Greeting fellow open water racers!

This group is an attempt to give us a place to discuss races,
training, tips, equipment, and whatever else may come up related to
open water racing. Welcome and join (or start!) the discussions!

-Traci Cole

This Saturday is the San Juan Challenge. On the list of recommended
safety equipment are things like aerial flares, smoke flares, VHF
radio, etc.

All of these things are certainly good to have.

My questions are:

1. How many folks are actually planning to carry these things with
them?

2. How are you planning to carry them, e.g., in pockets of a life
jacket, in a cargo compartment, etc.?

3. Are there any particular brands of flares, radios, etc., that you
would recommend, or recommend one steer clear from for an event such
as this?

Thanks!

Anyone have a used concept2 erg to sell or have advice about the easiest way
to find a used one for sale?
Thanks.

Hugh Conroy
Bellingham, WA

We made it across the country and successfully dropped the boat off in Buffalo,
NY. We survived high winds, severe thunderstorms, hail, lightning, just missed
a tornado, avoided bison, moose, antelope and prarie dogs! I have come to the
conclusion that when civilization finally collapes, it will look like Chicago
traffic. (That's the only place in 3300 miles that we had any real traffic
delays)
I plan to start rowing from the West Side Rowing Club in Buffalo on Monday,
July 7. They are located on the Niagara River just where it exits Lake Erie on
it's way to Lake Ontario. On the map, they are just south of the Peace Bridge
into Canada. There is a strong current at that point and the rowing club
operates behind a sea wall built for the shipping channel. When I asked if I
could row on the river side to take advantage of the current, the local coach's
eyes got wide and said that boats need a 150 horsepower motor to go against the
current. "But I don't want to go against the current", I replied.
I'll have a simple, but important, navigation turn on the first day. I have to
make a right turn (that's a starboard turn for the rowers) from the Niagara
River onto the Erie Canal. Miss that turn and the next stop is Niagara Falls.

Photos:
1. In Yellowstone Park with all the gear
2. Niagara Falls- If you see the Falls, you've gone too far!

Jeff
---------------------- Forwarded Message: ---------------------
From: "Traci Cole" <watersprite@...>
To: <jknakal@...>
Subject: RE: Erie Canal Trip
Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2003 20:54:51 -0700

That is just too cool for words! I'm envious! I look forward to sharing
your trip vicariously via email, which I'm more than happy to post to the SR
website.

-Traci

Sound Rowers member Robert Meenk is competing at the USRowing
National Championships, taking place July 22-27 on the Cooper River
in Camden County, N.J. Thus far, Robert has won both his heats in the
mens intermediate and senior light singles, progressing to the semi-
finals in each. Follow the races live at
www.racetrak.com/usrowing/nationals/2003!

Hi All,
I will be offering a Maas boats demo day on Bainbridge at Waterfront
Park following our race. One of each Maas boat will be on hand for
folks to try (sign up for 40 minute rows). I'll also have pairs of
Dreher Apex and Apex-R oars for rowers to try.

Since the boats will be on hand, and since I'm rowing my 24, all
other boats are available for the race. Let me know if you'd like to
borrow one of them... (Double, Flyweight, or Aero).

Due to this demo day commitment, I want to do the half-marathon. Can
anyone tell me the timing of the half-marathon (start time)? Knowing
the start time, I can schedule the demo day. Thanks for your help.

-- Steve Wells

Looking forward to this Saturday's race. My son and I will be on a
double surfski ("Millenium") owned by the Bellingham Race Club.
We've never been in salt water or in the boat more than a half-hour
at a stretch. So if conditions are "iffy" we'll resort to our
regular surfskis.

For some reason this race is a personal favorite. It's long, hard to
get to and quirky. Maybe because it's kind of an underdog race. It
almost died out, but has a really long history. One of the "founding
families" showed up in force last year from all over the West Coast
and did a huge BBQ after the race. I understand that it used to be
more of an "algea-sniffing" party in which participants lazily
paddled and stopped half-way around for a bite at a friendly
residence.

Hope to see many Sound Rowers there.

Reivers
& Ryler

They are a bit soggy, but they can be viewed at

http://snorlax.lampi.org/images/030809/HTML/INDEX.HTM

and photos Beverly Torok-Storb took can be seen at

http://snorlax.lampi.org/images/030809Torok-Storb/HTML/INDEX.HTM

Enjoy!

--Michael Lampi

P.S. When Traci returns I'm sure she will place the links on the
Sound Rowers web site.

Late season "row-down". The Bellinghamster surf ski flotilla will be
out for this. The flat water tends to favor the fast rowers. Micky
runs a very efficient race (just ask him) and you'll know your
standing right away.

This is one of the best spectator courses of the year with an
observation bridge, great club-house and fairly visible last-quarter
of the race. (Oh yeah, Mt.Baker Recreation puts out some muffins and
stuff.) Parking is sub-optimal and the drive can be long.

If I can talk my son into climbing into the Bellingham Club double-
ski we might sneak into the top ten finishers. Maybe we can draft
Duncan for a few seconds (I have a rich fantasy life!).

rapid reivers

The race is September 27 and not September 20. This reflects a
change made between the original but tentative calendar and the
final calendar adopted after the Annual Meeting. Hope to see you in
8 days!!
-- Steve

Need finish-line-timer-persons or other logistics helpers. I've
discovered that I'm the race director! This should be wonderful
personal growth experience.

