Row, row, row your boat...

On July 8, I readied to conquer the vast waters of the Columbia River once again. But this time, I traded in canvas sails for wooden paddles.
St. Helens High School volleyball coach and Columbia City resident Tom Ray planted the seed in my head a few weeks back. I agreed to ride in to McCuddy’s Marina in Portland with Rick Lugar of Scappoose to join the Mountain Home Canoe Club in a two-hour outrigger practice session.
We got to the docks and I was put in a six-person outrigger with one of the women’s teams.
The six-person boats are about 40-feet long and maybe 4-feet wide, with an arma on the left side that helps keep the boat afloat – if you don’t lean to the right.
“Have you paddled before, Kyle?” seemed to be the question of the night. Nobody seemed to mind that my answer was, “No.”
But nobody felt like taking it easy on me either.
Sitting in seat No. 5, my job was to keep my paddle strokes consistent with seat No. 3. Easy enough, except that once we got away from the dock, talk of throwing a bucket into the water started.
You see, these folks don’t just paddle for fun. MHCC is a competitive club that sends teams to races in Washington, Canada, Hawaii, Bora-Bora and anywhere else the crews choose to go.
So the bucket creates resistance and increases paddle strength. Just what I needed on my first try.
Ten minutes later, we pulled the bucket in and our boat magically became much quicker.
Twenty minutes in, I picked up an anatomy lesson, learning about some muscles I didn’t know I had. And I learned they were sore.
Eventually, I was able to figure out the rhythm of the boat and how to paddle in line with my crewmates. But the part I wasn’t able to grasp very easily was the switch.
Every 15-16 strokes, seat No. 2 yells out “Hut” and the crew switches sides. For example, seats Nos. 3 and 5 would switch the paddle from the left side of the boat to the right while seats Nos. 2 and 4 do the opposite.
These experienced paddlers are able to make the change swiftly without breaking rhythm. Not me.
About the half-hour mark I felt comfortable enough to shift my focus from the paddler in front of me to the beautiful scenery around me. Aside from all the expensive homes overlooking the river, I saw a fish jump just a couple of feet from the boat.
Soon enough, the club decided to switch me out to the faster women’s boat. Sure enough, this boat was ready for a little resistance training as well. Instead of a bucket, it was time to put some rubber tubes resembling a bicycle’s inner tubes into the water to create a drag.
I picked up some more tips and started using more of my body than just back and arms.
Once I grew accustomed to the rhythm on this boat, they felt it was time for me to switch to the fast men’s boat. So I swapped spots once again and joined a new crew.
These guys were fast. In the previous two boats, I thought we were moving well, but we seemed to never pass anyone. Not the case any more.
The outrigger glided across the calm waters in a hurry. The 70-degree, windless day seemed just fine to me. A T-shirt and shorts were comfortable, and the splashes from the paddles kept me cool when it got a little hot.
To the regulars, a day with calm water is boring because there are no waves to dodge and fight with. I wasn’t bored.
After a quick stint on the fast boat, it was time for a bigger change: On to the two-seater.
As I climbed onto the two-seat boat, I heard someone yell to my new partner, “Hey Bill, did you tell him you’re good at flipping boats?” and thought we may not have the best combination in the world.
To be frank, I was pretty surprised I didn’t give everyone in the six-person boats a quick dip in the river. Now it was just the two of us on a smaller boat.
Luckily, we managed to stay afloat for the rest of the trip to the dock. And we caused somebody to lose some money after they bet we’d be swimming.
Unluckily, as Bill pointed out, it’s a lot harder to “hide” on a two-person boat. If I wasn’t paddling, he was going to know who was slacking off. So the last leg of the journey was a bit more challenging.
Once our two-hour, roughly 10-mile excursion ended, we were all treated to some carrot cake for someone’s birthday. It was delicious.
Once I got home, I popped some ibuprofen and gained a newfound respect for these paddlers. That’s hard work, and this club practices Monday and Wednesday for two hours each night, then again for three hours on Saturday. But I’ll bet the pain is worth it when they’re paddling from island to island in Hawaii.
If you’re interested in giving paddling a try, check out www.mountainhomecc.com to learn more.