Usual story: Teenage son or daughter takes up rowing with one of the region's many junior crew clubs. After a season or two of watching from the shore, mom and/or dad also become smitten with the sport, don lycra and hop in a rowing shell themselves. It happens all the time in Seattle, a city ennobled by its surrounding waters and a strong rowing tradition.
You might say that the Takahashi-Edgerton family has reversed the typical route folks take in finding the Mount Baker Rowing and Sailing Center, a Seattle Parks and Recreation facility on Lake Washington at Stan Sayres Park.
First it was grandfather Bob Edgerton, 72, a retired physicist and formerly avid cyclist who in 2001 took up rowing as an alternative to bicycling in increasingly dangerous street traffic. Bob says he remembers his first learn-to-row class at Mount Baker quite well. Driving home to his Denny/Blaine neighborhood that morning of Sept. 11, he turned on his car radio and heard about the collapse of the World Trade Towers.
After learning the basics, Bob joined a group of mellow adults who row three days a week, at a reasonable midmorning hour. He says he appreciates his rowing pals for keeping him motivated. "I wouldn't get nearly as good a workout on my own as I do by rowing with this bunch," Bob explains. The frequent potluck get-togethers are nice, too, he adds.
Bob's daughter-in-law, Denise Takahashi, 44, was next. An artist who lives in Madrona and frequently exhibits at the Columbia City Gallery, Denise learned to row at Mount Baker in the summer of 2003, when her youngest child was just 3 years old. She recalls she was looking for an exercise that wouldn't aggravate an old knee injury she incurred playing Ultimate Frisbee. Quickly hooked, Denise soon joined the masters women of Conibear Rowing Club, which rows out of the Mount Baker boathouse three days a week.
Denise says she loves rowing for several reasons: the thrill of rowing at the head of the Charles in Boston this past October, as well as those exhilarating moments when everyone is swinging together and the shell streaks through the water seemingly without effort, bubbles gurgling against the hull-the tell-tale sound of good boat speed. When there is a particularly stunning sunrise, she says she is simply glad to be out on the lake at a time when most of the city is still stumbling toward that first cup of coffee.
"I'm a birder, too, so I enjoy all the bird watching opportunities," Denise explains. "We often see bald eagles and osprey diving for fish right near the boat. A rowing shell is quiet, so we can be part of the natural scene without disturbing it," she adds.
Denise encouraged her daughter, Melina Edgerton, to join Mount Baker Junior Crew when she turned 13 in 2004. Melina took to the sport right away, winning the junior girls' best rookie award that year. Now a junior at Garfield High School, Melina takes part in two-and-half-hour crew workouts every day after school and sometimes, before a big event, she also will partake in special, weekend practices.
"Baker's Junior Crew program is incredible," Denise says. "I'm so glad my daughter has access to such a great social and physical activity. It gives her a high level of competition, but keeps it fun. These kids are incredibly fit, definitely not couch potatoes, and they learn so much from the sport besides just the physical activity."
Even Eric Edgerton, Bob's son, rows now-or at least the dry-land version of the sport. Since Thanksgiving 2006, Eric has logged more than 2.25 million meters on the family's Concept II rowing ergometer (rowing machine). Nonetheless, you won't see him in a rowing shell any time soon. As the state coordinator for the Professional Disc Golf Association, Eric is interested only in improving his Frisbee golf game.
Denise says she feels the Mount Baker Rowing and Sailing Center has been a real gift to her family. "I feel extremely lucky to have found such a wonderful sport and community at Mount Baker," she says.
For more information, contact the Center's office at 386-1913 or email mount.baker@seattle.gov .[[In-content Ad]]
