by MARTY ZIER
Sports contributor
The Orcas Island Rowing Association opened the season with their island mates Bainbridge and Vashon for the All Island Regatta on March 25 at Quartermaster Harbor on Vashon Island.
The All Island is more of a season warm up to test what works, what needs a fix and a first look at the novices in race mode, or in this case, how they handle the wind! Using borrowed boats due to the informality of the event, the Orcas racers face the additional challenge of rowing in foreign boats with unfamiliar setups.
Not unusual for March, less than ideal conditions greeted our rowers with an early morning crisp wind and very cool clear skies, making the rocky shore, chopped water beach launches just as exciting as the finishes. Nothing like sending a rower off to the start, already soaked with a boat half filled with water! Most spectators on the shore with their thick Columbia jackets, wool scarves and winter gloves knew how frigid it was for the rowers bouncing atop their tiny shells, wet and with ocean spray in their face, gallantly going about their task in workmanlike manner.
All OIRA rowers completed their 1500 meter races in the water conditions described by Captains Max Blackadar and Jake Zier as “horrible.” Even Coach Tina Brown noted that “this was a great rough water practice and useful experience for Brentwood,” which is an imposing open water course due to difficult water conditions. Additionally, Brown was very impressed with how the novices handled the adverse weather conditions.
OIRA’s next event is the Alumni Regatta at Cascade Lake Saturday, April 7 at 11 a.m. The races this last Sunday were as follows:
Novice 2x (2 boats) Liam Nutt/Sky Bear Aguilar and Joey Susol/Jay Zier
Men’s Varstiy 4x Jake Zier/Mikail Van Maren/Garrett Pietsch/Jay Zier
Women’s Varsity 2x (2 boats) Tamara Klein/Bailey Johnson and Devon Mann/Melanie Flint
Men’s Varsity 2x (2 boats) Jake Zier/Mikail Van Maren and Max Blackadar/Garrett Pietsch
Women’s Varsity 4x Tamara Klein/Melaine Flint/Devon Mann/Bailey Johnson
Men’s Novice 4x Cox Max Blackadar/Joey Susol/Sky Bear Aguilar/Michael Chesher/Gunnar Sandwith.
