waterfront

World Water Ski Racing Championship in Tacoma

On your marks! Get set for something unusual coming to Tacoma July 26, 2017. Have you ever seen water-skiers go over 100mph? I haven’t. It looks kinda like this:

WWSRC

This year the World Water Ski Racing Championship will conduct preliminary races in Commencement Bay with the final heats taking place at Seafair in Seattle. In other words, most of this exciting event will take place along the waterfront at Point Ruston here in Tacoma. The logistics are being finalized at the time of this writing, but I’m told permits have been secured and this is most definitely a go.

There will be no tickets, no admission prices, no grandstands. Just come on down and watch one of the craziest things you’ve ever seen and have a stroll along the new waterfront. You’ve been meaning to check out all the new restaurants down there anyway, so why not go when you can also view death-defying stunts going on at the same time.

Water skiers.. 100mph.. men and women..

The event puts ski racers in choppy Commencement Bay to do as many 3-mile laps as they can. FOR SIXTY (60) MINUTES STRAIGHT. When I first heard about this, I assumed it would be like drag racing, where competitors get up to their top speed for a few seconds and then it’s over. Not so. These people are literally skiing faster than I drive my car, and they don’t stop for an hour. There are currently 60 teams of MEN AND WOMEN from all over the world slated to be in Tacoma for this event.

If you’ve never heard of water ski racing, you’re certainly not alone. It appears this phenomenon heralds from Australia where they’ve been 100mph water skiing for quite some time. Just search YouTube for “water ski racing” and you’ll see some ridiculous stuff going back decades. Much like Ice Cross Downhill, the WWSRC could emerge in the U.S., seemingly out of nowhere, to sweep spectators off their feet in short order.

Commencement condos bankrupt…which means what exactly?

The high-dollar Commencement Condo project has been in the news again recently, having filed for “bankruptcy protection” to provide “breathing room” for potential progress to resume. None of this makes any sense. I figured if I typed it out and stared at it for a few minutes something would click in me brain, but it’s not working.

Having never filed for bankruptcy, you’ll have to bare with me. What is the difference between bankruptcy and bankruptcy protection? For starters the latter sounds (much more bizarre and) fitting for the project in question. From what I’ve read, this filing allows them to potentially be free of previous debts so that they may begin racking up new debt with new creditors. What a great idea!

The condo world of Tacoma continues to amaze me, moving forward as well as retroactively. I would love to see the market research that pointed to adequate demand for all the currently vacant condos in the area. These places are gorgeous and they can’t sell a gosh darn one of em. What now??

Ruston Way waterfront development

The Ruston Way waterfront will see limited development in the years to come. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the only major, public exception involves the parcel just southeast of Harbor Lights. In other words, the only decent “beach” along the entire stretch may be marked for death. With a mile of area to choose from, developers have set their sites on the best place for sunbathing, kayaking, beach combing, skipping rocks, walking dogs, etc. There is easy access to this beach from the sidewalk, complete with steps down, and even ample, free parking across the street. These jerks can drop a building somewhere else along this stretch. I say put your concrete and steel northwest of the restaurants, between Duke’s Chowder and Point Ruston. Anywhere but next to Harbor Lights..