Row to Canada

To honor a close friend who died from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), Rick Clark and a six person crew will push off their three boats from shore at Vaughn Bay on Wednesday, August 1. The crews will row to Canada to raise funds on behalf of Mark Smith, who lost his life to ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, in 2009.

Shortly after graduating from Peninsula High School near Gig Harbor, Wash., Clark and Smith borrowed an antique row boat, stowed away a few sparse items of food and gear, and pushed off from the Vaughn Bay spit in South Puget Sound for Canada. It was 1970, when the Vietnam War was raging, the Kent State incident occurred, and the Beatles broke up and went their separate ways.

It took the young men 11 days to reach White Rock, just beyond the U.S.-Canadian border. They camped on secluded beaches, foraged for clams, and trolled for salmon. It is a story that Rick has told all his life and that Mark loved to tell friends and family till he died of ALS.

ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative muscular disease that affects a person’s ability to breathe, eat, move, and swallow. An estimated 30,000 Americans may have the disease at any given time, and approximately 5,600 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with ALS each year. ALS can strike anyone; people with the disease usually have a survival rate of two to five years from the time of their diagnoses.

For 40 years, Clark and Smith told their ever-evolving versions of the story, for they, too, had gone their separate ways and lost touch after their rowing adventure. Once Smith developed ALS, his sisters scoured the Internet for Rick's whereabouts because the adventure he had shared with Clark meant so much to him that he wanted to see his rowing companion again before he died. Unfortunately, it wasn't until after Smith died that Clark's father spotted the former's obituary in the Tacoma News Tribune, emailed it to his son, and the connection was re-made, too late. However, because Clark made an entry in Smith's Memorial website, he reunited with others from his graduating class as well as with Smith's sisters.

The upshot is that Clark and other rowers have conceived of recreating, 42 years later, the “Row to Canada” in order to raise funds for and awareness of ALS. It is also a way to celebrate Smith's life and to promote the spirit of adventure and camaraderie.

There are six rowers in three boats. The rowers are Clark; his friend Pete Schroeder; his brothers Geoff and Dana Clark; his nephew Kilian Olshewsky; and Dana's son, Richie. Olshewsky will have just graduated from high school, just as his uncle and Smith had when they set out, making the Row a kind of initiation into manhood for him as well.

The Clark brothers are building the three boats, beautiful northeaster dories, from kits. But rather than pushing off with little gear and with no clear plan in mind, as Clark and Smith did, this new crew will be abundantly supplied with healthy food and safely equipped with the latest gear.

Students at Seattle Central Community College, where Clark teaches English, are documenting the event in order to make a film tentatively titled “Rowing Smitty” (Smitty being Clark's nickname for Smith and the name of his boat).

To learn more and help support, visit HeRowsforALS.com or Row to Canada ALSA One Dollar Difference campaign. You can also mail your gift to The ALS Association Evergreen Chapter, c/o Rick Clark/ Row to Canada, 19115 68th Ave S STE H-105, Kent, WA 98032-2110.

The ALS Association is the only national non-profit organization fighting Lou Gehrig’s Disease on every front. By leading the way in global research, providing assistance for people with ALS through a nationwide network of chapters, coordinating multidisciplinary care through certified clinical care centers, and fostering government partnerships, The Association builds hope and enhances quality of life while aggressively searching for new treatments and a cure. For more information about The ALS Association, visit our website at www.alsa-ec.org.