After more than a dozen Opening Day attempts at the Montlake Cut dating back to the mid-90s, the Vashon Island Rowing Club’s (VIRC) men’s masters eight captured gold for the first time in the club’s history on Saturday, May 7. 

Rowing through choppy water churned up by winds of up to 25 mph, the VIRC men’s eight completed the punishing 2,000-meter course in 6:41, finishing with more than a boat length of open water over runner-up Mout Baker. Longtime Vashon arch-rivals Vic City, BC and Willamette Rowing finished third and fourth.

“We’ve always been a strong crew,” said starboard stroke Colby Atwood. “But in this sport, rowing together is at least as important as power, and this year we’re really synching up well.”

Vashon nearly completed a clean sweep at Opening Day, as the junior women’s quad, which recently took first at the Brentwood Regatta in British Columbia, finished second with a time of 7:19. Vashon was edged out on the final stroke by Seattle Rowing Center (SRC), to finish less than one-tenth of a second behind the winning boat in one of the morning’s most thrilling races.

The VIRC men’s masters continued a winning streak dating back to last October, when they took an unprecedented double gold at the Gorge/Elk regatta in Victoria, BC. The winning boat at Opening Day, coached by Steve Full, was stroked by Bruce Morser, with Colby Atwood, Mark Ripley, Ed Zapel, John Jannetty, Scott Engelhard, Steve Haworth and Bob Horsley rounding out the eight. Vashon’s coxswain was Heather Dow.

“We were two seats up off the start and kept moving ahead from there,” said Engelhard. “At the Montlake Bridge, Mount Baker made a move, but we brought up the stroke rate and pulled away.”

Vashon’s junior women’s quad took on a lot of water in the rough conditions, yet still showed tremendous resiliency and composure all the way down the course as 40,000 fans watched their slugfest with SRC. 

“When you go wire to wire with someone, it really teaches you how to race,” said VIRC juniors coach Steve Full. “The girls have been hitting their target speeds all year, and I have every confidence that they will move toward the championships united, faster and ready for anyone who’s up for the challenge.”

Vashon’s junior quad featured Alaina Williams in the stroke seat, with Emmie Kehoe, Mia Croonquist and Avalon Koenig in bow and coxswain Olivia Sayvetz. 

The eye-popping performance by both Vashon boats was a further testament to the powerful partnership between the Vashon rowing community and the Vashon Park District, said junior rowing parent coordinator Kim Goforth.

“The relationship we have with Parks is a huge reason why our junior rowers are raising eyebrows both regionally and nationally,” she said.

— Jeff Hoyt is a former night owl who became a morning person when he discovered rowing 11 years ago. During the rest of the day, he reads stuff out loud for a living.