Kayaking for a swimmer

The kingdom games not only have their winter swim, they also have a summer one. I went last year with a couple friends, and then we signed up again for this year - I didn't actually swim either time. I mean, who wants to swim in this kind of weather? :) Last year I kayaked for a friend, and then I was signed up to kayak for her again this year, but she wasn't feeling well and decided not to go. So, I asked if anyone else needed a kayaker, and there was a woman who was swimming 10 miles who did!  So, I signed up to do that. And it was pretty awesome.

This woman is training to swim across the english channel - she's planning for next summer and has a boat booked and everything. This was her longest swim so far. She wasn't the fastest swimmer and it was kind of funny because she initially reached out and apologized about that, and said she didn't want to ruin my day. Ha! She didn't know what kind of swimmer I am - but I was like "I love that you are doing this for the sport and not to win." We met the day before just to chat and she told me about all the "feeds" that we were to do. After one hour, and then every half hour, we stopped and she had some sports drink and a little snack - sometimes a goo packet, sometimes a bite of a sandwich or some applesauce, or fig newtons. She also took advil and some anti-nausea meds which I had to put in her mouth. I dropped one of the advil down her swimsuit. Oops. Other than that it was just leading her around the route in as straight a line as possible and staying next to her so she could sight off me. 

The race started at 8, with kayakers going out on the water at 7:45. You kind of hang out by the first bouy, and the swimmer finds the kayaker (the wand finds the wizard, the wizard does not find the wand). Once she reached me, we were off. Because I was going at her speed, it was pretty chill in the kayak, I just paddled every now an then, kept on the correct course, and organized her food. I had a lot of time to look at the scenery, watch the birds, look at her swim technique, say hello to folks who were passing me, and think about life. I got a new she-wee so that I could pee while out there, and I used it twice, quite successfully. By the time I needed to use it the sun was pretty hot and I had dipped a towel in the water and put it over my lap, which had the added benefit of being a privacy screen. I sort of scootched up in the kayak so I was sitting on my knees, figured out the right place to put the funnel, and went for it. I brought a bottle to pee into, and then dumped it into the lake (really large lake, so not a problem, I swear). Then I washed out the shewee and put it back in its case. Super simple, and I was pretty pleased with myself. 

At some point I got hungry, and I had packed a sandwich - cheese and avocado on a delicious bread, so I had a snack, with some pretzels I brought. Then I ate some gummies for the sugar because it was getting pretty warm out and I wanted to make sure I didn't get sick (not the fun gummies, these were from trader joes). I found a few different ways to sit so my legs and butt weren't killing me - at first I was sitting correctly with my feet on the pegs, but we were moving slow for a kayak, so I realized I could sit with my legs crossed and be just fine. For a while I had my legs up on top of the food bag and was lounging. When we got to the furthest point away and started on our way home there was this older couple sitting outside with cow bells cheering, which was so fun!

In the end it took her 7.5 hours to do the swim. All the time I was snacking and checking the timer on my phone and organizing feeds and looking at birds and admiring the lake and reapplying sunscreen and dipping my hat in the water and putting it on my head, etc, she was just swimming and swimming. It looked really hard. We were third to last to finish and there was a crowd at the beach because it was awards time, so everyone applauded her as she came in. I was a little stiff and scrunched up, but I thought I would be fine, and I was. All and all, a nice way to spend the day out on the water.

We camped out up in VT because it's summer and we could. The weather was really good for camping. We did a fire and smores one day and went to a swimmers gathering the next. I brought my hammock and hung it up and sat in it and read, which was my favorite part. Once again, something bit or stung me and my ankles swelled up and itched like crazy. This time I was prepared with benedryl, which worked amazingly well - no idea what the cause was, but it was so itchy!

We were having breakfast Sunday morning and it started to rain. I took down my tent so it wouldn't get wet and soon we headed home. I had been thinking about stopping for a short hike on the way home, but with the rain and benedryl I didn't really want to, so I just came straight back. Two thumbs up, would definitely do again.

First Regatta!

Today was the pineapple regatta at the rowing club, and I participated in women's 8 and mixed 8. Spoiler alert, both the boats I was in came in fourth. Out of four. So, we lost. But not badly, just by a bit. And we did much better than the boat that capsized, had to be rescued, and then finished. So, there's that.

I was completely unsure what to expect from the day. The email said to get there at 6:30 am to help set up and that the races would start at 8. I just couldn't bring myself to get up that early, and since I'm a newbie I figured no one would be at all upset if I didn't. So, I left home at about 7:40, picked up some blueberry muffins, and got there at 8. And quickly realized that there was no need for me to be there since I wasn't racing until 2:45. 

