


After picking up my race registration stuff (wrist band, prize drawing ticket, boat number, discount coupon booklet) I got my boat ready for the race.

Today would be different. I was not going to take along anything but water and a canoe paddle. That's right - there would be no radios, cell phones or cameras in this race!

I wanted to have a race without that sort of stuff to get in the way. Woo hoo!


After some "capture the tag" contests, where people in kayaks try to grab tags attached to other kayakers and not lose their own tags, and demonstrations of kayak rolling techniques, and demonstrations of kayak rescue techniques, the pre-race meeting was held. It all sounded simple enough: go south, bear left at the first island and go under the bridge. Continue south and bear right until you hit the next set of islands, where you bear left. Continue south until you reach an orange buoy. Go around the buoy and return along the west side of the lake until you reach the last island, where you bear right. Continue northward until you eventually end up back at the start.


Looking at the map it seemed that there could be room for confusion, as some of the shoreline had inlets that looked like channels, etc. Hmmm...


The boat ramp and dock were pretty much the only areas at which we could launch. It took a while for all the boats to get into the water. Luckily for me most folks opted to launch from the ramp, while I had nearly unrestricted use of the dock. Ok, so I had to wait a moment for an OC-2 to paddle away from the shore. There was plenty of time before the race and no need to hurry.

Once out on the water I clicked into the pedals and began warming up. The sun was glaring off the water and into my eyes, and I felt a little nervous about this new course. This would be the first new race I had been at in years. Was the lake truly weed free, as we had been told? Would I be able to find my way among all the islands and channels?

We lined up for the start as best we could. The lake was very narrow at the starting line, being only perhaps 70 feet across. Some of the boats had troubles getting in line or, once there, had troubles maintaining a stationary position against the wind. Their paddles or oars would clash with adjacent boats.

I had no problems. Pedaling slowly in reverse worked quite well in keeping the Cadence right at the starting line.

Just before the starting signal was given a guy in a Hobie Mirage managed to find himself turned sideways in front of the boats on my left. In addition, another guy in a rowing shell just managed to squeeze in near me, placing me right against an OC-6. Boy, this was tight!

The signal was given, and we were off.

With the clatter of paddles hitting boats, the splashing of water and the whirring of my chain drive, the boats on my side scooted away from the starting line. This was a first - I was actually staying with the lead boats!

In the next few seconds, with my legs spinning the cranks faster than I ever recalled doing before, my boat leapt ahead of everyone, including the OC-6. Looking around, I saw that it was almost a boat length behind.

This was weird. My legs were still pedaling at an extraordinary rate, feeling very good, yet my breathing and my heart rate were only at a moderate level. I had to make a conscious effort to slow down pedaling as I knew that I couldn't possibly maintain that level for 5+ miles, regardless of how effortless it seemed at the moment.

In slowing down I decided to travel alongside the OC-6 for a while. These folks had done the race previously and knew the course. It would probably also be good to draft them and save my energy for later.

As I began drafting I found my legs starting to complain more, and my lungs and heart rate increased to near my aerobic threshold. Was it a mistake to have slowed down?!? Perhaps the Cadence has a super performance mode of operation of which I was previously unaware, such as one finds in power boats when they get on a plane.

All I know is that I was now working very hard and doing my best to stay in the draft of the OC-6, avoiding the whirlpools from their paddles.

We went under a bridge at the first island. Several spectators waved at us and cheered us on.

Here and there I could see small isolated pieces of milfoil floating at the surface. Hopefully they wouldn't get in my way!

I managed to keep the bow of the Cadence mere inches from the stern of the OC-6, well most of the time, anyway. There were a couple of times when they overlapped while the OC-6 zigged and zagged slightly down the course, and a couple of minor taps when I didn't slow or veer away quickly enough. No damage was done.

We were going about the same speed as the wind. This meant that the heat of exertion and that from the sun made it quite hot as we headed toward the turn buoy. I took off my hat, preferring instead to shade my eyes with my hands and try to let my scalp cool off. In addition, I decided that I would probably not bother drafting the OC-6 on the return as I was just melting.

As luck would have it, with the turn buoy just ahead I reached for my water bottle and, with great finesse, dropped my drink into the drink.

Rats!

It was as good of an excuse as any to drop off the OC-6.

I turned the boat around and noticed that we had placed quite a lead over the next boats in the race. Well, perhaps I shouldn't give up quite so soon!

After retrieving the floating bottle I quickly resumed course and rounded the turn buoy. The OC-6 was several hundred feet ahead, but I was not in a condition to catch them - yet, anyway.

With the sun now at my back I decided to see how fast a speed the GPS was reporting. What's this? The screen was blank!

Oh, no! The darned thing had been stationary too long before the start and turned itself off. Now I'll never know how fast I was going at the start!

I turned it back on.

With the OC-6 ahead to guide me on the return trip and a nice, cool breeze in my face I started feeling better. My heart and breathing rates were both a bit lower than while drafting, which suited me just fine. The GPS was reporting speeds in the 6.5 to 7 mph range. This was a nice, sustainable pace, and seemed to be about the same as the lead boat.

