New waterfront park site of yearly rowing event

A big group of visitors had a close-up look at recent changes to La Conner’s waterfront on Saturday.

The Sound Rowers and Paddlers, an open water rowing and paddling club, always hold their first race of the season on the first Saturday in February in La Conner — and this year was no different — but the scenery has changed, with the launch site in the middle of a makeover to become the new Conner Waterfront Park.

About 50 human-powered watercraft, including kayaks, outrigger canoes, bicycle-type, foot-powered vessels, single row boats, five-person row boats and even stand-up paddle boards all left from Conner Waterfront Park.

They raced south along the Swinomish Channel, and around the channel entry buoy in Skagit Bay and back to the start and finish line under the Rainbow Bridge for a total of seven very difficult miles.

The first finisher did the race in 47:38.7 minutes, while beating the last place finisher by nearly an hour and a half. Everyone else finished somewhere in between.

From my perspective, standing on the beach, drinking my morning coffee, watching the start and finish, everyone completing that grueling task were big winners.

Sound Rowers and Paddlers is a volunteer organization conducting open water races for world class athletes who race in any sea-worthy, human-powered water craft, mostly in Puget Sound with races in Eastern Washington, San Juan Islands, Westport and several local lakes. It takes a special strong and capable person to train and enter in these very competitive events.

It is great seeing Conner Waterfront Park used for these types of events. Next year all of us on the Parks Commission hope to have more park facilities available for these folks and other groups like this.

The writer is a member of the La Conner Parks Commission