With a very threatening weather forecast, we attended the second regatta of the season at Botanical Garden and entered six crews with many folks rowing in multiple events. The regatta organizers compressed the event schedule in hopes of beating the severe weather that was expected to arrive in the afternoon and, in fact, all races were run in some pretty benign conditions -- light winds and a slight drizzle.
WV4 at the control commission prior to launching
Highlights include Kat and Rachel coxing their first races (with Kat driving the W2V4 crew to a 2nd place) and our first novice entry (albeit with a borrowed rower from Granby.)
Lining up at the start
Video was shot of the WV4, WN4, MV4, and WV8 events. Those edited videos are below.
The final results show an improvement for most crews when comparing from the previous week the time delta from the fastest boat in the event. Below are the deltas, first from the season opener, and then from this regatta. Obviously the goal for all crews is to reduce their time deltas to zero.
We opened the season on a warm and very windy day at Botanical Gardens. Even though we've had limited practice days we entered five crews, three of which contained novice rowers. Coach O'Brien acted as one of the on-the-water referees and had the opportunity to follow each of our five crews during the 30 event regatta. Below are his notes to me.
Coach
O’Brien’s notes from the ref launch.
WV4 HT-B
Natalie, Airielle, Taylor, Amanda. Trouble, like all the boats holding point
(took several pushes from refs and stake boat holders to get the boat off the
platform). Fairly solid start, little tentative first few strokes then settled
in nicely for first 300-500m--in the lead or right with the leaders. Then,
there was no more force from legs in the stroke, stroke seat was taking a hand
off the oar to adjust hair in wind. Boat continued to slow to a paddle, with
short easy strokes. After all the other boats caught BSCHS, crew finally dug in
for some power strokes and then slacked off. When the rowers applied power and
showed determination, they could easily stay with the leaders, or take command
of the heat. These rowers all have very good technique WHEN THEY FOCUS!
Gradually lost drive and desire as race progressed.
W2V4 HT-A A great showing by this
boat. Liz and Erin have tremendous potential and should be proud of their
performance. Both Liz and Erin need to get comfortable feathering with inside
hand, getting outside arm between legs at catch, and increasing stroke length
and drive. Anna and Becky were good overall. Becky did a nice job at stroke,
but occasionally hesitated at the catch, and consistently needs to pull through
finish harder. Anna would be on time, but with no hesitation at catch, moved
immediately into stroke applying power hard and quickly (which is what we want)
to the finish. Anna was always ahead at finish. If we even up Becky and Anna,
the rest of the rowers will fall in on pace. This boat also got tired and
shortened up body swing, leg drive, and pulling into the finish as the race
progressed. I wrote on ref sheet NO POWER AT FINISH :-( They can be great if
they work a little more together.
MV4 HT-A Kellan, Will, Robert, Nathan: I wrote WHEN
WILL THEY START RACING. Unless you told them to take it easy and stay under
control, they were not pulling at race intensity. Need more leg drive, strong
pull through finish, and slightly better timing getting into catch. I know they
have been hampered by not being able to cut loose at practice and really
challenge each other in the boat, but they do need that. Good raw potential
here, but they have to get nasty in the race and push hard.
WV8 HT-B Surprised me. They were
with the lead boat til 2/3's up the course. Rhythm was decent, still rushing
slide a little, I wrote on ref sheet WHERE's BODY SWING? Again, more power,
timing at catch, and full strokes pulling all the way into finish
Mx8 HT-B Nathan had a nice pace at
stroke, but he missed a lot of water with oar, needs hands higher at catch,
Kellan was OK, just needs to relax his shoulders and let his legs build power,
Ryan has great potential--he needs better posture, more body swing, and he still
hasn't learned to finish the stroke by pulling his arms in high enough at
finish. Nick has decent technique but was inconsistent on oar height so missed
water. Erin again is making progress, but the stroke fundamentals need
refinement. Liz had trouble getting full stroke length, perhaps boat balance
caused her to not want to get outside arm all the way up to catch in between
her legs. Helen shows good potential, and we need to help her get comfortable
getting the blade in square and with power. Julie will want to review
fundamentals, oar hand placement, and smooth motion through stroke.
Me again.... The following pics are from Mr. Miller, who was helping out at the start. The first one in particular shows a tremendous amount of wind on the surface.
W2V4 fighting the wind at the start area
WV8 backing into the start platform
Wind and chop at the start
Overall I'm pleased. I did manage to capture the finish of the WV4 and the W2nd4 from the recovery dock on video. Also, the GoPro was mounted for the WV8 event. All three videos are below. Next week will be the men's turn to be videoed.
We have to remember that we're all still in a learning phase and that this was a very early regatta in very difficult conditions. From here we need to work on technique, strength, and endurance. The goals at this week's practices are elucidated by Coach O'Brien:
--I'd like to get both the WV4
seniors and the W2nd4 on ergs (slides would be good). 10 minute warm up (4
minutes at 18-20spm easy; 2 minutes at 24spm 60% power; 1 minute easy 18spm, 1
minute hard at 26 spm, 30 sec easy, 30 sec full power at 30spm; 1 minute easy).
Rest 4 minutes. Then a 1500M race piece, or 6 minutes at race pace. Simulate
start, power 20, settle (not slack but settle with power), add in power 10,
settle, focus ten (hard leg drive loooong body swing, nice recovery), steady
strong stroke think balance, power 10, and then final push from 500 in to
finish. They have to know what it feels like to do a strong piece, and leave it
all on the race course. We can even break up the 1500 or 6 minutes into
segments and plan it with them so they know what's coming. Their meter ought to
be on or below a8:452k split.
--guys: stroke fundamentals and
power either on erg or water
--novices: basics, and strong
encouragement. They really are pretty good.
Below are the official results. Obviously NA is way ahead of our placings. Our first team goal is to be competitive with NCS, who shares our boathouse.
If anyone has additional pictures, send them to me and I'll add them.
The ergs have been relocated to the boathouse. The shells and oars are staged and ready to go. The green coach's launch has a new dolly to facilitate getting to the water. All we need is some rowable weather. Maybe Wednesday (sigh.)
Posts
