Tuesday 14 June 2011

Practice Days

Monday and Tuesday have been two practice days, and as such have been relatively uneventful.  Both boats practiced once yesterday, leaving time for some sightseeing.   The four practiced early and then made their way to Oxford University to see this historic college town. The eight opted to practice in the evening, leaving the entire morning and afternoon for another trip to London. 

Today was back to double sessions.  We made several line-up changes to the four and settled on a new combination with Brooke as our new stroke seat.  Other than the fact that Brooke towers over our coxswain, Jess, and completely obstructs her view, this new line-up has potential!  Both boats did steady state with drills and short power pieces in the a.m. and finished the evening with a piece down the race course.  The rowing has improved significantly and  both boats are rowing better than at any point this seasoin.  We hope it will be enought! 

We finished the day landing at our new home for the rest of the stay.  We are no longer boating from the Henley Rowing Club, as the race venue has officially opened.  We were amongst the first to arrive and were greeted by American crews such as Princeton and Purdue. We look forwared to the next several days as the other teqmw arrive and the competitive atmosphere continues to develop!

Below is Caitlin Heindl's contribution to the Blog writing about Monday's activiities.  I will attempt to do an update of photos with tomorrow's posting.  Be sure to check back as we have some great shots to share.

CAITLIN HEINDL, Class of 2013

We all relaxed today, having a short practice and being tourists. In the eight, most of us (Suz wasn't feeling so hot earlier in the day :/) went into London and saw the changing of the guard and walked down Portobello Road. It was fun, for the changing of the guard a local tipped us that everyone mistakes the first passing of guards to be the the ones changing, so while everyone followed them we got in front of the crowd to watch the new guards walk by. It was interesting to see how many people were there to watch, as it is something that occurs every day. Portobello Road was cute, we stopped by lots of shops and looked at antiques. We were baffled by several small stands selling clothes for 5 pounds (about $8) that probably would have sold for at least $15-20 in the US. We later had practice, a quick row working on blade work at high speeds. Unlike our cold, wet weekend, the weather was beautiful today. A little cloudy in the morning, it cleared up nicely in the evening. We were also surprised to see another crew traveling to Henley while we were on the train. They had brought their oars on the train with them, and carried them with them as they walked through town (we were happy to have been able to send ours on a plane). All in all a good start to the week, hoping the weather holds out for us and looking forward to racing on Friday!

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