Sleepy in Seattle

27 November 2012Joel B, Ellis ‘13

As usual, we were up around 5 am. This time in numbers. 50 rowers and coaches piled onto the bus scheduled for a 5:15 departure to the ferries. Our destination, Seattle.

The Brentwood rowing team was headed down to Seattle for two regattas, the Frostbite (named for the usually freezing weather at this time of year) put on by the Green Lake Rowing Club and the Head of the Lake Regatta hosted by the University of Washington.

Piling into the bus, only Anton S had space for his legs during the 7 hour journey as he was the only one who did not have to double up. Although we may have been stuck in cramped conditions for many hours, we made the best of it by listening to music, sleeping, talking or playing games.

At noon we rolled into the Nexus Hotel, the classic home base for all of our Seattle racing, and quickly unpack and got dressed for our practice. After a short bus ride we piled out and preformed the regular task of rigging our boats. For all you non-rowers, while transporting our boats we have to remove the riggers and seats.

On the water, we preformed a few race pieces versus tomorrow’s competition, Green Lake. The boys also tussled with the British crew, Ship Lake Rowing Club. Racing against both Ship Lake and Green Lake, we lost all three of the training pieces, which did not bode well for the real races the following day. Back at the hotel, we carb loaded and fell asleep quickly for our early races the next morning.

The Frostbite Regatta was a 1000 meter race on Green Lake. The weather held out for most of morning leaving the water only slightly disturbed. The 3rd Varsity boys eight made everyone proud when their bow was the first to disrupt the calm waters at the finish line; our club gathered at the in-dock as they came in. The varsity eight ended up beating Ship Lake and placed second to the very fast Green Lake Crew.

After Saturday’s races we headed to Mr. Milne’s yacht, Kayana, for a cruise along the racecourse and a delicious dinner. On the boat we toured its lavish and vast interior. As we waited for the onboard chefs to cook the meal, we watched as the bight Seattle lights reflected in the dark water of the course. After we filled our stomachs with delicious pasta (a staple in any rower’s diet) and chocolaty brownies for desert, we broke off into our individual crews to discuss our plans for Sunday’s races.

We all felt badly for the coxswains when it was announced that they had to wake up at 4:30 to leave the hotel at 5:00 for the coxswain and coaches’ meeting, however, the rest of us did not get much of a sleep-in either as we hopped on the bus only an hour later.

Sunday’s was a grueling race of endurance and pain that lasted over 15 minutes. A race like this is very different than a 2000 meter race (the standard length) which has a higher stroke rate. The difficulty comes when their brain realizes that is still has an entire 3000 meters ahead when it thinks it should stop.

A head race is not for the feint of heart.

All of these things aside, 50 Brentwood rowers proceeded to push off the UW docks. All three boy’s eights, a girl’s eight and a girl’s quad rowed down the length of the course to wait at the start line for the gun.

One by one, each of our crews sped along the waterways of downtown Seattle. Distractions were to the left, right and sometimes overhead and during the 15 minutes the coxswains had to work hard to keep their crews focused. I think I can speak for all of the Brentwood rowers there that day: when we came around the last corner, knowing there was fewer than 700 meters in the race, our hearts fought and raised up a few beats as we knew we were almost there and we had to give it our all.

After finishing this test of endurance, it was time to begin the six-hour journey back to Brentwood, sore, tired and hungry. After de-rigging and packing up our trailer we said goodbye to Seattle and headed north, back home.

Throughout the weekend our coaches were incredibly dedicated. Mr. Carr and Mr. Wismer woke up with the coxswains at 4:30 without complaint, let us know where our races were and helped us on the dock. Mrs. Sage, of course, organized and ran the whole trip. Warren Featherstone, our boatman, kept track of and maintained all of our boats as we pushed them to their maximum and our bus driver, Ernie, woke up early every morning and preformed the essential task of getting us to and from the racecourses. Without them, the trip would not have been possible. Thanks to them all.

All in all, it was a very successful trip.

Joel B, Ellis ‘13