Missing You: Opening Day & Windermere Cup
This year would have marked the 100th anniversary of the Seattle Yacht Club's first boat parade in Montlake Cut and the 50th anniversary of the Opening Day Regatta.
Among the many annual traditions we're all missing this year is one of Seattle's most long-standing and popular events: the Opening Day of Boating Season and the Opening Day/Windermere Cup Regatta, which was scheduled for this Saturday, May 2.
This year marks two milestones: the 100th anniversary of the first Opening Day Boat Parade through the Montlake Cut and the 50th anniversary of the first Opening Day Regatta.
The Seattle Yacht Club first began to celebrate the first Saturday in May as Seattle's Opening Day of Boating Season in 1913, holding the event on Elliott Bay. After the completion of the Montlake Cut and the Lake Washington Ship Canal, Seattle Yacht Club's headquarters moved to its present location on Portage Bay. Shortly thereafter, in 1920, the SYC's boat parade filed through the new Montlake Cut into Lake Washington, a tradition that has held since then.
Fifty years later, UW rowing coach Dick Erickson sought to add a rowing event to Opening Day and the first Opening Day Regatta was born. UCLA, the top competition on the West Coast at that time, was brought to Seattle for that first event. In front of a huge crowd on the log boom, the Huskies fell behind and nearly caught the Bruins at the finish line. Both teams were clocked in 6:04.9, but there was enough of a margin between bow balls that the Bruins were awarded the victory in the feature race.
Frequently over the coming years, Opening Day would serve as the host of the UW-Cal Dual, but in 1987, Windermere Real Estate got involved, elevating the regatta to one of the greatest annual rowing events in the world. That first year, Windermere brought the Soviet National Team to the Montlake Cut, and the regatta was a roaring success.
Since then, college and national teams from around the world have competed on the Cut on the first Saturday of May. This year, the UW was proud to be facing the Great Britain women's team and the Dutch men's team in what would have been the 34th annual Windermere Cup.
The Opening Day/Windermere Cut Regatta has evolved into much more over the years. Along with the feature races, the event includes dozens of events for youth, masters and other college crews. During the week, the visiting crews are shown the sites of Seattle, feted in an annual dinner, and take part in a community event with a selected, local elementary school, where the athletes teach children about the benefits of rowing, and of health and physical activity. There's there annual "Media Cup" (featuring crews comprised of local TV news staffs) and the annual press conference and lane draw.
More recently, the night before the races, the UW and Windermere have begun to host "The Party on the Cut" at the eastern end of Montlake Cut at the old ASUW Shellhouse. Last year, Twilight Sprints (featuring the Windermere Cup crews competing in a 600-meter race from the traditional finish line to the ASUW Shellhouse) were introduced. There are also frequently boat dedications and reunions of UW rowing alumni.
After the races conclude each Saturday, a blast from a cannon signals the start of the Seattle Yacht Club's boat parade.
For the thousands of fans that line the log boom and the Cut and the hundreds of rowers who are cheered through on by them; to the many individuals at the UW, Seattle Yacht Club and Windermere Real Estate who devote so much time, effort and money to make this event so successful – they will all lament not sharing in their mutual enjoyment this Saturday. In due time, however, we'll all get back in the swing and will start to prepare for 2021.
