We Are A Laughing Roomba

Laughing Roomba (a.k.a., We Are A Laughing Roomba, Are We Laughing Yet) is going for the trifecta of NW Maritime races. Our R2AK application has been approved and we will use the same boat, a Savo 650E “Movin’ Right Along”, that got us through Seventy48 and WA360 last year.

WA360 Days 8-9

Another grand adventure has come to an end with just memories and slowly healing posteriors being the only evidence of the trip.

After a quiet night in the tent at Point Roberts, we started rowing towards the San Juans a little after 5 a.m.. Our goal was to get as far as possible since the weather looked manageable all day — something we had not experienced for several days. The wind was against us most of the way but the waves were pretty mild compared to the previous day and our speed was pretty decent. In other words, after you have been battered about for several days, anything less seems like a gift.

Our route took us down the east side of Orcas Island and our speed was gradually increasing while the wind and waves were decreasing. Part way down Orcas a power boat turned and slowly headed our way. When they were within shouting range they asked if we were part of the race and we indicated we were and what our team name was. They were excited to see us as they had been following the race tracker and had wanted to see us. Apparently they were wagering on the race and had randomly picked us as the pony to bet on over another muscle entry. They offered us chocolate bars which we could not refuse. One was a dark chocolate Theos bar. Earlier in the day, Haleigh had been singing the Mounds/Almond Joy song about real milk chocolate and I said I would rather have dark chocolate. I guess all I had to do was ask.

As we approached the southeast end of Orcas we wondered if we would keep the same speed as we entered Rosario Strait. The question was answered with a solid “no”. We were headed towards a rock pile that Haleigh wanted to give a wide berth. As we were going out into the channel we eventually noticed we were not making any progress forward, only sideways. Our gps unit showed us going in mixed up directions, essentially being pushed backwards. After some pondering and test rows in different directions, we opted to get out of Rosario and go around Cypress Island to the east and south rather than the north and west. As soon as we got away from the influence of Rosario, we picked up speed and had a very speedy trip along the Cypress shoreline. What a pretty island with lots of places to potentially stop for the night.

After rounding Cypress we headed towards Anacortes/Fidalgo Island. It was getting late in the day and we were both getting a little weary so thought we would head to a park at Burrows Island just south of Anacortes. We knew there was a marina on Fidalgo just across from the park. From a distance the park did not look very inviting for an overnight for the boat so we rowed into Skyline Marina. The marina office was closed so we found a space on a dock that looked rarely used and settled in for the night. It was windy and cold under the stars and made for a long night.

We were out of bed before 4 and rowing shortly after 4 while it was still dark. We wanted to get into Port Townsend before the afternoon winds kicked in. The night’s wind was still in gear so it was a bumpy ride to start the day. We were on a straight line towards Pt Townsend which took us a ways off shore. Since the currents were generally favorable we wanted to catch as much of them as possible. As we were approaching the entrance to Deception Pass the fog rolled in and we lost sight of land and further out to sea. Our gps kept us from wandering out to sea but we had no visibility of any landmarks.

A ways after passing Deception Pass we heard a call on our VHF radio for assistance from the Coast Guard to help a kayaker who was in the water just south of Deception Pass. We had been pushed around as we had passed the pass from quite a ways off shore so figured anyone going close to the mouth must have gotten some strong currents and messy waves. The garbled communications sounded like it was one of our racers who we had seen a few times in the last several days. It also sounded like there was another vessel there with him to help. The Coast Guard alert was cancelled fairly quickly and we were relieved to find out our friend was OK.

Eventually the fog cleared as we worked our way down the coastline of Whidbey Island. As we reached the point of Whidbey where we can see Port Townsend, a boat approached us and we were happy to see race director Jesse and media guy Ryder coming out to say hello and check on us. What a welcome sight. All we had to do was cross Admiralty Inlet and we would be done. After a few kelp beds we had to pick our way through and an Inlet current that cut our speed in half, we crawled into Port Townsend to be greeted by our fan base of Deb (my wife), our friend Jim/OD, Everett (Haleigh’s son) and Russell (our dog) plus a few officials and other interested bystanders.

We finished the race in just under nine days. We had pushed hard all morning to see if we could get in prior to 11 a..m. which would have started day 10. We had 22 minutes to spare. Overall as of this writing there were 55 finishers, 27 non-finishers, and 4 still on the course. We finished 45th of the 86 starters, 6th of 17 (12 who have finished) in the muscle (no sails) group, and 2nd of 5 (3 who have finished) in the row boat group. With that said, we knew going in we would not be pushing for the top in any category as that would require too many hours a day and make us have to take risks we were not comfortable taking. Safety, fun, and finishing were the primary goals and all were well achieved. And another goal achieved — we are still talking to each other despite a number of stressful times.

