Yesterday we all had a regatta (of the rowing sort) in Fairport, NY. Cute, ritzy little place - a bit like Hudson, OH for any of you that would know. Cute little winding river on the canal. Very quaint. Beautiful houses on the lake, sidewalk/ bike path... etc... It was great for just about anything BUT rowing.
If you don't know much about rowing let me fill you in. When racing, it is nice to have a wide enough river/lake/pond/anything that would allow boats to pass while races as well as having boats able to row up the outside on their way to the starting line. It is NOT recommened that the river be so narrow that it's nearly impossible to pass another boat going in any direction. NOT GOOD!
Also, it's nice to have the least amount of curves. Although the curves would make for a scenic, peaceful ride in a "regular" boat, it is HELL trying to manuever a fifty eight FOOT long, skinny boat that has limited steering ability through a bunch of curves. Yes, 58 feet is correct - not a typo.
Add to that enough wind to blow us all to Kansas. I have NEVER been to a race that had wind that bad and was not cancelled. Granted, the wind was not nearly as bad once you were on the water - the trees did a grand job of blocking most of the wind. BUT - while we were on shore my ladies were able to witness a boat (not one of ours, thank god) getting BLOWN off a rack. Imagine a 50-something foot boat, made of fiberglass, go flying off a rack. Not funny - well, it was a bit funny once you identify that it was not one of your own boats. Suckers. That's what you get for not tying down your boat better in 400 mph wind gusts.
Finally - the afternoon of the race ran very late. My boats were the last event of the day. We should have been off the water and loading boats on the trailer by 3:45 - 4pm. At 5pm we were still waiting on the water to dock. We didn't actually leave the regatta until about 6 or so. Not home until 9:30. I felt the worst for David - he had to get up at 5:00am this morning to catch an early flight....
I would have taken pictures but it's quite hard to take pictures while having to do all the things you have to do at a regatta. If you're not familiar with a rowing regatta try visiting one sometime. It's a cluster - to say the least. I'll have to remember to take pics at the next race so I can share some of the insanity with the rest of you. For now just relax and enjoy your blissful ignorance.
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