One Lonely Erg

One lonely erg...

found six friends...

...and all seven dreamed of the day eight weeks down the road when they be be part of a BIG event...''

http://youtu.be/P_Mbe1RJYhI

Now is the time to start training for the HRRC Erg Pull to be held in our gym on Saturday February 7th. Our ergs have been moved to the gym mezzanine and I'll be pulling every day this week from 1-2 p.m. Come join in the fun...if only to clear your mind for the next exam...

TV Sports Report: James Thomson Interview

A nice piece that aired locally featuring James Thomson and Rob Reali. We get a mention at the 6:15 mark as the location of this year's erg pull. The date will be February 8th in our gym (not March 8th as stated by Rob.)



I'm in the process of moving the ergs upstairs. If you want to start pulling, make sure you have this year's physical form on file and then see me to gain access to the ergs.

Novices in October

We finished up our learn-to-row fall sessions on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Below are some videos I shot from the launch. Note that Clare and Reilly tried out the double and both Noah and Nicole drove the four. All-in-all it was a fine day.

So we're done for the year. Gone to Launch has been dry-docked. The ergs will be moved to the gym so we can start winter conditioning. In the meanwhile, start raking those leaves to toughen up your hands!

Common Rowing Technique Errors

Since we'll be on the ergs shortly, the video above shows common errors and how to correct them.

Learn-to row session #3

Seven novices and eight varsity members came out on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend to get some time in the boats. Below is a couple of shots of the "balance drill" -- what every novice needs to know about how far a sweep boat can heel. Shots by Rolando's dad.

In the two hour session we had the novices in the eight Badger (with senior varsity member Dan stroking), William and Becky sculling in NA's double, and Robert in our Hudson single Single-minded. 

Another pic of the novices sliding aft to the catch during their row by the dock:

Another session next Saturday is in the works. We'll row the fours on that day. I hope to see you!

A boatload of novices

Today's learn-to-row session went well. The picture below shows seven novices and one experienced rower. Can you pick the one person who has rowed often enough to know that the blade won't suddenly fall off the end of the oar? Thanks, Helen for helping out!

Thanks to Rolando's dad for the above shot. Below are some more pics by Brittany's dad.

We hope to have another session next Saturday at the same time. All are invited. 

Why row?

It's fun!

"Is it so nice as all that?" asked the mole, shyly...

"Nice? It's the only thing," said the Water Rat Solemnly, as he leaned forward for his stroke. "Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing -- absolutely nothing -- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."

― Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

You can be out in nature...

with ospreys, bald eagles, dolphins

 (all found in the Lafayette River ecosystem.)

You can experience the sport alone....

...or as part of a crew...

You get to carry 

the biggest "stick" in school.

All 9th graders start equal --

 there is no "youth" rowing. 

You're as good (or bad) as

any 9th grader in the area.

You won't have to lower

 yourself over a cliff

 with a jackhammer!

You won't have to row

 in freezing weather! 

(Remember rowing is

 supposed to be fun!)

You might get more

 insight to the summer

 reading assignment.

You'll get to experience 

Mr. Bousquet's terrible puns

 before you have him

 for math class (Greek rho = row?)

...or maybe because your English teacher

 or your math teacher

 really likes 

The Boys in the Boat!

There will be an introductory learn-to-row session this Saturday, the 23rd, from 9:00-11:00 at the Lakewood Boathouse. See the sidebar to the right for directions.

Please e-mail coach Bousquet 

bousquej@chsvb.org 

if you plan on attending.

See you then!

Wakeless launch completed

Well, I finally completed the "winter project" first detailed in this post. The boat seems to perform well and should serve as a useful coaching platform. We'll be the only high school team in the area with such a launch (the ODU women's varsity rowing team has three "wakeless" launches.) Below are three videos of the launch under way, at warm-up speed, at racing speed and at full throttle. Note when moving out the boat is hardly "wakeless." Perhaps "low wake" might be a better descriptor. I'll keep the boat in the water during the season and pull it out over the winter. In the tradition of naming our boats, this one will be called  Out to Launch.

A little bow down, but better to keep the prop out of the Lafayette River muck at low tide.

Test run at warm-up speed

Test run at racing speed

Full throttle

Virginia Scholastic Rowing Championships

For the third consecutive year we sent crews to the state championship regatta. This year, 46 high schools came with 241 entries. To willow the field, heats were run in the morning. Unfortunately both our W-JR-4 and W-1-4 crews failed to make it out of the heats (along with 77 other crews) so it was a relatively short day for us, rowing "one and done."

