Nearly 150 rowers descended on Jensen Point in Burton on Sunday morning for Vashon Island Junior Crew’s first hosting of the Tri-Island Regatta, an unofficial competition with Bainbridge and Orcas Island’s junior crews.

The four-lane, 1,500-meter course started at the north end of Quartermaster Harbor near Portage and finished at Jensen Point. Vashon’s crew dominated the day, rowing in 16 of the 17 races and placing first in 11 of them.

Bainbridge rowers earned the top spot in six of their 12 races, while Orcas, a small club with only 15 rowers, won two second-place finishes in their six races.

Spicing up the event a bit, coach Richard Parr had VIJC rowers compete against their own teammates in three races. In the varsity men’s double, Gus Magnuson and Ryan Bingham crossed the finish first in 4:54.5, with Ky Burton and Alexander Wright following to take second. Avalon Koenig and Emmie Kehoe, rowing against Katelyn Carter and Ella McConnell in the varsity women’s double, bested their crewmates by 12 seconds, completing the race in 5:46.0.  The varsity women’s quad race saw two sister crews challenge one another. Charlotte and Emmie Kehoe, along with Koenig and Carter, edged out TeraJane and Anna Ripley, with Hannah Russel and Kelsey Abella, by nine seconds with a finish time of 5:21.2.

The friendly Island contest ended with a warm lunch shared by rowers, coaches, spectators and parent volunteers.

The week before, at the 50th annual Green Lake Spring Regatta on March 17, rain, snow and wind dramatically shortened the action at what is typically Vashon’s first regatta of the spring sprint season. The conditions kept all but two of Vashon’s boats from competing in the four races that were held of 37 originally scheduled for the day.

A junior women’s quad featuring Carter, TeraJane Ripley, Charlotte Kehoe and Koenig won in convincing fashion, besting the field by just under 11 seconds on the water.

Vashon’s men’s masters 8, stroked by Bruce Morser and coxed by Heather Dow, finished second out of seven boats in what turned out to be the final event of the regatta, which was cancelled after long delays, swamped boats and a flipped boat.

— Marianne Metz Lipe is on the publicity committee for the Vashon Island Rowing Club.