The official folk song of Washington state is, Roll On, Columbia Roll On, written by Woody Guthrie. It’s an ode to the mighty Columbia River that starts in Canada and flows between Oregon and Washington out to the Pacific Ocean. Fun fact, the song speaks to the harnessing the power of the river to create hydroelectric power for the Pacific Northwest.
Well…last weekend I felt the vast breadth and power of the Columbia River. It was a swim from Knappton, Washington to Astoria, Oregon. I learned about the swim from my swimming friend Jane. The historic swim was first organized in 1934 as part of Astoria’s Regatta Festival that began in 1894 celebrating Astoria and life on the river. After 90 years, the swim was restored in 2024 with 14 swimmers completing the trek.
Astoria sits in the far northwest corner of Oregon at the mouth of the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean and Washington state. There is a lot of history about the Astoria area; it was considered the Ellis Island of the west coast and served as one of the few quarantine centers for ships filled with goods and immigrants from abroad in the 1700 and 1800’s. However, likely what it’s most known for is that it’s terminus of Lewis & Clark’s westward expansion expedition.
Being a boy from Oregon and going to school in Washington and looking for a unique swim across an iconic body of water-I thought why not? Having the opportunity to swim across it with a small group of swimmers for the second time in 90 years-that’s pretty cool.
Dr. Paul Silka, an emergency room doctor, swimmer and longtime Los Angeles County Lifeguard (that’s a cool resume!) brought the swim back in 2024, to help support Astoria’s Columbia Memorial Hospital Foundation’s building campaign.
The night before the swim started with a pre-race dinner and meeting at a local restaurant. Paul, introduced all the swimmers, approximately 9 of us and many of the volunteers. With his introduction of me, I felt like a minor celebrity-way too kind. At the dinner I also met my support kayaker, Kenny Lang. Yup, another ER doc with strong kayaking experience-score! I never felt so safe during a swim. It was so evident that everyone; swimmers, volunteers and the community were all making this was a safe, memorable and fun event.
It was an early bell the next morning as Paul and his wife picked me up at 5:30am. We drove from Oregon to Washington across the Astoria-Megler Bridge, at one point in history it was once the longest truss bridge in America.
The swim started promptly at 7:00am at the beach at the Knappton Heritage Center & Museum, once the regional quarantine center. The water temp leading up to the swim was showing 56.5 degrees-that’s chilly (never say-cold). With some mental gymnastics I convinced myself it was ok to wear a wetsuit. With even more gymnastics I was even able to put it on. Actually, it still fit.
You don’t want to swim straight across the river because the flood and ebb tide could have you finishing , who knows where. The waters around the mouth of Columbia are know to be treacherous with unpredictable tides and shallow sandbars. Back in the day there were many shipwrecks in the area. The strategy was to swim with flood tide southeast in the river towards Tongue Point and when the tide turned ebb it would push us back west Astoria Maritime Museum, the finish line.
The water was much warmer than expected, in fact, my watch said 68 degrees which would have been very doable without a wetsuit. Kenny, had set a great course and kept us heading in the right direction. We stopped a few times for a feed. The first, time I remember seeing a seal relatively close by the kayak watching us and the second time it was pretty cool to see a bald eagle on a pylon probably 2/3rd’sof the way across.
I didn’t really stop that much and just relied on following Kenny. Breathing to my right I could see the tall stanchions of Astoria-Megler bridge and some ships moored in the shipping lane and sensed we were getting close.
Not wearing a wetsuit for well over a decade at the end I was really beginning to “feel it” in the shoulders. Eventually, we made it to the Coast Guard boat and the pier that was the finish line.
It ended up being about 7 miles and I did it in 2 hours and 55 minutes. There was good sized crowd watching the swimmers come in and the best part was that the Astoria Regatta Week princesses were there to greet us at the finish!
The whole event was really well organized, a focus on safety and a unique and iconic swim in the PNW. The real highlight for me was the community spirit and engagement of those involved in the swim. The swim organizers, safety and support volunteers to the Columbia Memorial Hospital Foundation and the Astoria Regatta Week teams totally made the swim a memorable event for me.
Looking forward to recruiting my swimming buddies to participate in the future. I know they would love it! I would just need to remind them this is an “adventure swim” not a “race” (yeah-right!)
Goggle Reflections 