Now the next question — do we dare sign up for Race To Alaska next year?

Another day of WA360 and another round of adventures — all good. Well, mostly good. We slept in the boat in La Conner for the first time last night and were able to put a makeshift fly over it. It was breezy when we went to bed so the fly was flying around. I woke up around three and realized the wind had stopped and the fly now had no venting. It was now raining from perspiration inside. After opening it up a touch I slept, well laid, on the dock until 4:30 when Haleigh’s alarm signaled it was time to start the day.

We had no incidents getting to Anacortes - a pleasant morning row. Then we headed north towards Bellingham. We were rowing on a low tide and about half of the way had either large patches of seaweed or eel grass. All of which either hung on to our oars or caught ahold of our rudder.

We entered Bellingham Bay and celebrated after rounding one of the obligatory channel marker check points. On the way out we were interviewed by the WA360 press people. They mic’d us up and we rowed while answering their questions (we were also interviewed in LaConner by Northwest Maritime).

We were targeting Birch Bay for the end of the day but the wind came up and stopped us in Sandy Point/Neptune Beach. The wind looks dicey for the next couple of days so we are not sure when we can leave. In the meantime we will enjoy jumping every time a mortar goes off very near to us. It could be a long night.

More fun times, more tough times. In LaConner tonight after another day with little mileage. However, since we had planned on no mileage today after last night’s near catastrophe, something was better than nothing.

Yesterday afternoon we landed at Camano Island State Park after a slow day. It had been pretty choppy and since the forecasts were for much worse we decided to call it a day. We tied the boat to the boat dock and packed our stuff to a campsite a couple hundred yards away. I checked on Movin’ (Movin’ Right Along - boat) a little later and she was bouncing with waves, but not too badly.

A little later a fellow racer said she was really bouncing. I ran down and saw the boat dock galloping with the massive breakers hitting it and Movin’ holding on for dear life. I quickly mobilized some helpers and we attempted to bring her ashore through the crashing surf. We got it to shore safely but could not get it up the shore before the surf started pouring in and in and in. After grabbing some extra hands we were finally able to get it away from the surf’s reach. Filled with water, sand, and seaweed we cleaned it up best we could and headed back to eat dinner. We needed a couple of more trips to pull it up onto beach logs after we found out the high tide would easily reach it.

We planned to take the next day off to further clean and dry out the soggy stuff but changed our mind when fellow campers found a good weather window.

Back to that night. As we were making a final high tide check at 10:30 a park ranger came and gave us grief for leaving our boat there. Then he gave us grief for camping where we were and wanted all six of our groups to move with tge rest of the group already in bed. We finally convinced him to leave us and we would be gone first thing.

As Haleigh says, everyone everywhere has been very nice except for that park ranger.

Photo from friend of a friend who spotted me from restaurant in La Conner.

Finishing the 4th day of WA360 in Edmonds. We had hoped to get a lot farther north today but the north wind won. We attempted to make a last ditch effort to get out around 5 but the wind and water turned from ungracious to unrowable. The kind where you are bounced from one gunnell to the other and the wind and waves spin you in every direction but the one you want. A couple of hundred yards from the marina took us about 10 minutes to return. Now sleeping on the deck of a kind gentleman’s sail boat. Hopefully a calmer try in the morning.
We have had lots of challenging water so far. And some really great water as well. Plus we lost a rudder on our way to Gig Harbor. In an attempt to clear some sea slobber from the rudder it popped completely out of its bracket. Fumble fingers me lost a grip on the tether line and off it floated. No way were we prepared to take on any strong currents or winds without it. It was custom made in Vermont. We went into Gig Harbor hoping for the very unlikely chance that someone would have something we might make work. In the second boating store we tried they had a rudder spare part that was almost exactly like our custom one (big shout out to Mike at Ship to Shore for taking the time to help us figure it all out). We installed it and it has been seeing us through the rough seas and wind. And we have added a few security measures to hopefully reduce the chances of a repeat performance.

