For the first time in about 40 years, the Quinault Indian Nation canoe races came back to Hoquiam.
With those races came a large audience on the banks of the river, at the Levee Street Boat Launch and Park. It looked like 200 or so people showed up on Saturday. A few people remarked how they hadn’t seen so many people at the boat launch for a long time.
The event included five-lap heats and then the seven-lap race itself.
On such a historic day, Darren Sansom, who finished in third place, spoke about how he was feeling a little while before he started racing in his black and teal canoe named Miss Ann.
“I’m doing alright,” Sansom said. “I’m hoping my motor will run.”
The canoe, marked with the name Queets to mark where Sansom is from, was hand-painted. Sansom spoke a little more about the race that had been brought back for the first time since the ‘80s.
“I’m excited,” Sansom said. “It’s my first time racing out here. The last time I was out here, I was a kid. Dad drove it before, teal was the color we painted it, so I kept it.”
Darren wasn’t the only brother from the Sansom family to race on Saturday. His brother, Arlen Sansom, was racing in a red and black canoe named “Fear This.”
Not just a Harbor thing
The race didn’t just attract people from Grays Harbor. A few people from Tumwater who were in the band Traveling Winds and who were in town to play a gig at Ashley’s Pub Haus, came over to the river because they heard the sounds of the powerful engines.
“I can’t believe how narrow the canoes are,” Derrek Stevens said. “I heard the boats ripping from the hotel and so we came here.”
Besides the live show they were slated to play, Stevens said they were out in Hoquiam celebrating his birthday and checking out Hoquiam Loggers Playday with two of his bandmates, Geoff and Jared. The three guys seemed to have fun and they seemed to be impressed as they watched the canoe racers make their way up and down the river, because they were remarking about how fast the racers were heading.
Family tradition
Bina Kramer spoke about the races returning this year. She’s the mother of Keson Kramer, who won after racing in the Four Winds canoe.
“How this all started is (Keson) guides fishermen on the Quinault River, and Tim (Quigg) won a raffle at St. Mary School. And so Tim went fishing with him,” Bina said. “And then they started talking about the canoes and everything, and then Tim’s like ‘Oh, it’d be nice to get back to Loggers Playday. So (Tim’s) been working with my husband and my son to get this all set up again.”
Bina said Keson just got into racing in 2023, but her husband, Tony, used to do it with Bina’s dad.
“Once he decided to get back into it, we had to get the canoes out and we had to get the motors out,” Bina said. “And then my nephew wanted to get into it too, so we found another old canoe, the Anna Marie, we purchased that and so my nephew can get into it too. Get the younger kids back into it.”
Bina’s voice fluttered a little as she spoke about Keson getting into racing.
“I’m really proud, because it gives him something to do,” Bina said. “It gives them something good to do and to look forward to, to learn to work on the canoes and the motors. When my dad used to do it years ago, and then my husband used to do it, it’s emotional but it’s a good feeling. And as parents we just have to do what we can to support them.”
Bina said Tony named the canoe “Four Winds.” She spoke about how they got the canoe.
“We got the canoe from my aunt, out of Hoh River,” Bina said. “It used to be named The Blue Bird. When my husband started racing, because we were commercial fishermen for quite a few years, and he used to be in the navy. I don’t know, he just decided to name it Four Winds. My aunt and my uncle had the canoe for quite a few years before they gave it to my dad. And then my husband started racing in I think ’93.”
Fast canoes
The canoes can accelerate up to 45 mph — 39.1 knots — in freshwater, and about 50 mph in saltwater — 43.4 knots. At that speed, if a racer capsizes or if a canoe breaks, the water is more like concrete.
Mariah Eastman, who was there to support her racer, Todd Pickernell, was waiting patiently as the guys prepared for the final race. She spoke about her thoughts about Todd racing.
“I love it, it’s awesome,” Mariah said. “I’ve got mixed emotions, I’m scared and I’m anxious. It’s scary because if they flip over going that fast …”
She said Todd jumped his other canoe, split it in half on the bottom longways. So, the fear is definitely real. But, if there was any glimmer of ease for Mariah, it was the fact Todd’s dad was his mechanic.
