On Sunday, Aug. 2, 10 RIRSC rowers along with two supporters (Kim and Karen’s spouses) went to Liberty Bay in Poulsbo to row in the annual Kitsap Invitational Summer Scrimmage (KISS) regatta. We took two quads (John Collins, Buckley), and two of our rowers participated in the Ham ‘N’ Egg races (where people are just put into boats). The crews were: Buckley: Sally (cox), Kim, Janet P, and Noah (stroke) John Collins: Paul (cox), Peggy, Ted, and Karen K-M (stroke) Mari and Aimee

Mark Ehrhardt sports TriEye's Photochromic darkness auto-adapting version. Members have saved more than $300 on upgrading here to the newest type of rowing sunglasses. A dozen orders have been placed using our special club 20% discount deal. Between all of our rowers who have bought TriEyes, we have most models within the club if you want to try out a pair. This is a guide to the various models. You can get the 20% Club Discount by going through this link to buy your Trieye g

Discovering the joy of masters rowing I grew up in Philly, the kind of place where Boathouse Row lights up the river like a string of Christmas lights all year long. But rowing? With my economic background, wanting to row would have been like asking my parents for a pony. It never even occurred to me to want it. Rowing was something other people did. Later, I went to Georgetown, where the Potomac glittered with shells slicing the water at dawn. The rowers were headed out as w

Most regular rowers in the club have rowed our new carbon fiber quad BlackBerry. Here are some top tips on rowing or coxing BlackBerry passed along from your fellow rowers. Please read these bullet points before your first BlackBerry row or cox. Each cox might want to review the steps briefly with their rowers at the beach before picking up the boat to launch. BlackBerry's new shoes BlackBerry now has sandals-type footwear on the stretchers, which work with any type of bootie

Ready to launch. Lauren Olsen (left to right) consults with co-cox Bill Mahoney as fellow cox trainees Jodi Stone and Dylan Rauch look on during the club's 2026 coxswains training program. Already in sync. Coxswain trainees Ashley Mackenzie (left to right) and Andrew Rauch with co-cox Kathy Woods-Smith in seat 2 and new coxswain Mark Ehrhardt in seat 1. What ferry wash? Mark's looking pretty chill here taking his crew through the ferry wash for the first time. Kathleen Sailer

For a wintertime project, I was going through boxes of memorabilia, and found some old newspaper writeups of our club. I thought others might be interested in past articles and pictures of us in The Leader and the Peninsula Daily News. August 31, 2005. The Port Townsend Leader. Article about Port Townsend rowers returning the historic Hoh to the Pocock Rowing Foundation. Video of the ceremony was recently shown at Roger’s 90th birthday party. July 16, 2008. Supplement to the

If a picture is worth a thousand words then nothing more needs to be said. However, the celebration of Roger's 90th birthday at the NWMC boathouse on October 11, 2025 was a marquee event that merits a description for RIRSC archives (for the record, Roger's actual birthday was October 26th). With a multitude of ideas and plans from mastermind Ted for celebrating Roger, and a village of volunteers to make it all happen, it was indeed the best 90th birthday party the rowing club

Hi, I'm Oct, short for Octuple. I'm 62 feet of gleaming Western Red Cedar. I was born in 1976. You may have rowed me on a Thursday morning this summer. But, as they say, it had been a minute since I had traveled out of Port Townsend. Well, since 2014 to be exact. I remember my first two glorious road trips with the club that year, first as my Oct self to Portland's Ross Island. "The Oct won first overall and first in its class, beating Portland's Oct," recalled Kathleen Saile

To fully appreciate what the club just pulled off on its first* rowing field trip to Quilcene, you have to consider the timeline. The night of Oct. 13, Dave Winters came out of the monthly board meeting and starting emailing members about the idea. Just 8 days later, at 8am on Oct. 21, 2025, some 18 excited rowers were arriving at the boathouse to make it happen. Of course Sally Giesler had arrived early to keep us all perfectly on track. By 8:27am, in record time, the traile

Some of our most daring club members braved a bad forecast and headed off to participate in the first-ever Port Angeles Coastal Regatta Endurance race on Oct. 19, 2025. It wasn't dull. The word of the day was "intrepid." "All the common weather and wind conditions, except fog, happened during the approximately 7-mile long course race between Hollywood Beach and Ediz Hook," said Kathy Woods-Smith, who coxed the only club quad in the race. Course map from the Quad Some 22 rower

Rats came home victorious from the Sequim Bay Yacht Club Reach and Row for Hospice Row and Paddle Race fundraiser on Sept. 3, 2025. The Rat Island Rowing & Sculling Club brought home several blue ribbons and club boats were 5 of the top 6 overall finishers.

Eighteen club members ventured down to Poulsbo for the annual Kitsap Invitational Summer Scrimmage (KISS). This year it was an oval-shaped 4000m race on Liberty Bay, with one 180 degree turn. The KISS regatta is held each year to honor Bill Richards, founder of multiple rowing clubs including Kitsap Rowing Association.

Four Rats and two Nails (one shiny, one polished by time) represented Port Townsend at the Kitsap Invitational Summer Scrimmage, or KISS,...

Congratulations to those that completed bow coxswain training under the organization of Kathleen Sailer, co-coxing skills of Kathy...

On Sunday March 3, a group of Rats gathered to pay solemn tribute to (aka carve up) two of RIRSC’s historic (some might say “old”) rowing...

Cartoon #24

By Kathleen Sailer. Photos and video by Emily Adams. On a radiant morning in late July, RIRSC hosted Seattle guests Mike and Kathy...

August 23, 2023 We had a wonderful row to Mystery Bay. Calm beautiful water (on the way out) on a spectacular smoke-free temperate sunny...

The row to Mystery Bay on August 23, 2023, was a glorious row. As usual, the snacks were also divine! By popular request, here are some...

Cartoon #23