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.

[PaulG]

New England’s fifth season was almost over when Lowell’s Boat Shop https://www.lowellsboatshop.org/ hosted the Mighty Merrimack Race on 26 October on the Merrimack River in Amesbury MA. The skies were the color of pewter and there was a brisk northeast wind that combined with a strong ebb tide to make a strong downriver force.

I launched my Peinert Zephyr at the municipal ramp just upriver from Lowell’s with a fellow sculler. Just downriver from the launch was a floating dock set perpendicular to the river and the strong ebb and wind set up short standing waves on the upriver side of the dock. That looked like a place to stay away from due to the potential of getting pinned against the upriver side of the pier and maybe sucked under it. After I launched, I looked up and sure enough my fellow sculler was pinned against the pier. He looked to be OK, but this was going to be a tough situation to get out of. So, of course, I rowed over there as quickly as I could with no idea of how I was going to help. As I approached the dock, I felt the current start take me, and I remembered the words of Jeff, the best doryman in New England and also a lifeguard: “Don’t make two victims!” I pulled hard at an angle away from the dock and the point of no return, and escaped the current. However, my fellow sculler was still pinned, but slowly bumping his way along the dock towards its end.

I pulled hard back to the ramp, grabbed a couple of other rowers and we started to run down to the dock. By that time the sculler had bumped his way to the end of the dock and was maneuvering around the end of the dock and back to the river. He made it and we rowed safely down to Lowell’s.
With that incident in my mind, and whitecaps on the river, I was seriously considering giving up on the race. However, I convinced myself that the wind was dropping so I thought I would race. Just then a YGFB (young guy in a fast boat) showed up. It was Mr. Belfast from the Head of the Weir a few years ago in his Maas 24! Well, that was going to be first place, but I convinced myself to at least start the race under unusual conditions.
The race director gave a briefing and gave some advice I’d never heard before. The race would start headed down current and with the strong ebb and wind he suggested that we start with our bows pointed upriver into the current and then turn when the start gun went off. That might work, but I didn’t like the idea of several small boats suddenly pivoting in a small area. I stayed well upriver of the start line with my bow pointed downriver, constantly sculling backwards into the current and trying to maintain position. The gun went off and then it was just me and Mr. Belfast and shortly after that I was well in his wake.

The conditions could only be described as squirrelly. With the strong downriver current and wind, I had to make course corrections with every stroke. This was no place to relax or find a rhythm as I was always fighting some force that wanted to take me to where I did not want to be. Despite rowing with the strong ebb and wind over my stern, my pace was only in the 2:20s/500m as I was constantly adjusting. We crossed the river near the Route 95 bridge and started the upriver leg. As the race director promised, there was a narrow belt of calm water in the lee of the southern bank of the river. Rowing into the current and slight wind I was doing about 3:30/500m.

Mr. Belfast was way in front of me as we rounded the upriver marks and headed back downriver. The second lap was relatively uneventful, but I was still fighting the squirrelly conditions and making corrections. I never felt comfortable. The race ended with Mr. Belfast winning and me taking second. Even after the race we had to row back to the ramp into the current and wind and that was a slog.
After the race we enjoyed the beer and burgers. Mr. Belfast had to leave and visit his mother, so I collected his Lowell’s Boat Shop glass that I promise to deliver to him next year at the Head of the Weir. I also had the opportunity to meet up again with Thomas and Colm in their Irish Currach. Here’s Colm talking about his currach. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2BbftrL1Yo . I'll try to post a picture of Mr. Belfast’s glass under deployment.

What does this error message mean when posting a photo? "It was not possible to determine the dimensions of the image. Please verify that the URL you entered is correct."

[rickbayko]

Good job, toughing it out under trying conditions. That 'fellow sculler' should probably stick to the erg.