Racers of all stripes poised to challenge sea

PORT TOWNSEND — Standing on the shore beside the Northwest Maritime Center, bathed in sunshine, Mary Fortman admitted something.

“I thought I’d be in a wheelchair by now,” said the 59-year-old, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 11 years ago.

Instead she’s ready to row her Maas Aero scull — solo — in the Seventy48, a human-powered-only race starting tonight in Tacoma’s Foss Waterway.

Setting out at 7 p.m., Fortman and about 95 other individuals and teams will travel across the Salish Sea to Port Townsend, covering those 70 miles of currents and winds in 48 hours or less.

“I’m going to be 60 in a couple of weeks; this is the year to challenge myself,” said Fortman, a member of the Rat Island Rowing and Sculling Club who’s been skimming across local waters for about six years now.

This race — trackable day and night at Seventy48.com — will bring a diverse assortment of people and watercraft in to the Northwest Maritime Center dock, at the foot of Water Street, throughout Saturday and Sunday.

There are Port Townsend women such as Fortman and her compatriots Linda Ward, Ricki-Ellen Brooke and Mari Friend. There are kayakers, canoeists and standup board paddlers from across the Northwest. And a relatively huge crew, Team Forty-seven48, will take a 28-foot dory home to the maritime center.

Being out in the elements, facing not-necessarily predicted conditions in water and sky, is a daunting thing, said Forty-seven48’s Joel Arrington.

He outlined the route: Pull out of Tacoma, come around Point Defiance, head for Bainbridge Island, where the Seattle skyline appears almost close enough to touch.

Cross toward Kingston, pop around Point No Point and Foul Weather Bluff, then on to Port Ludlow. Approaching Port Townsend, “kind of hug the shore, figuring out what’s the best plan of attack,” possibly through fog, rain and darkness.

“We’re renting these big globe lights that light up the whole dock,” said Daniel Evans, Seventy48’s race boss, adding the fastest racers start arriving Saturday morning and early afternoon.

“We want people to welcome the racers in. There’s plenty of beach and dock space,” he said.

“We’re going to have a big stat sheet up at the top of the dock … there will be a fairly steady stream,” through Sunday afternoon as some 176 team members pull in.

Arrington’s team is hoping for a 20-hour race. Fortman and Ward, for their part, worry not at all about numbers. Ward hears their participation has inspired people to think about learning to row, even race.

“No one would look at us and say, ‘Those are the elite,’” she said, smiling. A few years ago, “I was truly awful. But I stuck to it.”

A cancer survivor, Ward has cardiac damage from chemotherapy. She uses a two-wheeled dolly to bring her scull out of the water — and save her energy for rowing.

She named herself Team Solo 2 the Ground while Fortman is Team So-Low 2; “we’re both very short,” as in 5-foot-2, Ward noted.

If you look at the “effective rowers,” she said, they’re quite tall, with long limbs.

No matter; “we like to get out and stretch.”

Friend, Ward’s more experienced fellow racer, has rowed the Seventy48 before; this time she considered the race name Old Friend.

“It would have been a great name,” said Friend, 77. She decided not to accentuate her age, and instead went with Team Friendship.

The prizes in the Seventy48 come from the entry fees: each racer kicks in $100, Evans noted, adding the four classes of entrants are racers facing forward, those facing backward, those standing up and those who go solo.

First place overall wins half the total purse, which Evans said will be about $5,000. One-eighth of the purse goes to the winners of three other classes in the event, while the remaining one-eighth is awarded, along with a top-drawer Mustang drysuit, to the “Random Hero,” whose name is drawn out of the hat full of entrants.

The Seventy48, in pre-pandemic years, was held the same weekend as the Race to Alaska, along with the Ruckus, a public party in downtown Port Townsend. Since the R2AK is canceled this year — its route crosses Canada, whose border is closed — Evans has replaced it with the WA360.

WA360

That competition starts in Port Townsend at 6 a.m. Monday, with a race tracker and team list at nwmaritime.org/wa360.

Teams have two weeks to navigate 360 miles of waterways, from Skagit Bay to Bellingham and Point Roberts, and back around to Port Townsend.

The prizes for three race classes: black and gold belts like the ones championship boxers wear.

“They’re huge. They’re really awesome,” Evans said.

To behold the event in person, “come down at 6 a.m. or before, when the race starts, directly off the Northwest Maritime Center dock,” he added.

As race boss, Evans is impressed with the people who’ve decided to jump into these events: “It’s your everyday hero,” he said. “It’s your neighbor, someone you have no idea” would do such a thing.

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Jefferson County senior reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@ peninsuladailynews.com.