On your mark, get set, row in the annual Onset Rowing Challenge
Dharma Voyage rowers are in the homestretch. Photos by Bobby Grady
Joe Keegan of the Boston Irish Rowing Club waits for the race to start.
From left: Trish Halpin, Olwen Huxley and Malcolm Child brave the bay as pirates.
Doug Mclellen, John De Beaollo, Cassie Havey, Bruce Gehrlein and Eric Ratchote row toward Wickets Island.
Dharma Voyage rowers get the race started in the "Spirit of Westport."
The Come Boating team from Belfast, Maine makes their way back to shore.
Dharma Voyage rowers are in the homestretch. Photos by Bobby Grady
Joe Keegan of the Boston Irish Rowing Club waits for the race to start.
From left: Trish Halpin, Olwen Huxley and Malcolm Child brave the bay as pirates.
Doug Mclellen, John De Beaollo, Cassie Havey, Bruce Gehrlein and Eric Ratchote row toward Wickets Island.
Dharma Voyage rowers get the race started in the "Spirit of Westport."
The Come Boating team from Belfast, Maine makes their way back to shore.
It was a race to the finish line as rowers went over a mile into Onset Bay during the annual Onset Rowing Challenge hosted by the Buzzards Bay Rowing Club.
The challenge, held Saturday, Oct. 25, included a three mile race from Onset Beach, past Onset Island to the channel and back with participants using a variety of different vessels.
“We have people from Belfast, Maine and then of course people here in Onset, New Bedford, Dartmouth, Wareham and Westport,” Buzzards Bay Rowing Club President Jodi Duval said. “We love the camaraderie of everyone that comes from all over.”
This proved to be the biggest race yet, according to Duval. She said since its inception the race has grown each year and now has nearly triple the vessels from its first running.
“We started out with probably 10 boats or less and now we’re up to 25, 30 vessels of all kinds,” she said.
Participants could use one of six different kinds of vessels; a kayak, canoe, row boat, dory, gig or whaleboat.
Duval said the race used to be held at Fort Tabor in New Bedford but was moved to Onset five years ago in favor of the "beautiful location.”
“It’s just gorgeous scenery and it’s also very tidal,” she said. “We have to be careful because there are sandbars out there.”
Planning around the tides has been the biggest change since moving to Onset, according to Duval.
“The first year we did it [in Onset] we didn’t even think about the tides so we sent teams off and one of them lost their rudder because they hit a sandbar,” she said. “Ever since that first year we have made sure we have the race on a day and time where it’s high tide.”
Tim Smith raced for the Buzzards Bay Rowing Club and said getting to the channel wasn’t too hard but getting back was a bit more challenging.
“Once we got out to the channel there were a lot of rollers and once we turned the corner it was into wind and just a slog back,” Smith said. “But it’s a lot of fun to be with my teammates and row with them.”
One of the participants representing the Cape Cod Maritime Museum in Hyannis was Daniel Agar who said the “beautiful conditions” for the race seem to never go away.
“Somehow it’s always a phenomenal day,” Agar said. “We haven’t had a bad weather day here.”
After the race participants headed into the Onset Bay Center for a hot dog lunch which Duval said has been one of the event’s biggest pulls.
“People call it the ‘hot dog race’ because we serve hot dogs after and we grill the buns and serve raw or grilled onions,” she said.
