Spring Break In California

14 April 2013Joel B, Ellis '13

The Spring Break camp started with an exhausting combination of bus, ferry and airplane; when the plane finally landed and all of the students waited for the fleet of vans to arrive, we realized just how nice California weather is. We were greeted by blue sky; sunscreen was a must have.

Our first two days spent at Long Beach Rowing Club were intense since we were still acclimatizing as well as racing in the competitive Cal Cup Regatta on the Saturday. Through tough competition, Rebekah P in the single and the Boys Four of Jeff B, Ian S, Luke B and Tom G got silver and the V8 came 3rd by a mere .19 seconds.

The Long Beach Junior Crew were very accommodating. They fed us breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as taking us into their houses for two nights. One Long Beach family brought home six Brentwood boys, outnumbering their own family.

On Sunday, after a 30-minute drive along scenic Huntington Beach, we arrived at Newport Beach for the second half of the camp. We piled into the Holiday Inn, our home for the next week. With two practices a day, we spent all of our time tearing through crazy workouts and none of it on the legendary beaches we had seen on the way down.

On Tuesday morning, the V8+ woke up at 6am to race against Orange Coast College who proved very fast and a great crew to train against and learn from. Next came a day at Disneyland, which ended up almost being more of a workout than rowing. Arriving at 9am we split into groups to conquer the huge amusement park. Taking only a short break for lunch, we spent hours and hours on the rides. By the end of the day, from walking between rides like California Screamin’ and Splash Mountain, we estimated that we had walked over ten kilometers.

On Thursday training resumed and that night John Pulos, Brentwood Boathouse Captain of 1984, took the entire team out for dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. Thanks, John, for a great meal.

Friday, training intensified as our workouts suddenly became races when NAC’s fleet of eights took to the water to row with us. That night we left the hotel to stay two nights with NAC families.

After a light practice in the morning, we finally got the chance to head to the sandy beaches and spent several hours either out in the waves body surfing and swimming or soaking up some rays on the sand. All of the Californians were wearing wet suits in the water while all of the Canadians wore only their bathing suits! That night, hosted at one of the billet family, we all gathered for a team dinner with both NAC and Brentwood for a little team bonding and the celebration of Tom G’s birthday.

After a final Sunday morning row at 6am, we were ready to relax for the rest of our Spring Break so we headed back to the beach and said goodbye to our host families.

We have to thank everyone who made this possible, starting with Mrs. Sage for organizing and managing the whole trip, and the coaches, Mr. Carr, Mr. Wismer and Mrs. Willow who drove us to and from practice, kept us in line, and pushed us to train so hard. Also, thanks to Mr. Featherstone and Mr. Norwood who drove the boats on their 4600 km round trip and ensured that all of the equipment was in tip top condition. We are also thankful to LBRC and NAC for being so inviting, competitive and accommodating. It was a very successful trip to California, where our crews became not only faster but closer. Hopefully future Brentwood crews will have the same opportunity.

Joel B, Ellis, ‘13