Greens Bayou Regatta
Sept. 28th 2019
by David Portz

The Greens Bayou Regatta is a community event, a yearly gauge of a bayou's health, and a fundraiser for the good cause of riverine protection. As a race it is brief for the serious racer.  As an outdoor experience, it is an urban one. Urban outdoor experiences are an entry level drug for those who don't often get outdoors. 

A 7.5 mile race seems awful short, but then when you're on Greens' Bayou, the water seems gluey. One's boat goes sluggishly through the water. Of course there was a headwind around at least half of the bends, and never a tail wind.  It turns out that Greens Bayou has tidal flow and during the race the tide is flowing upstream.  The water is not really gluey. 

This year's Regatta brought in many more corporate-class participants and novice paddlers in outfitters' boats. So there was more tending to be done by HCC 'sweepers' and safety-boats.  Lest one thinks that Bruce Bodson always finishes first, at this event he was dead-last, sweeping a man who could not sit upright on his sit-on-top.  At the finish line the trash-gatherers turned in a total of 300 pounds of plastic, perhaps not even one millionth of the plastic observed along the route. At the start and at the finish, participants were treated by the race sponsors to various plastic tchotchkes as 'swag', also a barbeque lunch, canned soft drinks and beers.  

If one has an ear for whining one could hear various participants, induced by their bosses to paddle, saying "next year I'll be an on-shore volunteer".  If one raised one's gaze while paddling though, there were white puffy clouds in a brilliant blue sky, temperatures not overwhelming, loblolly pines sometimes climbed by vines, and toward the end, soaring, an immature bald eagle. A lot of people really appeared to enjoy the day, when reassessing under canopies with their beverages, and while collecting their awards.

To view an event photo album by Amy McGee, click here.

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The author, David Portz