First Regatta quite a debacle

[sin_goodfellow]

Knuckledraggers,

Well, I returned from my first Regatta monday afternoon. Coach Szolek, I received the itinerary too late to give you any information, but I appreciate the offer to try and setup a meeting. Of course, with the insanity that occured, perhaps it was better that you were not there :roll:

It was a very interesting time, an experience to learn from. Namely, pack as little as possible, verify directions twice... Ensure that if something does go wrong, that all the boats stay together. I did manage to win my position as seat 7, but we did not get to race as we were late to the starting line. My boat was the A boat and by the time we reached the starting line, the race for boat B was already underway. Heh, I could be all frustrated and whatnot, but what good would that do?

We did get to talk with a rower who is on the path to the US Olympic team. His talk of 20k erg pieces as just day to day training was quite inspiring. I look forward to the day when I can pull a 20k on an Erg, it should be an interesting journey.

Respectfully,
Jesse Wells

[James Boelter]

My one brush with 'major' collegiate athletics was the UNL Rowing team; what an experience that was! I still remember my first race...we had trained for weeks, running stadium stairs, lifting weights, running 4 miles at a crack, rowing in the 'tank' in the boathouse and at 6:00 am on a nearby lake...and still, that first race nearly killed me. It was on choppy water, against the wind, and for some reason it was 200 meters longer than usual...our race pace was 10% faster than our usual training pace, and we 'club sport' athletes were up against varsity bruisers from UCLA, so we started out with sprints and had to keep doing 'power twentys' and 'power thirties' just to stay within shouting distance of them...I have never known such pain in my entire life. It was my first 'real' discovery of Lombardie's dictum that 'Fatigue makes cowards of us all'. I freely admit that the only reason I didn't quit was that my teammates would have killed me. ...assuming they could lift their arms for the required amount of time to wield the requisite blunt objects.

Sorry for the digression....just mentioned by way of explaining why I deeply respect your pursuit of the noble madness of Crew and wish you success and happiness if you continue to pursue it.

[Scott Sonnon]

Jesse, let it turn, amigo. If not for days such as the one you describe, victory would not taste as sweet.

[sin_goodfellow]

Sorry for the digression....just mentioned by way of explaining why I deeply respect your pursuit of the noble madness of Crew and wish you success and happiness if you continue to pursue it.

Not a digression at all :D Thank you for the support and the HSU Men's team is a club as well, so it sounds like we experienced many of the same things! Heh, watching the Washington Husky 8 go by, where every guy was at least 6' 3+ and huge, was a competitive spirit building moment. Coach Sonnon, thank you for the support as well. Indeed I am looking at in the way you have described, for it will make Victory all the sweeter :twisted:

Jesse