2016 schedule posted

The 2016 schedule has been posted on the sidebar to the right and below. First up is the regional erg pull in our gym in February. Start training!

2016 REGATTA SCHEDULE

• Feb 13: Erg pull sponsored by HRRC (in our gym!)
• March 12: "Mock" Regatta training
• March 19: Season Opener (at Botanical Garden) Novices may or may not race this weekend.
• April 9: James River (at Robus Landing, west of Richmond).
• April 16: Spring Fling Regatta (at Botanical Garden.) All crews racing.
• April 23: Middle Mathews (at Mathews, VA) All crews racing.
• May 1 (Sunday): EVSRA Championship (at Botanical Garden.) All crews racing.
• May 5 (Thursday): Independent School Regatta (at Botanical Garden.) TCIS schools only. All crews racing.
• May 7: Big Mathews (at Mathews, VA.) All crews racing.
• May 14/15: Virginia State Champs (at Occoquan, VA.) This years heats are Saturday and Finals are on Sunday, novices and varsity

Learn to Row sessions start August 15th

Try a new sport!
The BSCHS
crew team is
recruiting new
members.

Rowing (aka crew) at Bishop Sullivan Catholic High School is a varsity sport with competition among 17 area high school teams, both private and public, during the spring season. Because there is no organized “youth rowing” programs all high school students enter the sport as equals. If you’re intrigued with a new sport and you want to start even with everyone else, rowing may be the ticket.


Coach Bousquet, a math teacher and math department head at Bishop Sullivan Catholic, will offer free learn-to-row sessions on Saturday mornings this summer and fall for students planning on attending Catholic. Rising eighth graders from our feeder schools may also be eligible. The sessions will be held at the Robinson Rowing Center at Lakewood Park  in Norfolk (see the googlemap on the sidebar to the right). Monitor the team blog: catholiccrew.blogspot.com for dates and times. Feel free to e-mail coach Bousquet at bousquej@chsvb.org for more information.

So what might being on the crew team be like? Below are a few quotes from last year’s novices.

        This was my first year doing crew and I didn't know what to expect but I ended up finding a sport that I really like. I have learned what it's like to rely on teammates and how much my team mates rely on me. I really enjoyed being out on the water and becoming stronger at a new sport. -Katie O'Brien

    I enjoyed learning how to crew for my first year and work as a team with my fellow rowers. I attended "How to Crew" sessions over the summer and developed skills that I used on the racecourse. I have had so much fun this year, and I am planning to row again next season. Go Crusaders! -Gabby Kayal

    My experience on the crew team has been extremely memorable and exciting. I loved being out on the water in nature, being able to forget about the troubles and stresses of school, and row with kids. I formed a bond with everyone on the team, and that is what I enjoyed most about crew. -Noah Lee

    I had a great time this Crew season! The "Learn-How-to-Row" sessions this past summer really helped me prepare and develop the rowing skills needed for the upcoming season. Crew is a worthwhile experience where you can have fun working as a team, as well as developing great relationships and friendships with your teammates! Go Crew and CRU! -Christy Kayal

    During the fall session, it helped me prepare for the upcoming crew season. Once the crew season started, I already knew the basics of rowing and rigging and de-rigging a boat. Another plus was that I had established relationships with the some of the crew team. During the crew season, winning first place in the men's novice 4 boat at the end of the season made me realize that working together as a team was a great accomplishment. I built not only physical strength but also friendships. -Rolando Banaag

    I really enjoyed crew this year and look forward to next year! I met so many new friends and learned great rowing technique that I will be able to use for the crew seasons ahead of me. Go Crusaders! -Hali Elliott

So we can get an idea on numbers and who might be attending, please e-mail coach Bousquet with your name and grade before Saturday morning. Sessions are weather dependent and if the weather conditions are not suitable he will inform everyone late Friday night that the session will be cancelled. 

