Open Water Rowing

[Ombrax]

Congratulations Paul, and thanks for sharing.

I do have to say one thing about the HLM: it is a bit amusing that a lifesaving museum is sponsored by a funeral home. I'm sure the irony is not lost on either organization.

[PaulG]

Congratulations Paul, and thanks for sharing.

I do have to say one thing about the HLM: it is a bit amusing that a lifesaving museum is sponsored by a funeral home. I'm sure the irony is not lost on either organization.

Ha! I never noticed that.

[PaulG]

New England’s fifth season continued into a beautiful day on October 19th when I loaded up my Peinert Zephyr and drove through the old mill towns of northeastern Massachusetts to the cranberry bogs of southeastern Massachusetts for the Buzzards Bay Challenge hosted by the Buzzards Bay Rowing Club https://www.buzzardsbayrowing.org/ . The race took place in Onset Beach, a village within Wareham, Massachusetts. Onset looks like it was once a working-class beach town not unlike Hampton Beach, NH, and Salisbury, Revere, and Nantasket, and Rexhame Beaches in MA, but since has been gentrified.

I parked on Onset Pier and got help from Jeff, the best doryman in New England, and his nephew in unloading my boat and launching from the beach. The Buzzards Bay Rowing Club had everything well-organized and there were two heats of boats in the race. The first was the small boats like mine and several single and double fixed seat boats including dories, workboats, kayaks, and an Irish curragh. I was the only sliding seat boat so I would win my class, and my goal was to be first overall including the big boats. The second heat included the big boats: pilot gigs, liveries, whaleboats, and graceful Azorean whaleboats with a long steering oar at the stern.

The course was roughly triangular and started through a mooring field in Onset Harbor, out to the east of Onset Island around a day mark, south to another daymark to the south of Onset Island near the channel to the Cape Cod Canal, and then west back to start/finish line for a total of about a 5 km. I wasn’t keen on rowing through a mooring field to start due to the numerous boats and mooring buoys, but most mooring fields have a pattern. During warmups I spotted a lane through the moorings and decided that would be my course.

The race started and I shot out to the lead following the lane I spotted. I wasn’t real comfortable in the lead because I did not know the course and I was afraid people would follow me. The directions at the skipper’s meeting had a lot of “you can’t see the mark now, but you will when you get closer”. In fact, Jeff later said that he thought he spotted the first mark but it kept moving. It was me in my high visibility shirt.

My plan was to start fast in the relatively protected water of the first leg because I knew it would get rougher later and the bigger boats would have an advantage. My pace with the outgoing tide and offshore wind was around 2:30-2:40/500m which is pretty fast for me. Rounding the first mark I knew I would be in a cross chop and the going would be slower. I was well in the lead but my pace slowed to 3:20-3:30/500m as I searched over my shoulder for the second mark. I spotted the second mark, but the water looked very rough just shoreward of the mark.

I was not mistaken. By this time the wind had shifted to onshore and was opposed to the outgoing tide, there were numerous wakes from recreational boats headed out, and most importantly, the wake from a passenger liner and tugs headed for the Cape Cod Canal was incoming. The waves all seemed to meet at the second mark and were very confused. They were short and sharp, and I could barely row through the standing waves with one oar in the air and one in the water. Often, I laid both oars on the water to keep stable. At one 100m interval my pace slowed to 5:40/500m and I was barely making headway. I could see the Irish curragh catching up to me and I rowed with short strokes to just keep moving. I could see calmer water ahead in the lee of Onset Island and slowly my pace picked up as I reached the calmer water.

Then I maneuvered through the mooring field to start/finish line and pulled my boat up on the beach in first place in my heat. I think I came in second or third overall including the big boats. I had lunch provided by the BBRC with Joseph and Colm, the two Irishmen in the Irish curragh. They also had difficulty around the second mark and were wondering how I got through it.

It was a beautiful race in an old beach town during New England’s fifth season, despite the difficulty we all had at the second mark. I’ll do it again, although I distinctly remember thinking at the time I would never do this again. There are several groups of photos of the race on the BBRC Facebook page including one of the passenger liner. If you are interested, be sure to scroll down far enough to see all the groups of photos. https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=b ... ing%20club

[Dino]

Cheers for sharing Paul - the pictures are fab - looks like a great place to row.
"...despite the difficulty we all had at the second mark. I’ll do it again, although I distinctly remember thinking at the time I would never do this again..."
Those t-shirts "I am sexy and I row it"

[rickbayko]

Excellent reports on both races Paul. Thanks for not mentioning the Mighty Merrimack race where someone-who-shall-remain-nameless quit after only one of the two loops of the racecourse.

I remain impressed with your ability to handle much rougher water than I can.