It has been a year and a half since Haleigh and I first pondered this race and now we are just over 24 hours from starting. Saturday at 11 a.m. our tour of Puget Sound (a.k.a., WA360) begins in Port Townsend. This is a step up from Seventy48 which we rowed in at the start of the month and that I have done many times. Seventy48 can be done in one shot so no camping or load of food/water is necessary. The 320-360 miles should take us 8-10 days depending on weather, tidal currents, motivation, and aches and pains.
From Port Townsend we come all the way south into Olympia where we turn around the Olympia shoal marker which is about half way out Budd Inlet towards the west side. We should make the turn late Sunday or early Monday. Once we turn we head North to Point Roberts on the Canadian border, going up the east side of Whidbey, past Anacortes, and through Bellingham. Once we make the turn at Point Roberts, we head south through the San Juans (route to be chosen depending on conditions and our attitudes at the time), down the west side of Whidbey, and to the finish at Port Townsend.
We are using the same boat we used for Seventy48, "Movin' Right Along", our 21' Savo. This time it is a lot more loaded with enough food and water to last our expected time out (we have 14 days to finish the race before being declared "lost at sea" or something of that nature) plus tent, sleeping bags, and extra clothes of all types. Out team name remains the same, "We Are A Laughing Roomba", although we hope most of our laughs do not come from bouncing off of things.
As with Seventy48, we will have a race tracker with us and the page with the tracker is: https://nwmaritime.org/nwmc-events/races-cruises/wa360/ .
One other difference on this race is that wind aided vessels are allowed. The bulk of the 91 contestants will use that aid whenever they can find it although they are all outfitted with oars and pedal drives to move when there is no wind (motors are not allowed, of course). We have two race groups, wind and muscle. Any form of sail puts you in the wind group. We have no form of sail other than our bodies.
If you see us on the tracker as we approach Dofflemyer Point at Boston Harbor or Burfoot Park, you are welcome to come out and see two very tired rowers dip their blades and hear their groans (or laughs) as we pass by. Just do not bring anything to aid us (not even cookies) as this is a self-supported, no outside aid race. If you are near the course outside Oly, the same applies wherever we might be.
I am pondering a Facebook live event at some point if we can get everything to work and we are in a laughing mood. Stay tuned, or not.

Seventy48 2025 for Team We Are A Laughing Roomba

Seventy48 number 7 is in the books. Number 7 was no different than 1 through 6 in that in the middle of the race the question always is why am I suffering through this again. However, with a partner for the second year in a row and a much tamer set of conditions than any I have experienced previously, I did not ask the question quite as frequently as before.

After seven times you would think this race would get old. However, unlike a road race on the same course where the road surface and hills are constant from year to year, open water races usually give you a different look every time just from the way the tides, currents, and wind play with and against each other. The surface can be flat and pushing you along one year and the next year the wind and current can be going against you the whole way providing you a race-long “uphill”. Yet another year the wind can be going one direction and the current another to build a nasty chop that must be battled to move - the equivalent of an auto road race where the road is full of pot holes of many different depths. Throw in night rowing where the moon might light up the water quite brightly or be a new moon with only ambient light to see your way. Then there is always fog - day or night it can be disaster if not prepared with proper navigation equipment and the sense to use it.

This year, the weather was quite mild for our time on the water (others behind us were not quite so lucky). We had a little opposing wind early in the race that affected the water a bit but it did not last long. The biggest nuisance was the slight opposing current that pushed against us most of the night. When I expected to be making good time with a slightly favoring current, we were only going at about 2/3 speed. We have a new boat that is much heavier than the shell we normally row. With this boat we will comfortably row 5-6 mph on quiet water. The whole night we were 3-4 mph.

Most years I can go on about a dozen or so things that negatively affected our row. Besides that nuisance of a current, the only big thing to hit us was the loss of our mast mounted on the stern of the boat. It carries our mirror and night light and attaches to our rudder. Haleigh was quite delighted to have a mirror to use so as to not have to be continuously turning around to check our heading. The mast was tiltable and had teeth to give several options for angle. We wanted straight up but that was not an option — just pitched a little either way. So we installed an adapter that let us set it at any angle. That gave way early in the race and Haleigh yelled “timber” as it fell back into the water behind us — still attached but now dragging. We were a mile or so off shore and it would take us a long time to get to shore dragging the mast so I crawled across the stern hatch as far as I dared to see if I could get the mast back up. I could not get both hands on it and one hand was not strong enough to pull it up with the equipment attached and the 6’ PVC full of water. Finally we decided I would just disassemble it. While rocking back and forth on the hatch with my toes gripping the lip on the gunnels, I was able to unscrew the mount and pull in the mast while managing to stay in the boat rather than joining the mast for a swim. So we lost our mirror and rudder and had to change our elevated night light to one strapped to Haleigh’s back.

