Hayden Storms the 2010 Samish Salmon Roe!
This summer has marked Hayden’s entry into the world of racing, from riding shotgun on Mama’s SUP board around Lake Padden, to sharing the bow with her on the Wednesday night races on Lake Whatcom. And now he’s added his first SoundRower’s blue ribbon to his wall of fame.
Yesterday, paddling our trusty tandem Double Joy — and as Grandpa Hummer, Uncle Nick & Aunt Jessica, and cousins Annika and Zander cheered on from the shore — Hayden raced with us in the 6-mile Lake Samish Salmon Roe. This race consistently draws the biggest fleet of the year, with near 120 boats of all types lining up to throw down. The organization, awards, and post-race feast are all renowned for their high quality, too, making it just an awesome, favorite event of most racers – including Hayden!
Our technique for sharing the boat amongst the three of us is for me to take my usual seat in the stern, with Hayden sitting on Mama’s lap in the bow, leaving her able to reach her arms around him and apply full power to every stroke.
Despite glassy water at the start, conditions got downright lively in the lake’s bigger basin where 20+ knot winds churned up whitecaps and created a mini down-winder surf-fest on the north end.
Hayden took some splashes right in the face and, truth be told, didn’t care for those much. J But Mama expertly got him right back in the spirit of things with a distracting game of “I-spy!” as we cranked along.
Then, with only a third of the race to go, we were right in the thick of a pack of surfskis and the race was on, swapping leads and weaving for position as turns approached!
We flew under the bridge with less than a mile to go, turned on some heat to hold off anyone creeping up behind us, and scored a pass on one final ski right before the finish line.
Hayden was stoked! We’d won our class (tandem mixed fast sea kayak) and took 12th overall.
We weren’t the only kids on the water, either. Greg Gilda and his 5-year old daughter Lucy took the blue ribbon in the mixed regular sea kayak division, and father-and-son team Dean and Devon Bumstead won the men’s regular sea kayak division.
Kids are making more and more of a presence at the Pac NW races, and we couldn’t be more stoked about it!
See you on the water!
Brandon, Heather and Hayden
