Smooth sailing was expected during the recent Great International World Championship Bathtub Race in Nanaimo. The ocean had other plans for an entrant from the qathet region.
“It was supposed to be really calm water,” Jenna Mitchell told the Peak in an interview after the race. “We [racers] were all getting really excited.”
Mitchell, a longtime tubber with deep family roots in the sport, had prepped thoroughly. She coordinated with her escort boat before the race, sharing her hand signals and mapping out a meeting point once she cleared the harbour. But when the race began, the plan began to unravel.
“I managed to get out of the harbour at the front of the rest of the pack,” she said. “I tried looking for my escort boat, and I couldn’t find them. So I just kept going.”
Alone and heading for Entrance Island, Mitchell pushed ahead. That’s when the weather turned.
“It was unexpectedly windy,” she said. “None of us were really expecting it to get that bad. It kind of came out of nowhere.”
Despite the building waves and still without an escort in sight, she powered on, buoyed by the sound of a strong engine and her own determination.
“I said to myself, ‘I didn’t get this far just to get this far,’” she added. “I got tossed around inside the tub a little bit.”
That mantra carried her to the Winchelsea Islands, catching up to several other racers along the route, including friends who were staying in the same hotel that she recognized by the bright orange colours on their tubs.
“Seeing my friends ahead of me gave me a bit of a push,” said Mitchell. “I thought, ‘I can catch them, this’ll be awesome.’ And I did.”
There were waves and salutes exchanged on the water as she powered past the other tubs. But the celebration was brief. The sea wasn’t done with her yet.
“The wind picked up even more, and it was coming right at us,” she explained. “It got even worse.”
As she rounded the Winchelseas and began her return to Nanaimo Harbour, Mitchell slowed her pace to preserve her strength for the beach landing.
“The body can only take so much,” she said. “And I wanted to make sure I could run up the beach at the end.”
Her strategy was working, until just shy of Departure Bay. With the finish line practically in sight, her engine died.
“At first, I thought something had gone wrong mechanically, but it turns out I’d just run out of gas.”
Adrift and alone, Mitchell was eventually approached by a spectator in a small inflatable dinghy.
“He asked, ‘Are you okay?’. I said, ‘Yeah, do you have a radio?’” she recalled. “I called up headquarters and told them where I was.”
It was then that her escort boat finally found her and began towing her to shore, but not before a final surprise. As she climbed aboard, Mitchell realized her wet suit was soaked through with fuel. The gas had leaked into the bottom of the tub.
“I didn’t realize it; I was too hyped up on adrenaline and just racing. When I got into the escort boat, I said, ‘Oh, I’m burning.’”
She ended the day with a mild chemical burn, but no regrets.
“It’s going to heal up just fine. It just sucks that the gas didn’t stay in the tank. Maybe I would’ve made it all the way.”
Despite the challenges, Mitchell considers the experience a win.
“I was really close,” she said. “It felt like the finish line was just around the corner. But that’s the tubs.”
It wasn’t her first time in the iconic Nanaimo race — she previously competed in 2019 and finished — nor is she new to bathtub racing. Her family has been racing for generations, and the tradition runs deep.
“My family’s been racing since before I was born,” she said. “I grew up knowing that every summer, this is what we do. I remember being a kid playing on the beach with the rest of these other bathtub kids and families, and knowing that dad [Melvin Mitchell] is getting ready to jump in the tub, and he's going to go out and he's going to race. It was something we always did.”
In her teens, Jenna had her first experience on the water, helping out as part of escort teams and safety boats.
“I was about 14 when I was allowed to be on the escort boat for the big race,” she said. “I saw the rough water up close, and apparently it didn’t scare me away.”
In 2014, she began racing herself in the stock class and immediately made waves, taking first place in sanction points during her rookie year. Since then, she’s been hooked.
“It’s pretty fun; it’s addictive,” she said. “And the community is amazing. I’m really thankful for all the friends that we’ve made.”
Jenna’s not done yet. She’s planning to race again at the Labour Day weekend circuit race at Hornby Lake, a smaller, calmer event to round out the season.
As for the Nanaimo experience?
“Honestly, I wouldn’t change a thing,” she said. “It was wild and rough and kind of chaotic, but that’s what makes bathtub racing so awesome.”
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