Many people have asked me questions about my racing experience at the World Rowing Masters Regatta last weekend in Sarasota, Florida. Questions ranged from How was the weather? to What was the most memorable part? I will attempt to answer all of them. If you have a question that I missed, please comment it!
The weather was hot. Humid. Did I mention hot? But really it wasn’t that hot. Temperature-wise. It was the combination of high temperatures with exceedingly high humidity that made it almost unbearable. Suffocating. Like walking through warm bathwater (said Maggie). On any given day Mare checked the weather and it said it was 94 but felt like 102. I had completely forgotten about Heat Index. (More familiar as I am nowadays with wind chill.) Sitting in the shade was marginally better than in the sun, but then you risked your shade structure blocking the ever so slight breeze that seemed to lower the temperature about 20 degrees. Solely because it breathed on your forever transpiring skin that constantly evaporated all your body moisture in an attempt to cool you off. It was so weird to be always thirsty when you were surrounded by soaking wet air. Do anything but sit in it and you were drenched. Do that in the sun, and you could quickly become overheated. Hats and water bottles = survival. Ok, so that’s the weather.
Most memorable part. That’s a hard one. I’ll just list them as they happened.
Driving up to the venue was awe-inspiring. The finish tower appeared first. Then I drove over the lake and saw the race course and the finish line. Turned the corner to see all the flags and signs. First thoughts: OMG what did I get myself into? I felt like I was at the Olympics.
We got out of the car and started walking. I knew I had to check in. Some people were in line at a tent, so we got in line. I noticed some people had a clear plastic pouch with their photo in it. So I asked someone where she got hers. Blank stare in return. I pointed at her pouch, she said something I didn’t understand, and pointed. Where are you from? I asked. Poland. Wow…. This is so cool. Thank you! I said, and Welcome!
Checking in: all the tables had signs: Country A-E; F-K; etc., (I can’t remember the exact letter breakdown, but you get the idea). Walked up to the table with U. They photocopied my driver’s license and gave me little pouch with a piece of paper with the venue map on one side and a chart on the other to write in all my races, start times, heat numbers, lane numbers, etc. Swag bag…. Cool! Venue towel, artsy postcard, various coupons. Seriously though, the bag came in handy.
I had arranged boat rental of a single for practice Tuesday and Wednesday and my race on Thursday. We went back to the first tent to find out what the details were for that – come back an hour before your practice. OK, now we had free time. We walked all over, including down the “wave attenuator” that separated the warm-up area from the race area. The race course is 2,000m (2k); but Masters only race 1,000m (1k), so the first half of the course formed an additional warm-up loop. We walked all the way to the start line, and got some neat photos and an understanding of the warm-up and course layout. On the way there we talked with a volunteer who, it turned out, was wishing he could have entered more races. I asked him if he wanted to do a mixed race – and I’d see what I could do to find him a partner. (I did find him someone, but she ended up having to cancel, and he raced with someone else. But at least he got in an extra race!)
We visited the finish line tower and met up with a coach from Pocock who was there as a NTO (Non-technical Official). Tiffany gave me lots of pointers which were beyond helpful.
Wandering back through the myriad of boats and trailers, we found the launching and recovery docks. I still had a couple hours before my practice. Tiffany called to me from a dock… Can you cox these guys? Their cox won’t fit in the seat (it was a bowloader). I looked at my watch, calculating the time before my practice, then looked at Mare. You do it! I said. She hesitated. Tiffany encouraged her – they just need someone to steer. Go, I said, I’m going down the race course 11 times this week, this is your chance! She did it. It was awesome!
Later I acquired my rental boat (a lightweight Hudson), and went to get my oars. How long do you want them? And what do you want for an inboard. Ummm. Back to Hudson to get the spread. Back to Concept2. They set up my oars and off I went to launch. Got in the boat and the inboard was too long. Back to Concept2. Finally all is good, and off I went. What an amazing experience. Just practicing there was a thrill. After finishing the race course, you go around the finish tower, and wind around the back side, under two bridges. Really low bridges. Egrets, herons, and limpkins lined the waterside. No alligators, though there was a warning sign.
Tuesday is done, all checked in and first practice completed. Things were going well.
Wednesday morning was another practice, and helping set up vendor tents for Maggie and for JLRacing. Some of my new teammates arrived, and I finally got to meet in person people I would be racing with. Some of them I had been in touch with via social media for 9 months. The highlight of Wednesday was the opening ceremony. Well, part of it… the fireworks. They were set off from a barge on the race course. How freaking amazing to watch fireworks for an event that I was actually participating in. Not spectating on television, but actually racing in. I still can’t think of the word for how I felt.
Race day Thursday. As race time drew close, I got ready too soon. Over eager. But the line for getting oars adjusted was long, so it was good to start early. Get in the shade, said Maggie. Way more than once. Finally launched, I went down the warm up area, passed under the bridge, back up to the start line. And waited. I was drenched with sweat. It was sweltering. Other ladies in my race and the one after just bobbed around with me in the warm-up turning area waiting to enter pre-start. No one wanted to waste energy by going around the warm-up loop again. 20 minutes is a long time to bob around in a slight breeze and try to stay in one place. Note to self. Listen to Maggie and don’t launch too early.