While traveling past the last of the islands and about 2/3 done with the race I encountered a woman in the race pedaling a Mirage toward me. She actually lived near there on the lake and even she wasn't sure which way the course went. I told her she was on the wrong side of the island and pointed her back onto the course.

My speed dropped slightly a short while later, so I went through the weed removal cycle. The speed didn't increase a whole lot, so I did it again. Success!

It was fun zipping past all the other racers and safety boats. A few folks later on said it looked like I was hardly working at all.

Passing under the bridge a second time and nearing the end I tied to decide whether it would be a good tactical move to travel along the lee side of the lake rather than continue straight into the wind. Ahead I saw the OC-6 making a bee line for what looked like - could it be? - yes, the finish line!

I abandoned the move and also made a bee line towards the finish, pedaling faster and faster.

It took approximately 90 seconds after the OC-6 crossed the finish line for me to follow suit. 49:29 was the time recorded, and second place overall! Woo hoo!


My legs were feeling pretty good, much better than they felt after the Budd Inlet race. I circled back around onto the course and had fun escorting the next few boats across the finish, seeing how fast I could sprint.

After the race I tried out the latest set of outriggers for the Cadence. They seemed to work pretty well, making the boat extremely stable.

Awards and prizes were given out to the race participants a little later. There were no awards given on the basis of the overall race; rather, they were awarded on the position in each class. Strangely enough, the prop driven Cadence was in the same class as the flipper driven Hobies, so the poor gentleman who pedaled his Hobie over the line 20+ minutes after me was awarded second place. Oh, well.

I had some family matters to attend to and didn't go to the seminars in the afternoon.

The next morning I took my family out for the poker paddle. They rode in the Escapade and I took the Cadence fitted with outriggers. Both boats were frequently topics of conversations among the paddlers at this event.

Despite the warnings of a local Encore pedal boat owner, I found the boat ramp to be perfect for launching the Escapade. Unlike most places I have launched that boat here it was able to float right off the bunks. Yay!

We should have left the Escapade's windshield at the dock. My wife found it to be quite warm as she pedaled it on this overcast, calm day. Oh, well.

We each carried a walkie talkie and cell phone for interboat communications. About halfway through the trip the battery in my radio died and we resorted to cell phones from then on.

The poker paddle event consisted of 7 stops along a loop course. At each stop you were handed (via a clothes pin glued to a long stick) a card in a sealed envelope. At the end of the event you would turn in your sealed envelopes. Whatever cards the envelopes contained would be your poker hand, with the best 5 cards picked. If you didn't want to travel the full distance you could exclude the middle two stops and end up with just 5 cards.

As it turned out, most folks went the entire distance. My wife didn't want to go the whole way as the attention span of the kids was whining, er, waning, so they took the short cut. Little did they realize that it was only a short distance to the furthest two stops and that this would have most likely given them a much better hand.


I went the whole distance, spending much of the time pedaling alongside a paddler who had rowed in the race the day before. We were traveling around 2 to 3 mph for the most part, much slower than I normally travel even when in the Escapade. Still, it was fun to see all the trees, boats and houses along the lake and tree covered canals, socializing with other boaters and talking shop.

Shortly after our return back to the lake I bid adieu to the paddler and increased the pace to 6 mph. That was more like it!

The outriggers sliced through the water cleanly, producing an interesting wake pattern behind. As the sun came out I caught up and passed boat after boat, heading towards the north end of the lake where my family was disembarking.

By the time I reached the dock they had already left for an early lunch, preferring not to wait for the picnic provided by the organizers. Oh, well.


After giving a few demos of the Escapade and the Cadence I headed to the picnic shelter for lunch. The food - hot dogs, burgers, beans, coleslaw, chips, etc. - were pretty tasty, and there was plenty for everyone.

Prizes were awarded for the poker hands. The top prize was a $150 gift certificate to Boaters World. It was followed by $100 and $50 certificates, dry bags, jackets, restaurant certificates, and many other items of interest to paddlers.

I ended up with a restaurant certificate good for two meals. Yippee!

The two days spent here were a lot of fun. I highly recommend it.

More photos are here.

Round Shaw Tour

On Saturday, August 11, five people departed on a tour around Shaw Island, WA. Instead of racing in the Sound Rowers' Round Shaw Row this group decided to take their time, planning to sample the local cuisine, shop at the stores in Friday Harbor and Orcas, and generally have a good time.


At about 11:15 AM our group headed out. This was shortly after the racers had departed in an easterly direction going counterclockwise around the island. We decided to head in the clockwise direction since this would get us to Friday Harbor around lunch time. This also had us heading into a lifting fog which reduced visibility somewhat. Still, the water was pretty flat and the boat traffic was fairly light.


For the most part we stuck together, though at times the separation between the first boat in the party and the last approached a quarter mile. In general, Deb was out in front paddling her surf ski, while the rest of us pedaled our Cadence boats en masse as we crossed San Juan Channel towards San Juan Island.


Pedaling with moderate effort and with some assistance from the tidal currents, the group managed to achieve speeds of about 7 mph.

