Seniors go out on top

   We had the only regatta of this strange season (the EVSRA CoROWna virus regatta) on May 16th at the Botanical Garden venue. The weather was good and we had entries in four sweep events: MV4, MN4, Mxd4, MN8 and two sculling events: W2X and W1X.  

    The three seniors, (Zack, Alex and Jacob) teamed with junior Christian to win their MV4 event with a time of 5:19.8. Coxswain was Gavin C. Here is a sequence taken from the following ref. They are about 2/3 of the way down the course, pulling strong:

an another from the following ref of the last seven strokes in the sprint to the finish:

This video was recorded by parents on the finish dock:

A strong finish but a couple of missed strokes and lots of head turning to look at the competition in this sprint sequence to the line. Remember, head turning causes a loss of set in the boat leading to missed strokes and a general slowing. In close races it important to "keep you head in the boat." 

Here is the whole video sequence from the mast: 

Here is the crew heading back to the recovery dock:

and walking back to the trailer:

The other team members successfully made it down the lake to the start platform and raced to the finish.  We were complimented by the referees on our ability to proficiently back into the start platform. Good job by coxswains Kevin, Gavin, and Alex in their events.  The blind boats of Ashley (W1X) and Ashley and Reagan (W2X) also rowed well.

Here is Ashley's W1X race (at least until the camera stopped.):

Here are Ashley and Reagan in the W2X event:

The Mens Novice 4 crew of Alan, Matt, Gavin and Noah, with Kevin in the cox seat, finished 2nd in their heat (ahead of Hickory and behind NA.) Their time of 5:44.5 was also better than novice crews from Cape Henry and Norfolk Youth Rowing Club (Maury) in the other heat.  

Here is their video:

At the end of the day we participated in the mixed four and the mens novice eight events. Here is a picture of the mixed crew heading down to the start:

and below is a short snippet of the crew backed into the start platform. I note Christian sculling to help Gavin keep on point. All of our crews were good examples on how to get into the start position.

Here is a picture of them about mid-course ahead of the crew Cape Henry. Emily is stroking, Christian is sitting in the three seat, Alex is in the two seat and Olivia is in the bow. Gavin is coxing. 

Here is the whole video sequence from the mast:

The MN8 featured the stern 4 of Noah, Gavin, Matt and Alan, with Emmett, Conor, Kevin and Michael as the bow 4. Guest coxswain was Alex reliving his freshman season when he both rowed and coxed.

This is their video:

 The video below was taken from the finish dock:

I'll be adding more pictures as I get them. Please send me any you have!

Some of the CRU Crew