Annual Columbia River Cross-Channel Swim equal parts challenge and tradition for swimmers

CASCADE LOCKS, Ore. — Early Labor Day morning, Lynn Rasmussen and her group — The Faux Fur-sters — shed their warm, namesake coats to reveal wetsuits. They approached the open door of Columbia Gorge Sternwheeler, which had paddled a mile from shore into the Columbia River’s shipping channel.

The Faux Fur-sters were three of 350 or so swimmers, many of them Gorge residents, participating in the 80th annual Roy Webster Cross-Channel Swim on Monday.

Sternwheeler employee and professional hypeman George “George of the Gorge” Torres hollered into a microphone at the line of swimmers standing along the ship’s edge.

“Alrighty folks! If you look down the way, that’s beautiful Cascade Locks and the Bridge of the Gods,” he boomed, gesturing back at the distant town where previous groups of swimmers stood on shore.

“You see all those lovely people over there?” he asked. “They’ve done it and I know you can do it too!”

Torres counted down from three and the swimmers jumped into the river, their splashes and staffers’ cheers briefly rising above the rumble of the 145-foot boat’s paddles churning through the river.

The event — which went off without a hitch — came after a turbulent decade during which fires, COVID-19, windy conditions and changes in management at the sternwheeler company had canceled the prized Columbia River Gorge tradition as many times as it’d happened.

The swim has grown from one Hood River orchardist’s yearly tradition to attracting hundreds of enthusiasts from around the world.

Day’s start

Lee Perry works for TrueWest, the Portland event producer that runs the swim. Back at the docks before anyone plunged into the water, Perry was making sure the nearly year of planning that led up to the event would result in a safe, uneventful swim.

“The sheriff’s really just keeping an eye out for anybody that’s in trouble,” he said, listing precautions, “and we’ve got 50 kayakers and paddleboarders out there who are also keeping people safe.”

Sternwheeler Capt. Tom Cramblett chatted with Perry as the two looked over the line of swimmers waiting to get on the boat.

Cramblett was responsible for getting the ship into position and holding it steady in the channel while swimmers jumped in, five at a time. He has never participated in the event as a swimmer but that doesn’t mean the veteran captain and Cascade Locks native hasn’t swum across the great river of the West.

“There was an event going on down here at the park, and once we got way out there, people noticed us and you can see them waving and doing things. I’m like, ‘Oh, geez, we’re in trouble,’ ” he recalled with a chuckle. “We were young. We didn’t think about barges.”

Unlike Cramblett’s impromptu teenage swim decades ago, Roy Webster Cross-Channel Swim organizers coordinated with barge companies and obtained a permit from the U.S. Coast Guard to shut down river traffic.

One risk couldn’t be controlled, however. That’s the choppy water from the Gorge’s signature gusts, said swimmer Lara Tiffin while waiting in line.

She was accompanied by her friend, Cliff Cottam, as well as Phredd, a roughly 6-foot-4-inch long inflatable crocodile with goggles.

“He’s a serious swimmer — aging, though,” Tiffin said of the inflatable.

She has participated in the annual swim for nearly 30 years, Cottam about 40 years and Phredd (who was manufactured as a video store promotional item for the 1980s movie series, “Crocodile Dundee”) was on his 30th swim.

Behind them in line, Gearhart, Ore., residents 11-year-old Oscar Hamilton and his mom, Nina Biasi, wore wetsuits as they chatted with the rest of their family on the brisk morning.

Oscar, the youngest swimmer of the day, has been on his school’s swim team for a couple of years. He said he keeps to his rhythm — “1-2-3 breathe and then 1-2-3 breathe on the other side” — when he swims. Although he said he was ready for the river, he remained a tiny bit nervous about the jump from the boat.

“Hardest part about swimming?” he considered. “Probably honestly just getting in, getting ready for the swim, getting into the water. Really, once you get swimming, it’s pretty easy.”

“The first thing I’m thinking of is to get away from the boat so that the next group can jump in, so I’m trying to move as quickly as possible,” she said afterward. “And then the other thing that I was quickly thinking about was how to adjust my stroke, my rhythm, my breathing, because the waves were so high.”

While the surf never got tall enough for organizers or the sheriff to call off the swim as they have some years, at times roughly 3-foot white-topped swells crested as 20 mph winds blew against the river’s powerful current.

As she watched swimmers and enjoyed the Gorge’s windswept scenery from the Sternwheeler’s top deck, Tracy Clements, a member of the Faux Fur-sters in her 10th year of the swim, explained the trio’s garment choice.

“We wear faux fur because we want to look glamorous,” she said.

Rasmussen, a retired accountant in her 30th year participating in the swim, added, “You stay warm, and you need fashion in sports.” Clements nodded, concluding, “and to look fabulous.”

The garments also pay homage to the Roy Robe-sters, a group of some of the original swimmers who donned red robes with their names embroidered on the back.

The Faux Fur-sters were in group 35 and rushed down when they heard number 30 announced. Meanwhile Torres (“George of the Gorge”) hurled positive affirmations that visibly and audibly improved the already buoyant mood.

After the trio disembarked, the boat headed back to Cascade Locks and Capt. Cramblett offered encouragement through the loudspeakers — “In the words of George, ‘Just keep swimming’ ” — followed by a salvo of horn blasts.

Back on land

The swim took participants anywhere from 20-some minutes to more than 90 to complete.

Having started first, and even with Phredd in tow, Tiffin had already finished by the time the sternwheeler made it back to Cascade Locks.

While some swimmers opted to be picked up by boats along the way, the vast majority completed the full swim. And while a few people visited on-site medics about fatigue and cold, no one was injured, according to TrueWest’s Perry.

For many, the inflatable swim buoys were the day’s MVP, allowing the sometimes-rusty swimmers a chance to take a break and enjoy the Gorge’s views. The spirit was unmistakably nonjudgmental, oriented instead towards fun and safety.

As exhausted swimmers landed on the shore, the crowd cheered them as another professional hypeman dispensed affirmations and a spotter with binoculars scanned the horizon.

Stumbling slightly as she reached the shore and found her land legs again after the 1.1 mile swim, Rasmussen of the Faux Fur-sters took a joking bow as supporters on shore cheered.

“It was super spicy out there, and super fun,” she said back on land about the choppy conditions through a beaming smile. “That is, I think, the most fun I’ve had.”

Oscar and his mom also completed the swim. His advice to those considering the feat? “Probably just jump in and do it.”

“Jump in and do it,” Biasi echoed. Then she added with a smile, “Maybe train a little.”