I was experiencing problems with the waterproof camera bag. The air inside the car where it had been stored apparently had been quite warm and moist. With the bag exposed to the cooler outside air the moisture condensed on the inside of the case as well as inside the camera. I did my best to dry out the bag, but was unaware of the condensation inside the camera until after returning home. Sigh...


We reached Friday Harbor shortly after noon. Using the marine VHF radio I carried along for safety purposes I hailed the harbor master on Channel 68. After identifying our group as "the pedal boat flotilla" I asked where we might be able to tie up for a couple of hours for lunch. The harbor master said we could tie up along the floating concrete walkways on pier "C".


We made our way to that pier and found a couple of spaces just barely large enough for our boats to fit. Deb pulled her boat from the water and set it on one of the adjacent docks. Todd and Lucia tied up together at one spot, and Paul and I tied up at the other.


After extracting our land essentials, e.g., wallets, jackets, etc., we headed over the docks to shore. There was an ice cream shop that looked especially inviting, but it was decided that it would be best to have dessert later.


Todd, Lucia and I decided to eat at Friday Harbor Seafood. They shared a sampler plate of shrimp, scallops, etc., and I had the fish & chips with a garlic caper saute. Deb and Paul decided instead to pick up some sandwiches at a nearby shop.

After eating our fill we headed up the main street for a little window shopping. Just after we had our photos taken at a viewpoint above the harbor we remembered that Paul and Deb needed to pick up some supplies for camp.


Back to the main drag, and up to the hardware store we went. On the way a couple of lattes were procured at a stand next door to a place that sold the most unique lamps. I took a few photos through the front window.

We returned to our boats to find them safe and sound. One of the larger boats that had been tied up next to Paul's and mine had been replaced by a much smaller one. The larger gap made it easier to pedal away.


As we left the harbor we noticed that there appeared to be a fairly large section of rough water in the channel separating San Juan Island and Shaw. Todd, Lucia and I generally kept towards the Shaw side, but Paul and Deb started heading across. As they seemed to be having no problems and were definitely moving quite rapidly along with the current I called out to Todd and Lucia and suggested that we head further out into the channel and do likewise.

The water in the middle of the channel was indeed moving rapidly northward. It also had quite a few waves and eddies caused by the tidal currents. This made it rather exciting and something of a challenge. I was worried about Todd and Lucia, as they did not have as much wild water experience, and they were falling behind.

I turned around to rejoin them, and found that they were handling themselves quite well. A paddle that had been stuck onto the front hatch of Lucia's boat had fallen off, but she managed to collect it and stow it in her cockpit. Well done!


Paul and Deb were pretty far ahead of us now, nearing the northwesternmost tip of Shaw Island. Seeing that we had fallen behind they slowed down a bit to let us regroup.


We entered Wasp Passage to find the currents against us and the wind pretty nonexistent. There were a few sailboats in the channel, slowly tacking one way and then another, trying to find a favorable wind. We quickly sped by, waving our greetings.

Paul decided to try to touch a few of the smaller islands on the way, just to increase his personal count of "landings" for the trip. He pedaled off towards the north side of the passage and made contact with a couple of them as we headed for the Orcas Island ferry terminal.

Lucia, Todd and I pretty much kept together in this part of the trip. As we passed Crane Island the currents seemed to be more neutral. A breeze arose, which helped to cool us a bit.


As we closed in on the ferry terminal I noticed what appeared to be a spout coming from the water not too far ahead of Paul. Could it be a whale?

The spout never appeared again, and Paul said later that he didn't see anything unusual.


We tied up at the floating dock just west of the ferry terminal. There was some grumbling about paying the $5 per boat fee required if one wanted to tie up, and the beach was pretty much under water. We decided to tie up at the dock anyway and handed the money to the young dockmaster in charge. Later on we found out that the dockmaster, a boy of perhaps 12 years of age, was working for free in order to raise money for medical treatment for his father's cancer.


After buying a few things for supper at the Orcas General Store and drinking some energy fluids (sport drink for me, beer for Todd and a latte for Lucia, plus animal crackers), we returned to our boats and readied for the final leg back to camp.

The skies were quite overcast and there was a definite chill in the air. I put on a windbreaker over my PFD. Paul switched boats with Deb, and off we went.


On the final leg the ordering was different. Todd and Lucia were out in front, with Paul and Deb generally bringing up the rear. The water was generally pretty flat, with the high tide covering most of the rocks and sea life along the shore.


On the east side of Shaw the only notable thing we ran into was a large block of foam floating a hundred feet from shore. Apparently a dock somewhere is missing a vital piece of flotation!


Eventually we rounded the point of land separating Indian Cove from the main channel. With the boat ramp of the county park in view Paul decided to have a final sprint to the finish. I decided that it would not do to have a paddled boat finish ahead of all the pedal boats, so I took up the challenge.


I pedaled faster and faster, catching up to Paul and soon passed him. He continued paddling strongly for a few moments and then gave up the chase. I continued on until finally reaching the boat ramp. Whew!


We landed on the nice, sandy beach, with the waves gently lapping the shore. It felt good to be back at camp!


For all of the photos taken, click here.