← WA360 Home ← 2025 WA360 Teams
Crew: Melissa Lovejoy
Hometown: Tacoma, WA
Vessel: NC Kayaks NC19 Expedition
Class: The Muscle Group
Connect: Website, Instagram, Youtube
Get to know Team Paddle On… Paddle On
First thing first. Why race in WA360?
How will I ever know how far I can go if I don’t try?
Really, this is the ongoing evolution of the things that made me excited to race in SEVENTY48. I geek out on logistics and planning training paddles. I have so many google sheets of potential paddle plans. And the race itself is the culmination of that multi-month (year?) obsession.
I haven’t really considered why I want to participate again. I just know that I’ve been waiting for this race to come back so that I could justify these obsessions.
What’s your connection to these waters?
Born and raised in Tacoma, and I’ve been visiting the beach at Point Defiance since before it was a safe environment to play in. Some of my earliest memories involve running through the trees there down to the beach.
In more recent years, I’ve spent most winter weekends exploring Puget Sound by kayak – starting with the waters of Commencement Bay and expanding to the SEVENTY48 race route and then beyond, to the WA360 route.
It’s a different perspective flying into SeaTac when you’re viewing the entire Sound with a lens of where you’ve already paddled and where else you might paddle in the future.
Superpowers. Each crew member gets one. What are they and why?
I have some logistical superpowers. A framed sign in my office reminds me that if Plan A fails, there are still 25 more letters. But also, I can do hard things. Which is probably a superpower everyone possesses, if they only realize it. Maybe my superpower is realizing that I can do hard things.
Defend your vessel choice for WA360. What makes it so cool and worthy?
I’ve got a copper-pigmented hull and my deck has copper glitter and pigment over a medium blue-to-dark blue fade. My husband made it. Not for me… it was his first copper-colored hull, and it didn’t turn out quite how the customer wanted it, so he basically just played with the deck design. I think he probably thought he was making it for himself, but since the customer had requested custom bulkheads to provide extra storage (and therefore, less legroom), it fits me better than him. I hadn’t ever planned on switching from the original kayak he made for me in 2013. That one was designed for me, specifically. But then he had this kayak that didn’t fit him, and it did fit me. And it was lighter than my first kayak, with larger hatches. I hadn’t ever planned on having a glitter kayak – the glitter obsession in our family is firmly in my husband’s court. But sometimes staring into a pile of glitter encapsulated in the gel coat on my deck is really nice.
Oh, and it has taken me around every Puget Sound Island in Mason and Pierce Counties. It has taken me across the finish line for one official SEVENTY48 and one unofficial SEVENTY48. It has done every DNF mile of SEVENTY48 and WA360 that I have ever done. It has circumnavigated Vashon Island in one day – multiple times.
What are your adventure qualifications for WA360? What makes you (y’all) cool and capable?
Classical Ballet. That’s really the thing that qualifies me. I know that doesn’t sound like an adventure to a lot of folks. But serious students of Classical Ballet either start out with grit and determination or find grit and determination through their studies. The physical challenge is one thing. But if you can overcome the mental challenge, the physical will fall into line.
My grit and determination aside… I’m generally happiest outdoors. Every summer from the ages of nine to 42, my family has headed into the lake region of British Columbia for horseback riding and rustic cabin adventures. I spent summers working at camp. I’ve kayaked SEVENTY48 every dang time it has happened (plus once unofficially). I’m working on a project to circumnavigate all the islands of Puget Sound.
And when we decided to call the 2021 WA360 in Tacoma, I started my planning for this year.
What is going to break?
Well… the Inaugural SEVENTY48 broke my will. And after about 90 minutes of existential crisis in Eagle Harbor, I managed to patch that up and keep going. The 2022 SEVENTY48 broke my hatch (the driftwood we used in that field repair holds place of honor on my desk as I type). Honestly, paddling straight through in SEVENTY48 2024 broke my brain a bit.
Since my husband and I made our rules for WA360 four years ago, I’m confident it won’t break my life or my marriage. I have field repair kits for everything else. A solid hull with a fixed keel has very few moving parts. And who hasn’t patched a tent or a dry suit with flex tape now and then?
So… what will break? Probably nothing we can’t mend with enough time and effort.