Kenai Crewsers History

by Wendy Bryden

Some time before Christmas 1996, a notice was placed in the Moose Pass Post Office regarding getting women together to form a rowing club. The notice was posted by Laura Petterson of Cooper Landing, and I called her to say I was interested. Several months later, four of us met in Cooper Landing to discuss rowing. None of us had ever rowed before; however, Laura had grown up in California (near Humbolt, I believe) and watched crews rowing. She had a dream to row on Kenai Lake. We voted to try sweep oar rowing and decided we needed an eight. By February 1997, Judy Odhner and Rose Hetrick had located two used women's 8's (the Sara Mia and Catherine Green), which were for sale from Gonzaga University in Washington State. The club paid $4,500 for both boats and a used set of hatchet blades. We raised money by getting donations from the community, collecting membership dues, and a no interest loan from the Hetricks. Gonzaga transported the boats to Seattle on their shell trailer, and Kenai Fjord Tours transported them up to Seward by tour boat for free. We got the shells to Upper Trail Lake at the hatchery on a Carlisle flatbed truck.

About this time, Marietta "Ed" Anderson heard about our desire to row. Having rowed in college at Washington State University, she was anxious to get her hands on a shell again and offered to help in any way. We, on the other hand, were all novices and needed a coach. Ed was more than happy to fill that job. We learned to row in the summer of 1997. Our first big, long row was a trip across Trail Lake on June 21st for the summer solstice. It was a way to show off our boats to one of the communities who helped us buy them and to give ourselves a little public exposure.

It was about this time that Ed suggested we race in Seattle at the Frostbite and Head of the Lake Regattas in November. We thought she was crazy, but she continued to mention the idea. After a while, we decided maybe it wasn't such a crazy idea after all!  She also joked about us becoming famous and getting our picture on the cover of USRowing Magazine. We spent the rest of the season perfecting our rowing skills and preparing to race in Seattle.

Saturday was the Frostbite on Green Lake. We were amazed at the number of shells and people. We found it unique to be on a lake with other rowers. We raced in two sprint races, a masters race, and a novice race. The masters raced in the morning. It was emotional for all of us as they crossed the finish line – completing the club's first race. The novices raced in the afternoon. We missed the start and realized the race had begun when the other boats took of around us. After floundering a few seconds we got it together and began rowing hard. As we neared the halfway point we were gaining on the other boats and our coxswain Willow Hetrick told us so. We rowed harder and crossed the line in a close finish. Ed met us at the dock, and we put the shells away. She told us we had finished second of the novice boats in both heats. We were so happy. She and Willow went to get the awards, but returned instead with first place medals. The judges treated each heat as a separate race, and since we won our heat, we received medals. We were elated. We celebrated with the tradition of throwing Willow into the lake. We also raced Head of the Lake the next day and enjoyed it. While we were in Seattle, we were sort of celebrities. Susan Parkman, a writer and photographer for USRowing took pictures and wrote a story about our club. In January 1998, we were in the USRowing Magazine!

Summer of 1998 meant more novices and a second rowing organization in the state - the Anchorage Rowing Association. We purchased a new four and leaned how to row in it.  We raced in a four for the first time at the Nike World Masters Games in Portland, Oregon. And, of course, we competed in Seattle again with the Anchorage Rowing Association joining us and sharing boats with us in several races.

More to come!