The Slough Slog

November 30th, downtown Woodinville WA of all places to find a kayak race. The good folks at Paddler Magazine got together and decided to put on a 'tune-up' race for next weekends Deception Pass Dash. Twenty six paddlers showed up for this impromptu race. There were sea boats, whitewater boats, creek boats and a couple of other designs I didn't recognize. With the boats in the Sammamish River promptly at 10:00 AM the whitewater boats took off down river, followed 5 minutes latter by all but the sea boats who left last 10 minutes after the first wave of boats. Racing 1 1/4 miles down river, turn around a buoy and return. Simple !! There was one problem, you had to navigate thru the rapids and very strong current of Little Bear Creek. Since the river is shallow here I made the most of my neoprene covered knuckles and walked my boat following three failed attempts to paddle up stream in the strong current. Heck we even had a few swimmers, much to the delight of the many bickers who stopped to watch ( laugh)..
Results:1. Tom Wier, C1 Wildwater: 28:592. Rich Romer, K1 Wildwater: 30:033. Jennie Goldberg, K1 Wildwater: 31:194. Tao Berman, sea kayak (Eddyline Falcon): 31:335. Rufus Knapp, K1 Wildwater: 33:206. Christian Knight, Long boat, Green Boat: 33:357. Greg Barden, sea kayak (wood): 34:178. Darren Albright, Long boat (Response): 34:409. JP, sea kayak (Tempest 170), 34:50 *corrected10. Rob McKibbin, 9 and under (Nomad) 35:0811. Philip Sparr, sea kayak (Vokhv): 35:5712. Joe Jackson, 9 and under (Remix): 36:0513. Josh Knight, sea kayak (Necky Looksha): 36:2214. Dave Hablewitz, longboat (Hydra): 36:3215. Mike Kord, 9 and under (Dagger RPM): 36:3616. Ben Hawthorne, long boat (Crossfire): 37:5417. Chris Rogers, sea kayak (Wilderness Systems 170): 38:2618. Joel Martin, long boat (slalom): 44:43 (swam)19. Bernie Swanson, sea kayak (Nordkapp): 46:3320. Scott Waidelich, 9 and under (Jackson): 46:39 (late for race)21. Cathy Haggerty, sea kayak (Valley): 46:4122. Bill Porter, sea kayak (Romney): 46:5023. Henry Romer, sea kayak (Acadia?): 48:0824. Steve Murphy, sea kayak (NA): 50:5125. Mark Baron, sea kayak (P&H Quest): 52:4026. Bill Walker, sea kayak (P&H Capella): 53:19

Nov 2008 Lake Washington

A blustery, 50 degree day on Lake Washington today, got a few miles in as I practice for the December 7th Deception Pass Dash. I ran into a couple of other animals ( besides myself) avoiding the day after Thanksgiving Day shopping madness. Much safer out here in the wind and rain then in the shopping malls !

Vashon & Maury Island Circumnavigation Feb 2007

Vashon & Maury Island Circumnavigation

Rob Freelove and I departed from the marina in Des Moines at 9:45 a.m. on a 45 degree Friday morning February 16. Paddled the 2+ miles across the Sound to Pt. Robinson on the far eastern shore of Maury Island. Heading southeast along the shoreline we crossed Quartermaster Harbor before turning north into Colvos Passages. We arrived at our planned campsite, the Washington Water Trails Park at Lisabeula on Vashon Island at 2:00 p.m. Tents were up and everything made ready for the night just before the rain started falling. One of the locals st oped by and shared the very interesting history of how the park was transitioned from an artist colony to a state park. First days paddle was about 16 miles.
Saturday’s weather forecast was for a sunny and warm 60-degree morning. Conditions were predicted to change in the early afternoon as a storm front approached carrying with it 30 to 40 mph winds. Leaving Lisabuela at 9:00 a.m. in a light morning fog that almost obscures a brilliant sunrise. The water is perfectly flat as we paddle north. We arrive at the Vashon ferry dock at 10:45 a.m. for a break. The Mexican restaurant at the dock is closed so it will have to be another peanut butter sandwich lunch along the way. Turning south around Dolphin Point, Mt Rainer with two cap clouds hovering over it’s peak stands out brilliantly in the bright sunlight. Following a lunch break at Pt. Heyer, our next stop was at Pt. Robinson, which completed our planned circumnavigation. We arrived in perfectly calm sunny conditions back at the Des Moines Marina at 2:30 in the afternoon. The timing of the weather change was a couple of hours latter than the prediction. At 6:00 p.m. the weather bureau reported wind speeds of 45 knots between Vashon Island and Fauntleroy, was good to be off the water! Total paddle for the two days was approximately 32 miles.

Beautiful Renton Washington

A beautiful fall day for a paddle on the south end of Lake Washington. A group from the Washington Kayak Club launched at Coulon Park in Renton, paddled over to and long the south shore of Mercer Island then over to Seward Park in Seattle for a quick lunch break. Along the way we had the opportunity to admire the Seahawks new practice facility, very nice digs! Today it's 55 degrees, off and on rain, a bit of fog and a big beautiful lake all to ourselves. One ski boat and a few seagulls for company along our 7 nm trip and that was it... I had a chance to meet and paddle with three fellow paddlers for the first time, a real pleasure it was.

West side of Orcas Island

September paddling in the beautiful northwest, bright sunshine, 70 degrees, light northerly breeze and tourists nowhere to be found! An old paddling bud who moved to the "islands" several years ago and I paddled from Cormorant Bay up to North Beach roughly a total of 7 nm. Noticed an abandoned lime kiln just south of the now quiet Camp Orkila. The buzzards are busy today circling high in the azure blue skies. We stopped for a quick lunch and rest at Point Doughty which a beautiful state park. One can only get to the park by hiking or paddling to it, I will revisit this site. You can see the Canadian Gulf islands as well as Patos and Succia Islands. Also good to note are the jobbly, swirling water off the end of Point Doughty, fun stuff! Noticed several snoozing seals on the rocky outcrop on the north side of the park. We arrived at North Beach three hours after we started our leasurely paddle. That evening we met up with a bunch of friends at the Lower for a beer and burger. Leon took some serious abuse over hitting the big 5- O, something about receiving his AARP card had him in denial.

Washington Park to Friday Harbor Paddle

Our merry band of eight paddlers made the 21 mile paddle down Rosario Strait around the south end of Lopez Island through the turbulent Cattle Pass and up to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island in bright sunshine and favorable southerly winds. We hit the water at 8:30am and landed at our destination at 2:45pm. Took a hour long lunch break at Iceberg Point while the 4 knot flood built. We had a couple of folks practice their low braces ' for real ' but no swimmers today ! Also had one first timer for this long trip and she was very excited to have successfully added this trip to her paddling resume.

Danskin Triathlon Aug 2008

I joined a group of kayakers who provided support for the swim portion of the Danskin Triathlon. This year 5200 female athletes participated in this annual event held at Seattle's Genesee Park. I arrived at the site at 5 am to a rare Puget Sound thunder and lightning show. The wind kicked up a bit a half hour before the swim event started but all clamed down at the light of dawn. The athletes swim 880 yards, bike 12.4 miles and finish with a 3.1 mile run. This year's winner completed the race in 1 hour 2 minutes and 8 seconds ! The youngest racer was 11 year old and the most mature was 79 years old. 400 of the athletes are cancer survivors. It was a fun event and I look forward to helping out again in 2009.