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.
No comments:
Post a Comment