Season Opener regatta

I'll be adding more pics and video over the next couple of days. If you have any, send them my way! The banner of the WV4 start below was taken by Mrs. Schoening and the launch of the MV8 was taken by Mr. Banaag. Thanks!

    We opened the spring sprint season on a windy day with racing on Lake Whitehurst at Botanical Garden. We entered eight events and walked away with two seconds and a third. During the course of the day our crews crossed the finish line ahead of crews from Cox, Gloucester, Cape Henry, Norfolk Academy and First Colonial. The conditions were a bit trying at the start, with many crew having difficulty establishing and maintaining point, and at the finish with apparent uncertainty from each of our coxs'ns (and many others, too) about the actual finish line. That being said, I'm glad the season is underway so we start to work on specific racing techniques and strategies.

Coach O'Brien, sitting in "the best seat in the house" in his role as referee, had the advantage to closely observe most of the crews while racing. His comments follow.

Summary: good first regatta. BSCHS showed good attitude, professional demeanor, and put forth solid effort. Nearly all crews had technique challenges under race conditions. Hand position on oars (incorrect feathering), late rollups, connection at catch, rushing the slide, and timing were common areas needing improvement. Some of the crews demonstrated much improved athleticism. We will look at adding more transportation and anaerobic threshold workouts once we sort out technique in coming weeks. Coxswains did OK and were safe. We want to see more anticipation and positive help to the crew with technique and timing hints during the race.

Evt 2: Men's Varsity 8+: Inconsistent connection at start. Good power at some points in early going. Hand position, lack of early roll-up and bodies not prepared out of release led to weak overall stroke. Coxswain awareness of boat position and helpful corrections to the crew are areas for work. Some of rowers reverted to bad habits under pressure of racing. Almost everyone needs to remember: Feather inside hand, flat wrist outside hand. Spacing was not what this crew can do (movement of boat past puddle of bow's oar out of release).

Evt 11: Womens Varsity 4+: So much potential. Lost 25-30secs of additional speed through the common areas all crews need work. Wrote on my ref sheet "LATE ROLLUP!!!!!!!!!!!" Hands and bodies dipping at catch, thus blades go in the air instead of solid connection in water. "Rowing it in" in many strokes losing 1-2ft of stroke length--need to understand connection at catch and immediate leg drive. More ref notes: "Timing, timing, timing". This crew could beat anyone on the water if they are able to execute technique and are in better condition. Hands......feather inside flat wrist outside.

Evt 16: M2V4+: Two different halves of the boat rowing between bow pair and stern pair. Ref sheet comments: "TIMING"; "BODY POSITION"; "Hip pivot out of release!!!!". Hand position and incorrect roll-up to square. Short strokes with bow pair.

Evt 23: MV4+: Some rowers not able to get full stroke length. Rowers in the correct position did not apply power on leg drive. This boat could have been nearly 40secs faster with better fundamentals on technique. Late rollups, timing, were in my notes. HANDS! which hand feathers and which hand doesn't?

Evt 27: W2V4+: Bow and stern seat rowing the boat. Middle pair with technique areas needing attention. All: no full strokes, air strokes, balance, timing, head not in boat. Inside/outside hand issues. Coxswain crisscrossing the race course in first 300M.

Evt 32: WV8+: Ref notes "GOOD POWER". Stroke for stroke with lead boats out through 300M. Potential state contenders with technique improvement. Rushing slide, need square blades at catch, and more leg drive will improve spacing and ratio. Good, but we can do so much more if the rowers have the desire. inside/outside hands on most of the boat.

Evt 34: Mxd4+: Good effort for first time rowers. Review of basics needed. Holding oar halfway down handle, timing, air strokes, concentration.

Evt 37: Mxd8+: Looked like they had fun and gave a good effort. I'm excited to work with all on technique.

The final results are below. I will be keeping track on our delta t for each crew against the winning crew in each event. I expect the delta t  to continuously decrease and hopefully become negative by the championships!