It was clear skies and sunny weather Saturday, June 27 at the 21st annual Rat Island Regatta rowing competition at Fort Worden State Park.
About 57 participants of all ages entered this year’s …
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Before the race begins, dozens of boats line up in the starting area for the final horn to blow. This year, Rat Island Regatta organizers split up the race into a long course and short course in attempt to give participants more variety and, according to organizers, draw in a larger participation base of people not comfortable with the original 7-mile course. Photo by Jonathan Glover
It was clear skies and sunny weather Saturday, June 27 at the 21st annual Rat Island Regatta rowing competition at Fort Worden State Park.
About 57 participants of all ages entered this year’s race, which started at Fort Worden State Park, went around Rat Island, and circled back. This year marked the first time the course was split into long and short sections.
Evan Jacobs from Seattle and Sound Rowers President Tyler Peterson took first place in the long course, completing the 7-mile lap in 52 minutes, a full two minutes ahead of the next finishers, a four-person crew. The short course winner, Christopher May from Seattle, finished the 2.5-mile lap in 31 minutes.
Rat Island Regatta is hosted and organized by Sound Rowers, which holds competitions throughout Washington state including larger races in Seattle and surrounding areas.
RACE DAY
An hour before the race began, people lined the beaches in the increasingly hot weather as they prepared their boats and mingled. One racer, Tony Brown, has been participating in rowing events with Sound Rowers for about a year. This was his first time at the Rat Island Regatta where he took 23rd in the long course with a time of 1:12:59.
“It’s fun to just get out and paddle,” Brown said. “I just use rowing as exercise now.”
Another group, Oregon Rowing Unlimited (ORU), from Portland, has been rowing together for more than 10 years. The eight-person team has rowers ranging in age from 16 to 76 with varying degrees of experience.
ORU member Carol Middendorff, 68, said she’s been rowing for more than 20 years. To prepare for races like this, she said the group rows together for three to four days a week. They finished the long course in third place with a time of 58:32.
Steve Chapin is a Rat Island Regatta organizer; 30 minutes before the race started he gave a safety brief for the large crowd of rowers. As expected, he covered basics like life preservers and went over the specifics of the course and what to do if there were emergency situations.
According to Chapin, the decision to have a long and short course with different starting times was to have participants finish the race at around the same time, offer an easier course for those who want it and maybe increase participation to those who aren’t super serious about rowing.
In races like this, everyone starts the race together in a group, which is called a “mass start” where they gather in the bay before the starting line. Chapin advised spreading out to ensure open seas in front and room to row at the sides.
“There is a possibility of drafting,” said Chapin, speaking of the situation in which one boat rides behind another to take advantage of the reduced air current and break in the waves. “If that happens and you don’t like people drafting behind you, just let out a big flatulence.”
Find official results for the Rat Island Regatta at soundrowers.org. The next Sound Rowers organized race is the Elk River Challenge on Sunday, July 26 in Aberdeen, Washington.