That was the total of our unplanned excitement, assuming you don’t count the three hundred (give or take) changes of seat pads we went through and the three hundred (give or take) times my water supply ran right through me. We were getting quite good in our other boat of going for long rows and not needing to adjust seating or empty tanks. We only had a couple of weeks in this boat and nothing near the distance of this race. The seating is quite different and our cheeks paid the price of not having proper cushioning figured out. As for emptying the tanks, there is something about this night rowing I guess that messes with my system.

Now that I have showered you with the negatives — the positives. The start was fun as always with 104 craft of every configuration seemingly possible, starting at the same time; lots of rowers in boats of many shapes, sizes, and number of occupants, some with sliding seats, some with fixed seats; kayakers in sea kayaks and surf skis and many other variations; outrigger canoes, monstrous canoes holding a couple of base ball teams worth of paddlers, and good old summer camp canoes; pedal boats built on kayaks or on pontoons (and one with rowing stations); stand up paddle boards; and get this, a couple of large sailboats with pedal stations and rowing stations (wind power is not allowed in this race).

The skies were pretty clear all night and the nearly full moon was the best moon I have had in this race, lighting up the water until 2 a.m. when ambient light took over until dawn a couple of hours later. And dawn, so gorgeous!!

Our best stretch was leaving Point No Point 19 miles from the finish. We had clean water and a favoring current that pushed us for seven miles or so at 7-8 mph. We had not seen any other racers for a couple of hours and suddenly had two other boats as we rounded the point. An informal race to the finish was now on although I think we were both looking forward to a nice relaxed final stretch. A second race was the race to the Port Townsend Canal where the current was supposed to switch from favoring to opposing around 8 a.m.. We won both races, hitting the canal just as the current was switching but before it got any teeth (at max it would flow against us about the same speed we could row) and the race to the finish line. As we were approaching the finish line Haleigh asked if we had a big enough lead to readjust our seat pads for 300th time. I really wanted to change my pad also and reluctantly agreed while keeping a close eye on the very capable outrigger that had been right with us that whole stretch (I talked to him later and he was racing as well).

We landed 14 hours 41 minutes after starting and were greeted with lots of fanfare (announcer on speaker system, cow bells, yells, whistles) from the finish line crew and our support crew (wife Deb and husband Mike). Our finish line leader board showed us in 9th place - quite a surprise as we were assuming we would be somewhere in the teens. We found out later in the day during a chance conversation that we were the 2nd overall rowing team and since the first rower was awarded the first solo prize we would be given the first facing backward prize - a significant cash award. This is the second time I have backed into this award. The stars aligned one more time.

Now we have a few weeks to prepare for a sibling of this race — the WA360 race that starts in Port Townsend, circles the Olympia Shoal in Budd Inlet, goes through Bellingham and up to Point Roberts before returning through the San Juan’s to Port Townsend — 360 miles give or take. We have 14 days to finish it and expect it to take us 8-10 days. Sleeping will be part of this race (although Haleigh may claim I was sleep rowing for a while on this last race).

Final thought. There are not many of us who care to do and are capable of doing these kinds of adventures. I have been very lucky to have found a great friend and dedicated, gifted rowing partner to join me on these odysseys.

It is time for the annual suffer fest. Tomorrow (Friday) Haleigh and I blast off at 7 p.m. for the annual Seventy48 race, rowing from Tacoma to Port Townsend overnight. This year we have a different/new boat. It is a Finnish racing boat that has been modified for expeditions. Although this race is not an expedition and we could have used our Maas open water double, we chose to use this boat because we will be racing it at the end of the month in a 360 mile row that stretches from Olympia to Point Roberts with Port Townsend being the starting and ending location.
The boat was built in Utah by Andrew Cole of Great Bear Boatworks. It is a beautiful boat and very seaworthy and functional with lots of storage. We just picked it up two weeks ago and have had a steep learning curve in adapting to a different style of rowing. Haleigh has suffered my splashing as we transition to square bladed rowing.
For the those with a sleep disorder, you can track us at https://seventy48.com/follow-the-race/. We are Team We Are A Laughing Roomba. A short explanation. We tend to navigate Roomba style, bumping into things and guessing where to go next. Usually there is some laughing involved although with a new boat the laughs may not be as strong.
This boat is not as fast as our Maas on reasonably quiet water so we do not expect a fast finish. But hopefully it will at least be a dry one.