Finally here

After months of training, millions of meters, cold weather, hot weather, erg workouts, weight workouts, steady state workouts, hard workouts, technique row, we are finally here. A year ago, I recall thinking that I would never have the chance to visit, let alone race at the prestigious regatta, but here we are: The Henley Royal Regatta. When the draw was released this past Saturday, I was extremely pleased to see that the Stewards seeded us as #2 for the event. We are slated to race the Upper Thames Rowing Club at 9:20 EST on the Bucks side of the course (Buckinghamshire, the other side being Berks, or Berkshire). Tomorrow's forecast at racetime on the Thames calls for cold, rain, and quite a bit of breeze. 

A great deal has gone into all of this; it is absolutely staggering to really think about all the man hours that have been committed by the five of us. Even as we got here there was more to do. In short order we started accomplishing tasks just as we always have done for the past several months. We found our boat we rented from Hudson; this boat alone is a marvel to behold. It is a brand new boat fresh off the line. I for one do not believe I have ever rowed a boat this new before. We have dubbed and christened the boat “Natty Goh”, combining a Baltimore classic, Natty Boh, with our fervent hope for the boat - that is that it goes like a bat out of hell. By all eyes and all minds that is precisely what it is doing as well. Not to sound as if hubris has taken control, but we are fast, we are rowing well, and perhaps most importantly we are having fun.

The guys are relaxed, feeling well, and eager to get on the course tomorrow. I kept thinking of a quote as I took another Advil, or put some Epson salts into the bath to try to relieve some of the ache as I slowly get older. “The pain that you hold is yours. There is not a single pain quite like it. Nobody else on God’s green earth can feel this pain, or have the indescribable feeling of pride you will have when you overcome it. This pain is not your curse this pain is your privilege.” One stroke at a time, long, strong, and fast.

Final Tune Ups

Our last full week before our departure was filled with firsts. Our Henley outfits and kits both came in and we had the opportunity to test drive them both, at different events. We held a fundraiser meet at greet at Plug Ugly in Baltimore, where we unveiled the blazers and bow ties. The temperature was ideal, the food was great, and the company was even better. We are grateful for the support of our friends, family, and the club, and it was a great opportunity for a send off. 

Event at Plug Ugly

On Saturday, June 18th, we drove up to Philadelphia for a 2,000 meter race on the Schuylkill in the Open 4+. The conditions were quite similar to what we expect across the pond: hot with a headwind. We donned our uniforms, launched next to the St. Joe's boathouse, and completed our warm up. The two races before us were 1X races, and so we had to carefully maneuver through the armada as we took our strokes. We had a good warm up which led to a decent piece. We managed to execute a clean start in the outside lane, establish a base pace, and push during moves. Without the mild sunburns, it would have been an ideal race. With a full 2,000 meter piece in a sanctioned race under our belt, we have a few final practices and tweaks before we depart.

Post Schuylkill Navy Regatta

And finally, some rowing from practice: 

Glory Shots

On Wednesday, June 8th, Greg McKay, one of Rob's fellow prospective MD/PhD candidates at Johns Hopkins braved the early morning to take photos of one of our practices. After quickly doing some push ups on the dock to stimulate blood in the biceps, we launched and ran a typical practice, with a photographer in tow. Here is a link to his Facebook page for more of his work: https://www.facebook.com/GregoryMcKayPhotography/

Here are some of the amazing photos that he took of us and the Baltimore Harbor:

 

Slop and Chop

On Sunday, June 5th, 2016, we raced at our first official regatta, The Stonewall Regatta at the Anacostia Boathouse in Washington, D.C., hosted by DC Strokes. This regatta is known for a few things, including bottles of wine for the winners, thumping house music during the day, and terrible racing conditions. This regatta did not deviate from the status quo.

The Anacostia Boathouse in Washington, D.C.

We arrived in D.C. early as we had one of the earlier races that day, streaming the IRA finals to our phones as we walked from the parking lot to the boat trailer. The IRA modified their race schedule so that the race day commenced with the finals, as looming thunderstorms threatened to cancel races in the late morning. We rooted for our respective squads and watched as the eventual winners for the heavyweight and lightweight 8+ built healthy margins by the 1,000 meter mark, the distance that we were to race that day.

Our first race of the AM was in the Open 4+, a full race with six boats across. There was a Potomac Boat Club (PBC) boat of guys that Alex knew quite well, who was itching at the opportunity to beat their old teammate. Due to deteriorating conditions, the race officials told us that there would be a countdown start. Once our boat reached the starting line however, we found out that it was actually a quicker start than a traditional one, without the race official lining up or polling the crews, nor even having an actual countdown. This resulted in the crews starting more than a full boatlength apart without straight points, complicating the already windy conditions.

We managed to rip off a clean start, however our coxbox ran out of battery on the warm up, resulting in the bownman (Josh Ruck), calling the race from his seat. It took the crew a bit longer to collect but managed to find a base and sprint, albeit a bit later than we would have liked. The PBC boat did a great job managing the conditions and had built a sizeable margin early in the race so we spent the second half trying to eat into their margin. We managed to reduce it to just over one second at the 1,000 meter mark, when the race ended. 

We quickly hopped off the water and rigged our pairs, which was going to be our second and final race of the day. We broke into heavy and lightweight pairs, for eternal bragging rights as to who truly pulls whom down the course. Conditions were even worse for this race with the same starting conditions. The cross wind pushed the pairs into each other at the start, resulting in quite a few clashes. The lightweight pair clashed with the PBC pair within a few strokes, however the race officials did not call the race for breakage. Both pairs struggled to maintain their point through the race, with the lightweight pair once again clashing with the PBC boat, this time requiring the boat to stop and realign. I believe they disqualified a few boats from the race, which did not truly matter in the end due to the devolving conditions. 

It was definitely a memorable, albeit not hugely successful race. Thanks to PBC for great racing and DC Strokes for throwing a high energy regatta.

An example of the conditions on race day