VASRA State Championships

We competed in the VASRA state Championship regatta on May 9th. Our top women's 4 and a women's junior four (four of our novices) competed. Neither crew advanced out of their heats, a fate shared by 13 other crews in these events.

Results for the W-4-1 event are below. First the four heats:

 After the heats the top twelve crews raced in two semi-finals with the top three from each semi racing in a final for the state title (and the bottom six being assigned to the petite finals.) Those results are below.

I see that only one of the EVSRA crews that competed (Gloucester Maury, First Colonial and Catholic) made it out of the heats to the finals in this tough event. We were hampered by illness (both Anna and Rachel) but I note they decreased the delta t versus Maury's time that both crews posted at the EVSRA champs. Well done, girls.

For the WJr 4 event we entered a crew of 4 novices. Typically this event is competed by the best crews in each school that are not seniors (most having girls that have rowed for three years.) Our novices learned a lot. Seeing what's required at the next level allows one to set higher goals.

The top six boats raced in the finals of this event. Those results are below.

For comparison, I found the results of the Ted Phoenix regatta also rowed at Occoquan a week earlier, that same day we rowed at Mathews. This regatta is restricted to novices only and the winning crews are declared state champs in their events. The results for the WN4 are below.

And while it's dangerous to compare times on different days due to different conditions, both regattas were run over the same distance on the same course. The time our novice girls posted at States would have placed then ahead of Fairfax, Granby and West Potomac at the Ted Phoenix and just shy of a medal at the state level. I am proud of this crew that has mainly rowed as the stern four of our WN8 and actually practiced as a four less than a dozen times.

At States I awarded Mrs. King the "Jay O'Brien Pull Hard! Award" for her sustained support and dedication over four years. Thank-you Stephanie for all your efforts. We'll miss both you and Anna.

I also thank Granby for transporting our hulls to and from Occoquan and on their M-1-4X crew that won their event and return with the state championship trophy.

Wildcat, then and now

Below are pics of  Wildcat taken in 2012 when I first started the repair. After two and a half years she was finally rowed at Mathews. It was in September of 2012  that Coach O'Brien and I picked up the pieces of this Kaschper "International" model in Philadelphia.  Before it was severely damaged in a fall off their boathouse lift system, the boat was the top men's eight at Villanova University. We brought back the three pieces,  (yes, "pieces" as both the bow and the stern broke off in the fall) and I started the structural repair. Because the damage was so severe, including a cracked keel, bent rudder, snapped off fin and a major break at seat two, the insurance wrote off the boat as a total loss.  The overhaul included a complete re-paint to match our existing fleet color scheme.

The hull construction is seen here: two skins with a Nomex honeycomb core.

The broken stern. The fin snapped off completely.

This was the back of the boat.

The name "Wildcat" is in honor of the Villanova crew, where coach O'Brien went to school, and where Mairin, his daughter coxed for four seasons.

Bow glued on before the carbon scarf joint is constructed. I'm pretty sure the alignment is fine.

New carbon at seat two

A vacuum pump pulled down the carbon skin.

The Nomex honeycomb deck core is visible before the top skin is put on. 

I'm pleased as punch that Wildcat has joined our fleet. I hope next season to have a large enough team to regularly field three eights: J.A.B., Badger, and now, Wildcat.

Independent Schools Regatta

We competed in the Independent Schools Regatta on May 3 on Lake Whitehurst at Botanical Garden. Highlights include the Men's Novice Four winning the Botanical Bailer and our seven seniors: Becky, Anna, Nathan, Liz, Helen, Rachel and Emilio, rowing in their last EVSRA regatta.

Results will be posted as I get them. Please send me any pictures you may have.

Big Mathews Regatta

  We competed at Mathews on Saturday May 2nd. This regatta is referred to as "Big Mathews" since so many schools attend. We raced against some schools from Northern Virginia for the first time. The weather was beautiful and we had some fun races. Wildcat was raced for the first time since 2011.

I'll be including videos and pictures as I can find the time. Please send me any pictures you may have.

