After over a year of cancellations of open water races, Rick Bayko (Yankeerunner on the forum) and I participated in the Mighty Merrimack Rowing Race on Oct 23rd hosted by Lowell’s Boat Shop and Museum (
http://lowellsboatshop.com/), America’s oldest operating boat shop. The shop is located in Amesbury, Mass, right on the Merrimack River and the race is more of a fun row than a race but if they are keeping time I’m rowing as hard as I can. Most of the participants were in dories or work boats with two pilot gigs, a kayak, and Rick and I in an Alden Starr and Peinert Zephyr respectively. I’ve rowed this race several times and Rick participated once in a dory. There’s a write up of that on this thread.
We loaded up the boats on my car Friday afternoon and Rick and I discussed the course. It starts out downriver into the current and then crosses the Merrimack River near the Whittier Bridge (Route 95). During the crossing you are subject to strong upriver tidal current and you can be swept upriver of the downriver mark. Once you make the turn you look for a steeple upriver over your right shoulder and eventually you will find a navigation buoy over your left shoulder that marks the upriver turn. Then it’s back to the starting line at the boat shop and repeat a second lap. We launched at a boat ramp upriver of the race course and rowed down to the shop noting the location of the upriver buoy. I remarked that it seemed further downstream than usual.
It was somewhat cold and overcast as we took to the water but it soon became clear and warm. I jockeyed my way to the first line at the start and heard a guy in a dory growl to the kayaker, “keep clear, you don’t want to get under our oars.” What a jerk, it’s supposed to be safe and fun. The horn went off and the kayaker soon left him in his wake. I jumped to the lead and was soon crossing the river to the downstream mark. I was ready for the upstream current and compensated for it and rounded the mark without incident. Then it was upriver with the current with the steeple in view. I had a bead on the steeple and kept looking for the nav buoy but just couldn’t find it. Then I remembered my own advice and looked over my left shoulder. There it was, at least 75 m downstream of me. I completely overshot it! Who put it there? I was not informed! I made a wide turn trying to keep my speed up and by the time I reached the buoy Mr. Kayaker and Jeff and Rich, the two best dorymen in New England, had almost caught up with me in their double dory. I rowed hard into the current and soon had a good lead again. Mr. Kayaker in his Chesapeake Designs kayak was too far out in the middle of the river and almost missed passing through the starting line for the start of the second lap. Both of us learned again that navigation is part of the race.
Then it was a little further downstream and crossing of the river. By this time the current had picked up even more and as I was within 20 m of the downstream buoy, I noticed a patch of smooth, fast moving water. My bow hit that patch and within one boat length I was twisted pointing slightly upriver. A few quick pulls on the starboard oar and I was back on course but closer to the buoy than I wanted. After that I put the hammer down going upriver with the tidal current and my new Speed Coach had me going at 2:00/500 m and I’m not embarrassed to say is the fastest I have ever gotten that Zephyr to move. This time I was very aware of the location of the upriver buoy, rounded it nicely and finished ahead of Mr. Kayaker and Rich and Jeff, the two best dorymen in New England.
We rowed back to the ramp, loaded up the boats, and returned to the boat shop for the last two hotdogs and some highly recommended Ipswich Ale. We met up with Mr. Kayaker and he said he is going to return next year with his rebuilt sliding seat open water shell and give me some competition. Great, more good sporting competition is what makes it fun.
