[True story by Jon Dougherty. Jon graduated LTR this spring, and rowed the infamous Eagle in a Peinert 26]
Well, the first one is out of the way.
It was a cold windy day, and yes. As everyone told me, it is a large body of water. Just getting in the single was a trick as the wind and waves were crashing me into the dock and filling the boat with water (note to self, next time put your boat in on the side of the dock opposite the wind).
Anyway, making my way to the bridge (first 1500K) was an exercise of determination, making sure not to flip the boat and figuring out how to manage the choppy water. The next 3000K to the start line, made me think of shipwreck survivors on the open sea, wondering if they would ever be found (or find, for that matter, the starting line) it was survival rowing for me. I was thinking to myself, if I just make it to the start line I will be a happy boy. Once I made it to the start and was around others, my nerves calmed a bit, but now it was time to GO!
I did exactly what everyone told me "not" to do and I went to port side and followed the shoreline, instead of tracking straight down the course. The nice thing about this was that the tree line cut the wind, so the water was actually much nicer over there. I figured that I would take advantage of this while I had it, and for about 2500K it felt pretty good! I did beat Richard to the bridge (he started 10 seconds behind) but I did just beat him. The wind pushed me very close to the bridge so I had a bit of an issue underneath and had to push off with my starboard oar, and this slowed me down a bit. Coming out of the bridge, Richard did take over the lead, but that gave me the rabbit to chase.
Again, I veered off course toward the port side again, which screwed me up a bit at the finish, however, I DID FINISH!! 8 in a field of 8, but finished all the same, and without going into the water.
Bill lands a perfect docking on first try