The results of the racing are below.

Schools competing:

1. Albemarle 
2. Bishop Sullivan
3. Christchurch
4. Cox
5. First Colonial
6. Forest Park
7. Granby
8. Great Bridge
9. Gloucester
10. Hickory
11. James River
12. Jeb Stuart
13. Mathews 
14. Maury
15. Princess Anne
16. River City
17. South County
18. Stonebridge

EVSRA Championship Regatta

Sixteen schools competing; WN8 crew win bronze medal by 0.3 seconds over Granby's crew. Final results are below.

MV4: 7th (best finish in five years in this event.)

WV4: 8th (second best finish in five years in this event.)

MN4: 6th (second best finish in four years in this event.)

WN8: 3rd (bronze medalists & best finish ever in this event)

Mxd4: 1st (blue ribbons).

I'll be adding pics and video over the next day or two. Send me any pictures you may have.

Schools competing:

• Bishop Sullivan Catholic
• Cape Henry
• Christchurch
• Cox
• First Colonial
• Gloucester
• Granby
• Great Bridge
• Hickory
• James River
• Kempsville
• Maury
• Norfolk Academy
• Norfolk Collegiate
• Princess Anne
• Williamsburg

Spring Fling II Regatta

    We returned to racing after spring break at the Norfolk Botanical Garden venue on the 18th of April. Overall we had more success this regatta with crews taking a first, two seconds and a third. See the results below color coded with blue for first place, red for second place, and yellow for third place.

    Our WV4 crew had a bad start and ended up stopping after clashing oars with First Colonial. The video doesn't show any obvious mistakes - perhaps a combination of the wind blowing from the right and just a strong pull from Liz in the bow sent the boat to port. At any rate they finished fourth in their heat, but with a better time than both Cox and Hickory in heat A, and with a time over 14 seconds lower than their best time all season. Who knows what the time might have been without the mishap?

We added an entry at the coach's meeting. I threw together a W2V4 crew with Erynn, Anna K., Anna B. and Helen, a group that has never rowed together as a crew. Even though they finished poorly, they still had a lower time than our WV4 crew in the previous regatta. This was Erynn's first time in the stroke seat this season. Thanks, girls, for accepting the challenge at the last minute.

    For the first time this season we entered two MN4 crews. Both finished out of the top 3 in their heats. Our "A" entry finished ahead of NA's MN4. No other independent school fielded a MN4 entry which bodes well for the independent school championship in a couple of weeks. Our "B" entry finished behind three large public school crews but had a time only 11 seconds greater than our men's varsity four which rowed later in the day. The shot below was taken during the race of our "A" entry. I note difficult problems with set, something that I expect the straws will help correct. I should also note that we combined the two fours into a MN8 crew later in the regatta that finished 2nd behind NA but ahead of Maury. Well done guys..  

    In event #20 our WN8 crew took first in their heat, ahead of Maury and NA's B boat. I didn't get a GoPro video, but did catch the open water finish from the recovery dock. I also know there was a massive crab with about 200m to the finish and Jess had to stop the boat and get the crew restarted. Even with the stopping and restarting (probably affecting time by adding 10 seconds or more, this crew finished with lots of open water between them and Maury in 2nd place. They easily beat NA's "B" boat but also finished with a lower time that NA's "A" boat in the other heat. Still some work to do to catch the public schools, but a good performance none-the-less. Well done, girls!

    
    In event #21 our MN8 crew took second in their heat, ahead of Maury but behind NA's crew. Our crew dropped 27 seconds from their time in the previous regatta and are definitely getting better. The video belows shows some sloppy rowing, again with height and set issues, but hopefully the straws will sort out the handle height problem. I also note that the call to "way enough" was three seconds before the bow crossed the finish line. Coxswains need to watch the finish line flag and listen for the horn. Many races are decided on times less than a second.

I'll be adding videos and pictures with some commentary throughout the day. Please send me any pictures you have (including prom pics!)