Badger, our recently acquired Vespoli eight, saw the light of day this morning and got its first bath. The boat was carried by Russell, Caitlin, Cara, Kaytlin and some volunteers from one of Maury's crew. Overall the hull is in great shape. This summer I'll complete the paint job, but I'll occasionally need some folks to help move the boat into and out of the boathouse.
We also took possession of a well worn Dirigo eight from First Colonial. This boat needs LOTS of work to get it rowing and may not be ready anytime soon. Besides, the yellow color just has to go away ;-)
Thanks for the folks that came out, including Coach O'Brien who is recovering just two weeks removed from major knee surgery. Even though the Row for a Cure race was scratched, it appears we have another opportunity to field a boat or two in a summer regatta. The race is tentatively onSaturday morning August 6, off the Portsmouth waterfront. Details include:
launch from a floating dock at the High Street inlet
Course 1000 meters roughly from the Hammerhead Crane at the Shipyard back to the inlet
4s and 8s only (keep events small), perhaps scholastic and open events only (depending on interest, e.g. mens/womens/mixed/4s v 8s) would be as few as two races, max 8. Could do only 8s and further lower the entries
Course security by the Coast Guard..
Trailer/boat rigging on Water Street adjacent to the landing.
Time of launch can vary to meet "best time" consensus. It appears that Maury will field a boat so we can catch a ride on their trailer. I would like to get a feel for who would willing to row in this race. Please get back with me at the cavtel.net address.
The Bishop Sullivan Catholic High School Crew Team has never participated in the State Championship Regatta held on Occoquan Reservoir in Northern Virginia. There are a couple of reasons for this: we are a small and relatively inexperienced program and I felt uncomfortable making the excursion into the “big leagues.” The Virginia Scholastic Rowing Association (VASRA) http://www.vasra.org/History_and_Mission.html, the sponsoring body of the state championship, is one of “mid-majors” of this country’s rowing associations and have had member schools regularly participate in the Scholastic Rowing Association of America’s (SSRA) https://www.sraa.net/history/ National Championship regatta. But due to our growth this past season, I believe that a reasonable goal for next year is to have our top crews make the end-of-the-season trip to Occoquan for “states.”
At this year’s state championship regatta, held the weekend of 14 and 15 May, there were 31 local crews participating. Most of these from the EVSRA http://www.evsra.org/ were public schools that row year ‘round (Granby, Great Bridge, Princess Anne, James River, Hickory, First Colonial, and Cox.) But Norfolk Academy, a spring-only program like us, also sent five crews: their MV4, WV4, M2nd4, W2nd4, and WV8 crews (there are no novice events at states.) Their results were interesting: none of their top boats made it to finals, but their M2nd4 and W2nd4 crews finished second in their events, behind TC Williams and Episcopal respectively. (Complete results are here: http://roninregistration.com/rowing/results/resultseventlist.asp?p=default&pt=rowing&GroupID=40816&Year=2011 ) Even thought their best crews didn’t place, I think that NA’s participation at this level will only bolster their program, the strongest overall at this year’s independent schools regatta, for competition next year. I think we as a team are also in a position to finally make that same leap.
I do not envision all team members making the trip to Occoquan. But a trip to States would require those crews that are interested to step up their game. To be competitive, an athlete would need to commit to year ‘round conditioning and practice. It would not be sufficient to simply start erging in February and get back into the boat in March as we have done in years past. One would need to build and maintain strength and endurance beginning today. Students who participate in other sports (cross country / football / volleyball /swimming / wrestling / basketball / etc.) are already getting the year ‘round conditioning. They would need to simply add some erg and boat time to their routine. I am willing to hold summer and fall rowing sessions for those folks. I would expect a large presence at next year’s erg pull. Students who want to go to states and who now only row in the spring would need to make a larger commitment. For example, join Mr. Campbell’s cross country team. Cross country also has a no-cuts policy and offers the chance for everyone to build leg and cardiovascular strength.
There are other requirements for participation at States. Lightweight crews, for example, need to get the trainer to perform a body fat analysis before the season begins to ascertain that they do not drop below a certain threshold. There would also be an added time and financial cost. The reporting time at States is 6:45 a.m., necessitating a Friday departure and a hotel stay near the venue.
There will still be plenty of spots on the crew team for rowers and coxswains who want to restrict their participation to the spring season in the local EVSRA regattas. But for those team members willing to take the next step, I’m willing to help them out. New boats, new oars, new enthusiasm, new challenges -- pull hard, Crusaders!
In our last EVSRA regatta of the spring sprint season we again had some significant wins and some very close races. As in their first regatta four weeks earlier, both the men's novice four and the women's novice four crews finished first. This time they earned medals and the right to hold the associated perpetual trophies for the next year. Our novice guys retain the "Botanical Bailer," won last year by Brendan, Andrew, Thomas, Jakob, and Ryan and also by a BSCHS crew in 2005. Our novice girls won the Tenekjian Family Award for the fastest Women's Novice Four, a trophy never previously won by a BSCHS crew.
Also taking first was the Women's 2nd Four who won the Evans Bowl for the fastest Women's "Junior Varsity" Four, a trophy also won by a BSCHS crew in 2005.
