Tag Archives: rowing

Rowing Near the Locks

A cold but sunny winter’s day at the locks in Ballard did not make me think that being on the water would be fun.  However, someone clearly had a different idea.  While I was walking around looking at the boats and the wildlife, a guy was out sculling in his boat.  He came quite close to the overflow from the sluice gates and had to work to position himself with the flow and turbulence from the water as it headed towards the sound.  It seemed like a very cold time to be out there, but I guess he was enjoying himself?

People Dressing Up A Bit Too Much?

A while back I posted some shots I took of the rowing at the University of Washington during the Windermere Cup.  What I didn’t share at the time and what I only recently remembered I had found amusing was the parade before the racing started.  The Seattle Yacht Club participated with a parade after the races but, beforehand, three of their leadership went the length of the course on a boat.  The three of them were apparently an Admiral, an Admiralette (apparently that is a thing as if a woman can’t be an Admiral) and a Vice-Admiral.  They were dressed up like extras from HMS Pinafore.  I found the whole thing rather bizarre.

Windermere Cup at UW

The University of Washington has a long history of competitive rowing.  A few years ago, we accidentally came across a regatta underway when visiting the campus.  The racing was just concluding when we got there and the crews were getting ready to head out.  I had paid a little attention to the schedule for the rowing earlier in the year but almost forgot about it until recently when I took another look at the schedule.  The last big event of the year was coming up – the Windermere Cup.  I decided to head along.

The racing takes place along Montlake Cut.  The starting point is out in Lake Washington beyond Foster Point. I decided to park up at the arboretum and walk out to Foster Point to see some of the racing from there and then follow the trail along the south side of the cut to end up at the Montlake Bridge.  This is a popular viewing location and is closed to traffic during the races.  It is still a bit short of the finish line but I didn’t think going any further would be worthwhile.  Besides, I had to backtrack to the car at the end of all of this.

The weather forecast was not favorable.  I decided to prepare for anything and took full waterproofs with me.  When I left home, it was raining very heavily and I was skeptical about how things would turn out but the rain was very localized and it was significantly better near the city.  However, it did start raining again so I put the waterproofs on when I got out of the car.  This proved to be a mistake.  It did think about raining a few times but it was quite warm and sunny near the end of the racing and I was rather overdressed.

The other thing I hadn’t accounted for was the condition of the trail.  It is a combination of boardwalk, trails and some metal planking.  However, the lake water level is quite high and sections were under water while parts of the trail were very soggy.  I had worn my hiking boots and I was glad that I had as I was able to walk through the watery sections without too much trouble.  I was constantly wondering whether it would get worse and how far I was prepared to go before turning back.  As it turned out, I made it through without a problem but I did walk back via the roads to make things simpler.

There were loads of large boats out along the course.  They were all moored with the sterns towards the course to give the rear decks the view of the racing.  Lots of people with plenty of cash judging by the size of some of them.  The parties looked like they were in full swing on a Saturday morning.  There were two smaller boats on the south side of the course that could not master mooring up and were drifting on to the course which resulted in much shouting from the officials.

There were good spots to watch from all along the cut.  I made my way progressively along the course shooting both stills and video as I went.  Plenty of students were out to cheer on the home team.  They seemed to be winning a lot of the races.  However, UW does take its rowing very seriously unlike some of the other schools in the area so not a great surprise.  The final events were the men’s and women’s Windermere Cup races and these had attracted some international competition.  In the women’s race, the GB national team won while the men’s race was won by the Netherlands national team.  The racing was still tight but the UW team does include a number of the US national team so not such an unbalanced race.

The Montlake Cut is a narrow waterway and the races happen in quick succession.  With the length of the course, the next race has started before the previous one has finished.  This means there is no space for crews to row back out from Portage Bay after their race is over.  They have to wait in the Bay until all racing is complete.  Then there is a mass exodus of crews back through the Cut.  It makes for a neat spectacle to round off the racing.  Then it is time to get off the bridge because they open it up for a few hours and you don’t want to be on the wrong side!