For our W-JR-4 crew, it was the first experience on a buoyed course for Kat, Erynn and Helen (Becky and Anna having rowed at States last year.) Their performance was hampered by sickness but they still managed to beat the heat time of the crew from Potomac HS, albeit in another heat. The Women's Junior 4 results:

For our W-1-4 crew (what we call the WV4 in EVSRA) it was a return engagement for most of the boat. Even though they failed to qualify, they rowed a faster heat than South County, Mount Vernon, Washington-Lee, Gar-Field, and First Colonial. I should also note that the EVSRA Championships were a good indicator of the relative strength of the top local WV4 crews: two weeks ago the top five were JR, PA, BSCHS, FC and NA. At States, only James River managed to get out of the heats (and in fact ended up 2nd overall in the Grand Finals.)  We finished just behind PA with a faster time than FC. NA did manage to row a faster heat than us with their reconfigured crew but still finished dead last in their heat. The top varsity event are tough at the state level! The women's 1st 4 results:

I'm still looking for some still pix, but the below is the video of the seniors.

The full results are HERE.

Independent Schools Championship

A day after rowing at Mathews our tired and sunburned team assembled at the Botanical Gardens for the Independent Schools Championship. Highlights include the W2V4 taking the gold and winning the Evans Bowl and the WV4 taking 2nd.

Natalie and Robert rowed singles, and no, contrary to the score sheet, Natalie didn't go out at 8 minutes after midnight....

Natalie and Wooden it be Nice

Robert and Single Minded

The results:

Mathews Regatta

We rowed at Mathews on Saturday May 3rd. Highlights include the WV4 taking a 2nd,  again over Princess Anne's WV4 crew and the favorite 300 m coxswain's race. Lowlights include a season-ending injury to Liz and the coach's race where the assistant coaches romped over the head coaches.

Pics and videos will be posted soon.

EVSRA Championships

For only the second time in the history of the program we had a crew medal in one of the top varsity events at the EVSRA regional Championships. In 2012 we had our men's varsity eight take silver. This year our women's varsity four took bronze in a dramatic finish over First Colonial's crew. Below is a photo of the finish (the camera was at one end of the line; the other end of the finish line was the wooden post in the center of the pier.) I note that FC was walking on us but that their three seat turned to look and that may have been the difference in boat speed. Our girls are focused in their boat and not looking at the competition. Well done!

The results:

Again looking at the week-to-week time deltas from the top finishers in each event we're still moving up, in spite of having a week off due to spring break with limited practice time and a couple of our rowers missing and a couple of others being ill.  

MV4    +1:46    +1:03  +0:42   +1:14  +0:30

WV4    +1:13    +1:37  +0:29    +1:09 +0:21

W2V4  +1:32    +0:31  +0:19    -----   +0:50

WV8    +0:40   +0:38  +0:37  -----      -----

Mx8     +2:23    +1:31   -----      +1:13    -----

WN4     ------    +2:22   -----     +4:38   -----

Mx4      ------    -------  +2:06   +4:56  +1:35

W1X     ------    -------  +0:30   +0:00  -----

Videos will be posted soon.

James River Regatta

For our fourth competition of the season we participated in the James River regatta in Midlothian, west of Richmond. The two hour trip required a departure from school at o-dark hundred to make the 7:30 coach's meeting. This regatta saw our first heat win - the WV4+ crew cruisin' to an easy open water win over crews from First Colonial, Cox and River City. The girls then immediately hopped into the stern four seats of the mixed eight and just about pulled off another win, only losing to Granby's crew by a second.

All-in-all it was a successful day. The crews experienced floating starts so times for the 1500 m course are misleading. I suppose the 1500 meter distance is also misleading since rowing against a 1 knot river current meant actually rowing significantly further (~ 1700 m?) 

Some edited videos and the official results are below. Note the time differentials from the first place boat in each event. Again the previous three regattas are the first three columns; this regatta is the last column. Caution should be used when comparing times between heats due to the imprecise course length caused by the floating starts.

MV4    +1:46    +1:03  +0:42   +1:14

WV4    +1:13    +1:37  +0:29    +1:09
W2V4  +1:32    +0:31  +0:19    -----
WV8    +0:40   +0:38  +0:37  -----
Mx8     +2:23    +1:31   -----      +1:13
WN4     ------    +2:22   -----     +4:38
Mx4      ------    -------  +2:06   +4:56
W1X     ------    -------  +0:30   +0:00

The WV4+ won their heat going away but was still significantly slower than the winning time in the other heat.

The MV4+ crew finished last after hanging tough for more than half the race.

The mixed eight crew took second in their heat, one second behind Granby.

After a long day. Thanks to Mr. Schoening for driving the short bus!