NSR I

Last week, Jon Greer and David Smith traveled to Chula Vista, CA to race in the Men's Open 1x Selection Regatta for the first chance to represent the USA at the Olympics at that event. They finished 12th and 29th respectively. Upon the conclusion of the event, SRC ranks have further swelled with the appearance of James Dietz II, an experienced hand who has come to Seattle to prepare in the Men's Open 2x with Jon for the upcoming Olympic Trials Regatta. Dave and I are back to the double, hitting it hard. We continue to push our weights down and stay aggressive on all fronts. Two weeks to sunshine in Long Beach!

Elk Lake Summary

These regattas always pass by in such a blur, particularly when I am as race-focused as this one. The emotions and thoughts in the moments are hard to recover and often clouded by the reactions to race outcomes.

Dave and I had a fantastic time trials in our 2x. We finished 4th overall, just a few seconds behind the Canadian Light 2x. The wind was a light cross-head, and we race the piece at a 32 with moves at the beginning and end that saw us scratching a 34 and 35. We were very excited and full of bravado. We sealed the event with a 20 minutes cool down on the ergs and some rest time spent derigging and loading boats.

We then both ventured forth into our throw-together 4x race, which we won handily, but not handily enough. Chris and Aidan did an excellent job as the book ends for the boat. The strategy was haphazard, but the result within acceptable bounds.

Finally, Dave and I went back out for the final of the Open 2x, racing three Canadian National crews, a Canadian club crew, and the SRC heavyweight 2x. We were unable to repeat the morning's performance and finished in a distant 5th,, well off the winning pace. I attribute this fall in our performance to two causes: nerves brought on by high-level racing and insufficient fitness to race at max effort three times a day. The worsening water only added to the air of nervousness and flustered reactions as we were unable to respond to the speed from other crews. Back to the drawing board for a touch.

SRC as a whole did very well. The top three finishes in the Open Women's 4x were all SRC, and we had strong finishes in other open, lightweight, and junior events throughout the day.

Next on the calendar: Dave and Jon travel to Chula Vista to race in singles at NSR I. I will remain in Seattle and race at Green Lake in the 2x with Steve Souvall, a former teammate of mine from my Puget Sound days and current coworker at LUC. Then we have a brief period before we are off to Long Beach on March 31 for our final push to Trials. In the interim, I have a number of Holy Names regattas to which I need to attend as well: the HP Development Camp this weekend, Green Lake the next weekend, and Oakland for two regattas on the 24th and 25th.

Elk Lake 2012 Regatta Report: Day One

The wind started with a moderate cross-tail and built into white-caps over 20 mph by the late morning. Afternoon races were cancelled, including finals for all of the single scull events. But the heats went well. Lindsay was first in her heat, Helen and Michelle finished second and third in the other heat. Emily won here heat, and Liz finished third in hers for the light singles. Corrina and Sarah Wolf finished last in their heats. Aidan was second in the light single. Chris and Sam finished third and fourth respectively in one heat, Dave finished second in his heat, and Jon and I finished second and third respectively (posting the second and third fastest times of the day as well) in the open single. Alas, no races for us for the rest of the day.

Tomorrow we move into team boat racing. The Canadian National Team has packed the events - the A-finals for the men's singles would have been a blend of SRC and Canadian National Team boats. I look forward to bringing the heat tomorrow. The foul water give me a strong advantage over others. I am excited to give our lightweight double with David Smith its first go-around. It is sure to be a barn-burner.