I got into the stakeboat ok, but there was still enough breeze that we had to keep chopping on starboard to keep our point. Figures. I tend to head to port, and the wind was blowing me that way. Quick start. Red light. Green. Go!!! Oh #$#^%& there’s camera mechanisms here… yes, I pulled to port right off the bat. Got myself straightened out, and as I started down the course I was not last! And there was someone else just in front of me. So I steadied myself and put on the power, trying not to hit buoys. I hit the usual number… Later I found out I was 0.5 seconds behind 5th place at 500 m, and I beat her by 3 seconds. As in my other races, my second half was faster than my first half. Cleaning up my starts is going to be my winter focus. I crossed the line! I raced at Worlds! And I didn’t come in last! What a thrill! I was sooo stoked. I had been dreaming and planning this for 15 months. Smiling, happy as a clam, I rowed back through the winding course under the bridges, around the island, docked at the rental dock. Called Darryl to tell him how it went and he said they had been cheering me on from Washington – yup he’s my number one fan. I didn’t stop smiling till I fell asleep that night. I bet I smiled in my sleep.
Friday, Mare had volunteered to be a stakeboat holder, so we arrived at the venue at sunrise. How beautiful to see the serenity of the boat field, the heavy layers of dew, and the golden glow of the finish tower. And it wasn’t a heat index of 102. Yet. Two races today, a Womens 4x, and a Womens 2x. The quad race went ok for just having met each other. It was pretty cool getting into stakeboat #1 while Mare watched from #0 – she didn’t have a boat in that heat so got to snap a couple photos. The 2x race with Maria went better. We worked together really well, and took 3rd! Too bad only 1st got medals as each heat was a final.
Saturday things began to feel comfortable. The heat and humidity was getting slightly more tolerable (not comfortable by a long shot, but I could tolerate it with shade and lots of water). The first race was probably the most fun I’ve ever had in a race. My 2x partner is from Argentina, and speaks no English (well, a few words, like port and starboard. You know, the important ones.) And I don’t speak Spanish – much. Nothing important, just hola, adios, manana, etc. Nothing helpful. We got our boat ready, and as we waited, in the shade cast by an 8 sitting high overhead on a trailer (this is narrow shade at best, but better than nothing), we thought about what we would need to communicate. Claudia was bow, and would be giving commands. So she taught me how she would say check the boat, go, pull even, back – she told me the words in Spanish, and that’s what we went with. I figured we didn’t have time for her to translate in her head before giving commands, so I learned the words she would use. There was nothing like racing down the course with commands coming from behind me in Spanish. A truly international experience. And she had brought me a jersey from her club in Argentina so that we would match. I was deeply honored and cherish that jersey. I did repay her the favor and got her an event jersey to take home.
Maria and I raced again late in the afternoon – again in our Flamingo unisuits. The wind had, as usual, picked up, and we were in a middle lane. We fought chop the whole way. We came in 4th, and figured that with practice we could improve on that. We hope to get some practices together this winter and try again at Nationals in 2019 in Michigan.
Sunday was mixed boat day. This was the highlight of the team boats that I had put together for JLRacing. It had been a goal of mine since becoming an ambassador in January to have some Team JL Racing boats at Worlds. We had to borrow some non-ambassadors, who obligingly donned some Team gear for our races. Scott and Kevin raced the first TeamJL boat on Saturday in a Mens 2x. Sunday we raced a Mixed 4x, with Scott and Stacey from Belmont Rowing in North Carolina, Kevin from Fort Worth Rowing in Texas, and me from Washington. Kevin and I raced in a Mixed 2x, glad to beat a rival team from Washington. The two Mixed 8+ events (D and A), were with rowers from Belmont, Fort Worth, Pocock, Sarasota Crew (Florida), Greater Dayton Rowing (Ohio), and Cincinnati Rowing (Ohio). Our results weren’t stellar on paper, but we had a great time, and really, the boat was set pretty well, and moved nicely. So much fun to stand there ready to launch and figuring out who is sitting where. Next time….
Memorable experience? All of it. Fireworks, racing a single at WORLDS, international racing, composite boats. If you have never been, you need to go. What did I learn? The list is long, but in brief:
- Be nice to the volunteers. They are doing this for free (and a T-shirt) so you can race. Say thank you.
- I learned how to quickly blend in a boat with different rowers that you have never rowed with before. Blending and matching is much more important than “doing it right.” If the stroke sets a pace that is “windshield wiper” fast, just do it. If he/she rushes the slide, do the same.
- Crisp releases, firm catches, and level hands are really important to row efficiently and help keep the boat set, regardless of how fast the stroke rate (or the slide).
- Have a positive attitude. Be happy. You do this for fun, right?
- Check your oars before you launch. Get them adjusted early.
- If you rent/borrow oars, know what length oar and inboard you like to row with.
- I learned that my experience of rowing an assortment of boats really paid off. I was familiar with every manufacturer I raced in: Hudson, Filippi, Vespoli, Wintech.
- I learned to have an idea of where my spacers should be for heavy, mid, and lightweight boats. There’s not a lot of time to adjust everything while dashing to the start line.
- When it’s hot out, you don’t start too early; you leave just enough time to row to the start, therefore, see comment above.
- “2 minutes” stated at the start when uttered by someone who appears to not have English as a native tongue might actually mean 20 seconds. Be ready.
- GoPro on your rigger? Make sure you have the floaty back and a secondary leash so it doesn’t end up at the bottom of the lake in 20 feet of water and several feet of silt (speaking from experience).
- Be nice to the volunteers. Say thank you. Yes I said this twice. Thank them twice.
I hope I answered all your questions. I hope you made it to the end. Check out the gallery for some memorable images from the week. And I will see you next year in Hungary!