La Conner Weekly News - Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper

Pink, yellow and white life vests bobbed through the gray waters of the Swinomish Channel as more than 100 people paddled kayaks, outrigger canoes, paddle boards and Hawaiian pontoon boats of equally diverse colors down the Swinomish Channel on Saturday. The three classes started at 9:45 a.m., 10 a.m. and 10:05 a.m.

The shriek of a bullhorn siren marked the beginning of each race beneath the Rainbow Bridge. Racers swept down the channel, past Goat Island, around the "1" mark (the green dolphin,) and returned to the bridge – about 7 miles.

A shorter course, 2.7 miles, turned around at Hole in t...