We had very close races in the Men's Light four and Women's Varsity four events where Norfolk Academy finished just a few seconds ahead of our crews. In both events NA and BSCHS were significantly ahead of the third place crews, indicating fast boats for the top two. Note that a 3 second difference over a six minute race is less than 1%. In rowing, every little bit counts!
Here are the results. In the overall scoring we finished 2nd behind Norfolk Academy. As usual, send me any pictures that you have and I'll add them.
Here is a "HQ"version of the WV4 heat race. I have the original high definition file but YouTube won't enable that large a file. Two other races will be uploaded in the near future.
For the second year in a row we've medaled at the regional championships. While last year's successes were at the novice level, this year we took home a silver medal at the varsity level. Congratulations to the Women's Second Varsity four+ crew who won their heat and went on to take second in their finals. We fielded ten crews, some who were thrown together just this week because we had a few folk who couldn't make it to the regatta. The results were somewhat disappointing, as evidenced by the demeanor of the women's novice four below, but I have high hopes for the independent schools championships next Friday. If you only consider the results and times of the crews from the schools that will be racing at the ISR, we would have placed in every event and would have won 3 of them.
The top varsity crews both just missed making their grand finals by about 3 seconds in their repechage row and had to settle for the petite finals. I got some nice video of the WV4, W2ndV4 and WLt4 from the new camera mount and will upload them once they are edited and synced with the audio. Below is a picture of Anna and the WLt4 crew heading out showing the camera mount.
Below are the results and some additional pix. If anybody has more I'll add them to the blog.
Another really hard day on the water. We entered one less event but came away with one more win that last week. Significant wins include the Women's Light four and the Women's Novice four, both of whom finished first in five boat heats. Also taking a blue ribbon was the Men's novice four (pictured above) and the Mixed four.
The strength and direction of the wind was just on the verge of being unrowable. After the chaos and havoc of the first two events (thank you CH for giving me some work to do...) the referees wisely shortened the course to start in the lee of the trees at about the 1000 m mark. Rowing at the Lake Whitehurst venue is seldom winded out since the lake is almost completely surrounded by tall trees that block the wind. The exception is at the start with a southeast wind -- exactly the conditions we had yesterday. The Mathews regatta was canceled after two events due to the wind and the open nature of that venue.
It's interesting to note that the MN4 won in VeniVediVici. Perhaps there's still some life in that old hull after all. I'm sure the new tracks and seat carriages help. And who said duct tape wouldn't hold up? Synchronicity rowed three times after the patch was applied and both the WN4 and the WLt4 won their races with the go-fast silver tape.
Results are below. As usual, blue = 1st; red = 2nd, yellow = 3rd. green = other (including protestable collisions...) If you have any more pictures send them my way and I'll add them to the blog.
Another cold and raw day, with almost everybody getting two chances to race down the lake. For most of the novices and our coxswain Hana (who's currently batting 1.000) it was their first race experience. So, I take yesterday as a learning experience for most. Congratulations to the WN4 crews who placed first in their events. Special kudos should be given to Megan, Natalie, Airielle, and Amanda who beat crews from First Colonial, Hickory, and Granby all of whom started rowing in the fall (the public schools run their rowing programs fall and spring.) The fact our girls finished with open water ahead of their competition with only four weeks of rowing under their belt is a significant win.
Also deserving a mention are the MLt4, WV4, and W2nd4 crews all of whom had close finishes with our independent schools rivals. Our MLt4 crew of Ben, AJ, Thomas, and Brennan is getting closer to NA's crew (a boat that has been together since 9th grade and seems to be the fastest MLt4 in the EVSRA.) Our WV4 crew of Alexandra, Ann Marie, Courtney and Corey beat Cox and almost caught Norfolk Collegiate's crew even after stopping midway down the lake with a serious crab. Our W2nd4 crew of Reagan, Anna, Laura, and Erin easily beat both NA and NC Full results are below with additional comments. As usual, blue = 1st, red = 2nd, yellow = 3rd, green = out of the podium finishes. Note also that we got nine mentions in this morning's paper. Too bad it couldn't have been more!
The next race will be in six days, with only a couple of practices in between. The regatta will again be at Botanical but with a much smaller crowd. Let's hope for warmer weather for our Spring Fling 2!
We competed on a cold, raw day in eight events. Results are below, followed by some comments.
Congratulations to our MV4+ crew that won their heat. I hope all will experience the satisfaction of crossing the line in first place. A word about comparing times between heats: in rowing this is almost never done. When floating starts are utilized the length of the course is different in each heat (and, unfortunately, often in each lane.) Only when starting platforms are used could any sort of comparison be made, but even in that case, differences in wind conditions can and do influence heat times. For championship regattas, heat winners (and sometimes those in 2nd place in their heat) always re-row against the other heat winners to determine the event winner. The newspaper "order of finishes" based in inter-heat times is next to useless.
I hope everybody learned a lot about racing and the work that needs to be done before the launching of boats, during the regatta and the packing up at the end. Yes, it was a long day (I hit the sack by 9:30.) For our next regatta things will be more hectic because I anticipate entering six additional events, with lots of double rowing.
If anyone has some pictures that they took during the regatta feel free to e-mail them to me and I'd add them to this post.
Posts