So, I went to parkour (which was very fun - we're at a new park with all sorts of new places to play). After I went for coffee with a friend and had a really delicious pastry. When I returned a little after noon all of the muffins were gone, and it was lunch time. After lunch I chatted with the two people I knew and watched some races. It was pretty hot out - like mid 80's, and I got tired of sitting in the sun baking, so I went and sat under a tree and watched for a little over an hour.

When my race was called I got up and joined my group (I could call them my crew, huh?) and we had a strategy session with the cox, who was really great. About half of the other rowers were folks I knew, and the other half must have been morning rowers. Everyone was high 5ing me because it was my first race - it was a pretty chill group. We got in our boat (I rowed 5 seat), and headed to the start line. It took a while to line up and hit the right position, but we finally got it. 

When the horn went off, we were off! When you start a race you row from knees half bent for two, then three quarters, then full, then you do like 10 fast rows, and then you row at your race pace. Which is something we had practiced before, fortunately, or I would have been totally lost. The first few rows were a little tricky, but fine, and then when we got going I tried my hardest to be in sync with the person in front of me. Most of the other technique stuff went out the window. 

My main goal was to not catch a crab and slow the boat down, which I didn't. There was a woman in the boat who didn't have enough fluids all day, and was on the edge of heat exhaustion. And, one of the other boats had two guys in it (which is a little off on a women's boat race). I didn't realize the woman behind me (in the 3 seat) wasn't ok until the cox asked her to row, and people were yelling for me to row - and I was like "huh?" After, I looked back and was like "ohhh." (I saw her later and she was better hydrated and looked fine.) So, I didn't feel bad about us being last in that heat. 

Our mixed boat race was the last race of the day. Again, I knew about half of our boat, and people were super chill about if we won. Which was good, because we didn't. We had this really funny high school student who was coxing, and she was so excited because she already had two wins and a second place and she wanted another (but then she was fine with our 4th place). This race was a lot closer - they blow a horn when you finish, and it was four honks in pretty quick succession. The wife of one of the rowers took a video of it, and we looked pretty good, actually! In the video, because of the angle, it looks like we overtake and pass other boats, and are ahead (which actually never happened.) Since we were the last race, we had to put the boat away. After they gave out the prizes - fresh pineapple for first place, canned for second and dried for third. Since I wasn't winning anything and had been outside in the heat all day I snuck out early, went home, and took a nice long cool bath.

I would definitely do this regatta again. Not sure that I'm ready for less chill races, but maybe in a future year... I'm enjoying rowing a lot, and will definitely continue - it's such great exercise and nice people. 

5 seat!

Today I actually got to be in the front of the boat! I was the 5 seat, which is the last of the front, but definitively in the engine room. And, the coach and cox kept telling the bow to change things - not me this time. It was a really nice row, and fun to be in the wider part of the boat. I'm sure I will return to my usual 3 seat on Wednesday.

This weekend I'm participating in my first race - it's super casual and everyone says it's really fun. It's on the Mystic, from where we row - Blessing of the Bay. It's called the Pineapple Regatta because pineapples used to be a symbol of friendship and welcome :) Today someone told me that she caught a crab in her first race, so that's my kind of race. Still a little nervous. But they have promised super cute t-shirts, so I decided to try it.  

Early Roll-ups

Rowing is such a technical sport - one of the things you are meant to do is unfeather your oar as you are recovering from the stroke so that you are ready to drop it in the water and row as soon as you get to the catch. But, I have a hard time doing that. I swear today both the coach and the cox told me at least 10 times to focus on my early roll up. And the thing was, I was. I swear!!  And then they would compound it by telling me my timing was off, or that I should recover slower. Which, I definitely can't try to do two things better, my brain just explodes. A few times, though, I did get it correct I think and it felt good.

The raised garden beds at the school across the street from me were empty for so long this summer that I decided to buy a few plants and put in a little bandit garden. I did 4 tomatoes, a cucumber, and some herbs - basil, sage and rosemary. Today I went out and someone had staked my tomatoes! It was kind of cool of them, but also I hope they don't think they get to eat everything I grow. It's a risk with the bandit garden. I really mostly wanted the herbs because it's so easy to just go pick something when it's right across the street, as opposed to having to go a mile an a half through city traffic.

I got a FB notification that I started in my new field of work 12 years ago - crazy how time flies! I remember how nervous I was when I first started, but it seems to be going well now....

Charles Fourth again

Last year on the Charles was so fun, we went back and did it again, this time with a couple more people! And again, fireworks were amazing. It was easier this year because we had the whole scene sussed out, and knew what to expect from traffic and parking, etc. We wound up going all together in one car, and the woman who drove reserved a spot in a hotel parking garage. It looked like there was a wide open parking lot right across the street from the put it, though. 

