The weather today was PERFECT for racing - it was about 25 for most of the day. Plenty warm for tank tops and shorts but not so hot that you are constantly looking for shade (like it was Sunday & Monday at about 35 degrees.) Going into this festival, I had high hopes. It's a small event (only about 40 teams compared to Vancouver's 180+) and a lot of the local teams have only paddled a few times together. Also new for me is racing in Seat One. I am not used to stroking a boat but am really excited about all the work I've been doing there this week. I also typically paddle on the left - this week I've done most of the work on the right. Jackie (my primary coach for the camp) is drumming for us, the rest of the time she's in charge of water refs, marshalling, results, etc.
We had a decent first race, finishing in 2:17 (for those of you who don't know, our races are 500 meters.) Not where we wanted to be, but it was okay. The boats were not at the same level - the first boat (San Diego, who would later get the fastest time of the festival) finished in 2:08 and the 3rd boat finished in 2:48. This is a HUGE difference.
The boat was VERY tippy - they're brand new boats will very thin steering oars and our steersperson was clearly not prepared to handle it. We hadn't had any problem throughout the camp with this tippy business! I was nervous that we were actually going to end up in the water. Valerie & I were already sitting hip-to-hip in the cramped 1st seat ... and with all the rocking I was practically in her lap until the race start.
In our second race, things got, um, interesting. Lane 2 came into our lane (I think - I heard the chase boat telling them to move back into their lane) so we had to veer to the left. Then there was a huge overcompensation and we veered strongly to the right. Then to the left. Then I heard "Hold the boat!" Our steersperson had fallen into the water. Apparently, she tried to get back in but couldn't, so Jackie went to the back and took over. The fire & rescue boat came over and pulled the steersperson out of the water, leaving a huge wake for us which came flooding into the boat. Once Jackie was at the helm, we got going again and finished the race. Our time for this race was 3:12. Bleh. CLEARLY not the result we'd been hoping for.
Advancements are based on our accumulated times - so this put us into the "C Division" semi-finals. We were definitely capable of being ranked higher, but there's nothing we can do about it so you just put it behind you and race even better the next time. "That's the breaks," as my Dad would say.
Our final race of the day was a 250 meter sprint (which has nothing to do with advancement.) We had a new steersperson - yay Calvin from Calgary - and somehow our boat was much less tippy. Thank goodness!! We had a great start and finished in 1:06. I'll take it.
The best outcome we could now strive for is a Gold Medal in our division ... but hey, a Gold is a Gold and it looks just as great hanging around your neck!
Some other random photos from the day:
I think I got a bit sunburned ...
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