Disregard the earlier post about my son and I paddling.

reivers

The Sound Rowers annual meeting in December will take place at the
Cascade boathouse in Renton - NOT at the Pocock center as in prior
years. Date and time are the same: December 6th at 10 a.m.
Directions are available at the Cascade Canoe & Kayak website.

http://www.canoe-kayak.com/site/locations.php?action=details&id=2

Will there be an outing on the water after the meeting?

--Michael Lampi

Round Shaw results are now on the website - thanks to Jeff Knakal for
his persistance in tracking them down!

The Medina-Mercer Sausage Pull photos I took are available now
at http://snorlax.lampi.org/images/031011/INDEX.HTM.

Since there are 180 photos, it takes a while to download before
clicking on the thumbnails works properly. Just wait until the
cursor changes to a hand with a pointing finger before clicking
on a thumbnail, or when clicking on the photos.

As always, if anyone wants the original 3.3 megapixel image (for
their personal use) instead of the edited 1024x768, just ask.

Note that the thumbnails reflect the original image, not the
edited ones.

I had a good time, even if I wimped out and did the short race!

--Michael Lampi

Ok, so due to technical difficulties I was not able to take photos at
the start of this race. However, I *did* manage to take some during
the race.

My wife had intended to enter using our Escapade, and take two of our
kids with her. Unfortunately the boat got hung up on the debris and
shallow waters at the mouth of the Cedar River, and she had a heck of
a time making it over to the dock.

Who knows? Maybe in some future race she'll try again.

http://snorlax.lampi.org/images/031025/INDEX.HTM is where you can find
the photos.

Cheers!

--Michael Lampi

Has anyone used this new paddling outerwear? In my surfski workouts
my lower body and extremeties suffer for the cold.

Also interested in Glove/footwear reviews.

I know of one Bellingham guy using the titanium top, but haven't
heard his thoughts.

The next newsletter will go out to the printers on Monday, Nov 10.
This is the last newsletter before the annual meeting. If anyone
would like to put in a plea to the membership to take over that job
you don't like, or a campaign speech for the office you want to take
over, send it to be by this weekend.

Jeff K.

I've sorted the results from all of this year's races and assigned
points equal to each person's percentile rank in each race. Here are
this year's top 100 finishers (there were 411 competitors) I'll
bring this to the annual meeting for further review and discussion!
Name Total
1 Rob O'Brien 1242
2 Jeff Knakal 1184
3 Adrian Storb 1122
4 Greg Gilda 1061
5 Michael Lampi 893
6 Steve Wells 886
7 Rainer Storb 873
8 Theresa Knakal 842
9 Bill Jaquette 767
10 Joost Zeegars 727
11 Dean Bumstead 596
12 Koll Hagen 589
13 Michael Furtado 554
14 Traci Cole 530
15 David Scherrer 528
16 Shane Baker 506
17 Vern Heikkila 470
18 David Halpern 460
19 Jim Zimmerman 417
20 Jan Gifford 411
21 Rick Peterson 381
22 Peter Turcan 378
23 Randy Olsen 366
24 Randy Sigle 354
25 Steve Chapin 344
26 Brian Mulvaney 335
27 Bela Kovacs Sr 325
28 John Garrett 317
29 John Day 314
30 Brian Boatman 304
31 Melinda Furrer 302
32 Janet Heikkila 296
33 Erik Borgnes 284
34 Steve Isaac 277
35 Todd Silver 277
36 Kirk Christensen 273
37 Geoff Briggs 270
38 Larry Bussinger 267
39 Steve Thompson 260
40 Karen Hart 254
41 Frank Gentile 250
42 Tom Cartmill 245
43 Alan Anderson 243
44 Greg Dutton 243
45 Richard Ramsey 233
46 Chris Smith 227
47 Ryler Dustin 218
48 Brian Page 217
49 Randy Olson 209
50 Kristin Thorness 206
51 Ben Fast 204
65 Jeff Clark 203
52 Jeff Raymond 203
53 Bill Kalenius 198
54 Mark Zollitsch 198
55 Greg Barton 196
56 John Pappenheimer 186
57 Sandra McGinnis 186
58 Luke Wigren 184
59 Jeff Wong 183
60 Karol Osusky 183
61 Duncan Howat 182
62 Sam Lowe 181
63 Michael Bryan-Brown 177
64 Dave Damminga 175
66 Charlene Shelfer 172
67 Aasim Salen 170
68 Thom Prichard 170
69 Lizzie Resta 169
70 Bob Shelfer 164
71 Dustin Reivers 164
72 Amy Howat 163
73 Debbie Natelson 163
74 Paul Mueller 162
75 Jerome Truran 157
76 Jim Raney 156
77 Shaun Koos 154
78 Hugh Conroy 147
79 Tashi Green 143
80 Calvin Chow 140
81 Roberts 137
82 Andrew Elliot 134
83 David Allen 132
84 Rich Seubert 128
85 Boy Chun Fook 119
86 Gordon Martinez 119
87 Charlie Brown 116
88 Scott Puckett 103
89 D. Bobanick 100
90 Dale Herrigstad 100
91 Evano Masini 100
92 Evon Jacobs 100
93 Jim Roberts 100
94 John Holtman 100
95 Matt Biery 100
96 Desmond Murphy 99
97 Don Keisling 97
98 Duane Watamaki 96
99 Anne Needham 95

Shane has compiled a tentative race schedule for 2004, which will be
discussed and (mostly) finalized at the annual meeting this
Saturday. I've updated our webpage to reflect this, if anyone wants
to get an early peek.

-Traci