And on Saturday, there were points where the entire interior was visible from a long way from the canoes, which only makes the sick feeling that someone could capsize even worse. But, that’s just how tough the racers are.
“They’re men,” Tim Quigg said about the racers. “They’re warriors.”
The race
After a long few hours with loud engines beaming back and forth on the Hoquiam River, and many, many people holding cameras in order to photograph and to film the historic race, the final race ensued. While people were talking and having a good time, their eyes were glued to the water.
Here were the results, according to Max Howard, who was one of the Saturday’s racers:
• First place — Keson Kramer
• Second place — Todd Pickernell
• Third place — Darren Sansom
• Fourth place — Jeffrey Kalama
• Fifth place, but did not finish — Levi Jackson
• Sixth place, but did not finish — Max Howard
Keson Kramer, who was seen drinking a sports drink on the river bank after he finished the race, spoke about his win.
“It was a close race,” Keson said. “That first start is usually the closest part. Everybody’s neck and neck there. But once you can get inside and stay inside on the corners, it’s hard (for them) to get in front of you.”
Keson said his strategy was to “hug the buoy and push them outside.”
“When they’re faster than you, that’s what you’ve gotta do,” Keson said. “Those two are a little bit faster than me.”
Keson said it’s his second year racing. But, he’s got a lot of relatives with a boat load of experience.
“My grandpa, my uncles, my dad, all racers,” Keson said. “This canoe was built by my uncles in the ‘70s.”
Keson commented on being able to restart the races.
“It feels good,” Keson said. “We were wanting to do this with all the races, because we used to race in other places too that we haven’t raced in years. We’re just trying to bring it back. It definitely was a great day to be out here and do it again. Hopefully we can do it again next year. It was all thanks to Tim Quigg.”
Keson said it was a big thing to bring the race back.
“We had I think 11-12 racers at one of the races this year,” Keson said. “We have like four or five different rivers we race on. We had about 12 canoes, I think was the most we had. It’s coming back slowly. There used to be 15 to 20.”
Keson’s father Tony weighed in on the race, as well as about Keson racing.
“I thought the race went great,” Tony said. “All stayed up, no flips. Yes, few had motor problems, but that’s normal with all the tidal influence (and) salt water. And I’m very proud of how he’s doing racing for (this) only really being his first year racing. He only did two races last year.”
Hope for the future
Quigg, the master promoter for the event, said he and others are working to bring back what he referred to as “the missing link.” The missing link is to bring back the eight-foot mini hydroplanes that used to race on the Hoquiam River the same day as the canoes.
Quigg also spoke about how the race can’t be tightly scheduled.
“High tide on the Hoquiam,” Quigg said about the timing for next year, just as it was this year. “That’s when you have to race. When you race, it’s gotta be high tide. It’s not your schedule, you’re on Mother Nature’s schedule.”
And with the hope of bringing the race back, Quigg laid out how necessary such a race is. He said the same thing to the racers.
“After the race I shook their hands,” Quigg said. “When I shook their hands, I shook all of the racers’ hands and what I said was ‘don’t let you, your sons and your sons’ sons, and those to follow ever let this race lapse again.’”
Contact Reporter Matthew N. Wells at matthew.wells@thedailyworld.com.
Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World Keson Kramer, seen in the Four Winds canoe, won Saturday’s canoe race. His parents, Bina and Tony, were quite proud of their son. Bina said Keson started racing in 2023. Keson comes from a long line of racing, including his dad, uncles and grandfather.
Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World Bina Kramer handed out T-shirts to each one of the racers after the canoe races on Saturday. Bina was not only proud of her son Keson, who won, she was proud of every one else who raced on Hoquiam River.
Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World Tim Quigg, left, and Keson Kramer enjoy a moment after the canoe race on Saturday. The races, not seen on the Hoquiam River since the early ’80s, returned Saturday after a fishing trip Quigg took with Kramer. “And then they started talking about the canoe and everything,” Bina Kramer said. “And then Tim’s like ‘Oh, it’d be nice to get back to Loggers Playday. So (Tim’s) been working with my husband and my son to get this all set up again.”