Boathouse at Port Townsend

Down by the water in Port Townsend there is a boathouse for the local rowers and scullers.  It is a relatively modern building with a nice look to it although for some reason I didn’t photograph the outside.  It also includes a lot of window space which means you can see all of the shells stored within.  (Like how in I am with rowing terminology and know to call them shells???). Avoiding reflections from the windows when taking shots of the inside was a touch tricky but it was manageable.  The designs of these boats is pretty impressive since they are created to be light but they have to be very strong since a huge amount of load goes through very small areas when the crews are pulling hard.

Rowing Crews In Training

It was a nice evening after work and Nancy was on a trip that meant she would be home later than me so I figured I would go and hang out at Log Boom Park and see what was going on at the top of Lake Washington.  It might be wildlife and it might be floatplanes so I have a chance of something.  I actually ended up seeing a bunch of crews in training.  I don’t know whether they are from the university or a local club but there were plenty of them.

They appeared one time in the distance and then paused before heading back down the lake.  A while later they reappeared and did the same thing again.  They were a fair distance away although I did wonder whether they would be in the path of the floatplanes that were taking off.  However, they were probably too far for them to be in conflict.  I will have to check out when the regattas are due to take place as I would like to see it with more planning unlike last year when we saw some races by accident.

Return of the Racers

The races at the rowing meet I covered in this post tend to overlap from what we saw.  The length of the course and the time to complete it is such that the next race was started before the last was finished.  Consequently, there is not a way for the crews to return up the cut as the next boats are heading towards them.  Apparently, they all wait in the next bay.  Then, when it is clear, they all row back up together.  The cut was full of crews rowing back to take their boats out of the water.  It made for an impressive sight!

ASUW Shell House

A short walk from the campus of UW takes you down to Montlake Cut.  This is the home of the university rowing team.  Having read The Boys in the Boat, we had read a lot about this location.  The Shell House from the book is still there and is in great shape.  George Pocock is no longer building his shells there, but it obviously has a place in UW rowing lore and it looked interesting on a sunny weekend day.  It looked even better from one side but the giant cherry picker in front of it kind of ruined the chance of a photo from that direction.

High Tech Rowing Boats

The technology of rowing boats has always been prized.  In George Pocock’s day, the crafting of high performance shells made his work in demand from university crews across the US.  George may be long gone but the company that bears his name continues.  They no longer are along the Cut but now operate out of Everett in a building with a slightly less scenic location.

Wood has been replaced with composites and these shells are light, stiff and very impressive.  A few of the shells were laid up in the parking lot waiting to be loaded on trailers while others were already strapped in.  The crews’ shoes are attached in place along with seats.  They don’t look like the most comfortable of vessels but they do look like they are well designed to go fast and to transfer the power of the rowers directly to the water.

Racing on Montlake Cut

It was purely by coincidence that we happened to be at UW when a rowing meet was taking place.  We had read much about UW rowing in The Boys in the Boat (well worth a read if you have the opportunity) and were planning on walking down to the Cut to see the Shell House but there were plenty of boats and crews in the parking lot when we came through.  We actually got there almost at the end of the meet.  I guess they row early to get the calmest conditions?

A few final races came through as we walked along the cut.  The crews were working hard but still had some way to go when they came past us.  By that distance, the strongest crews were showing themselves clearly.  We watched them disappear up the cut and towards the finish line.  As the last race past by, you could see the course boats start to disperse so we knew it was done.  What we didn’t know was that we would get a nice finale.  That will be another post.

Row Faster, He’s Gaining on Us

One evening after work I headed down to Kenmore.  It is a short distance from my office and, sitting at the top of Lake Washington, it has a nice waterfront park including a pier.  I walked out on the pier to see the arrivals of the Kenmore floatplanes at the end of their workday.  They are not the only arrivals, though.  Various boats were out on the lake including some rowing crews carrying out their training.  One of the crews was heading in when a floatplane came in to land.  I suspect they had plenty of space but the plane did seem to adjust its course a bit to avoid them.  Taxiing in after touchdown (landing seems to be the wrong word) they did seem to be chasing the crew down a bit!