Fireworks were earlier this year by 50 minutes, but also we knew that we could drop our stuff off and park, saving lugging time. So, the plan was to arrive at 7:30 and head up river. Well, they picked me up (last stop on pickups) at a little after 7:30 and we got to the river at about 8 ish. It was super easy to drop the stuff off, though, and one person went to park while three of us moved everything down to the water. We actually had 4 people and 4 oru kayaks, though two were already unfolded and went there on roof racks. It took me about 2 minutes to unfold and set up my kayak and another 2 minutes to put my stuff in it. And then I helped my other friend unfold hers. And then I watched as everyone took another half hour to putz around and do heaven knows what until I was about ready to scream. I finally just took my kayak to the river, got in and paddled around in a circle for a bit. That was the not fun part of the night.

Once everyone got into the water, though, it was a lot more fun! We paddled upstream to where we had been last year - it took about a half hour. It seemed like it was less crowded on the water - maybe more people when through earlier and went under the Mass Ave bridge? Anyhow, the spot before the bridge was pretty open. Two people had anchors that they dropped, we tied up together and hung out for a short bit listening to the music before the fireworks started. 

As always, it was an amazing show, and from our spot it felt like it was just for us. There were a ton of people lined up on the bridges and a few yachts, but from our spot we had a perfect view. They went on for about half hour at least, and we so good. Because of the two anchors we didn't turn in circles so much this year, which was nice. The water was so still and smooth, and it was really peaceful (except for the fireworks of course).

Once the fireworks finished we pulled up anchor (unlike the cinderblock last year the anchors came up without issue). There were so many people paddling back that the water got all choppy. Again, it was all kinds of traffic - canoes, kayaks, paddleboards, yachts - with all kinds of configurations of people. It took about a half hour to get back to the pull out. I was completely soaked because I was paddling so hard trying to keep up with one of my friends. We got out and I dried off my boat and folded it up while my friends did all their things in reverse (though I'm pretty sure it took less time than getting set up). 

While the woman who drove went and got her car and we waited with the stuff and watched some folks shoot off illegal fireworks. I have to confess I was a little nervous that they would blow off a finger, or hit someone with them - they seemed a little drunk and overexcited, so I was kind of relieved to see a police officer come over and tell them to cut it out. Once again, getting home was easy - all the traffic must have been to the east. 

Two thumbs up, definitely recommend. Next year I will be prepared with something to do while everyone putzes around... Or, maybe work on patience??? 

Short Row

All day today it was hazy, hot and humid, with the chance of thunderstorms in the evening. I was curious if we would even have rowing because obviously thunder + metal boat = bad. When the time came, we were on! It was actually a little cooler than its been some of the days, and with the clouds the sun wasn't as horrible. Coach kept saying that it was going to be fine and we should go to the smaller river because boats and jet skis would be out and heading to the Charles (boats to the Charles I assume). So, we rowed over to the furthest place away from the dock, over two miles away, and then he was like, yeah, there's a thunder storm coming, we are going to row back. Sigh. It actually wound up being a pretty good workout because we just rowed, took a short break, saw some lightening, and then rowed faster. We were going at a 26 for much of the row, which is a pretty big aerobic suck, but also I think easier than rowing at a 22. We got back to the dock, put the boats away, and then it didn't rain or really thunder. Ha!

I officially signed up to row in the pineapple regatta, which will be in a little over 2 weeks. I was kind of nervous about it because obviously I have no idea what I'm doing and don't want to get everyone in my boat all upset by messing up. But I asked a few people and they said it's super fun and chill and not competitive - I should just come and have fun. Also, there are supposedly super cute tshirts. It might be my last row of the season - I can't do the next session because of my vaca, and I don't see any sessions posted after that. So, a good way to end. 

I keep meaning to write about the sights on the river - it can be a little gritty on the Mystic, there are a few places that smell a little, and there can be trash in the water. But there are also a ton of birds, especially geese, ducks, swans and herons. There's one park that often has kids smoking weed :)  Sometimes on the bridges people take pics of us. There's a guy who rides around on his bike playing the saxophone, which has to require a lot of coordination. Sometimes there are jetskiers, and the coaches get really mad at them if they go too fast near us. There are three yacht clubs that we row past, and sometimes there are people on boats (though surprisingly not that often) - they are usually pretty good about going slow around us. Sometimes rowing back we can watch the sun set and it's so nice being out on the water watching the sky change color. 

Surprisingly I really like rowing in an eight and don't picture myself switching to a single ever. Every now and then I think that someone else is getting us off balance, but actually it's often me. So I am actively trying to let it go. It's such an amazing feeling when we all get into a rhythm together and the boat is moving fast. Also, when we are far from the dock it doesn't bother me, because I know I don't have to get back there by myself!