Wine Country Regatta 2011 - Part 2

Goodbye October and welcome November, already!  Wine Country regatta was two weekends ago, and it already seems to be a somewhat faded memory.

Read about the Wine Country regatta Part 1, race report of the double here.

After the double's race, my mixed doubles partner and I paddled to the North Bay Rowing dock to launch the quad.  The race was a mixed masters quad.  Mixed because at least half of the boat must consist of women, and masters because well, there was not an open race choice.  Now, I had to pull my weight and age.

More importantly, this mixed quad was to be stroked by our coach, Chris.  Chris has been around the Bay Area rowing scene for countless years and about two years ago, added the Lake Merritt Women's team to his list of coaching responsibilities, which include Berkeley High, Open Water Rowing, and Summer Youth Rowing.

There is something unnerving about rowing in the same boat as your coach.  Sure, in this case, I was sitting in bow with no one to see my poor technique or missed water except for the spectators and the cameras.  However, bow seat in a quad also steers the boat in a head race, and stroke seat can tell pretty clearly whether or not the steering is straight.

The last time I was in a the same boat as my coach was in the summer of 2009 (the same summer my brother and I rowed at the lake together) at Southwest Regionals, also held that year at Lake Merritt and also, in a quad.  Sitting in two seat, right in front of our coach, Dede, was pretty nerve-wrecking, especially at a time when I was just becoming comfortable sculling.  We ended up winning our race, even with the age handicap, but I never had the nerve to ask Dede how I did.

Left to right (bow to stroke): Dede, me, three seat, stroke or four seat

There is also a little secret about quads that some rowers do not know about and that I did not learn until after rowing with Dede.  If you have the right rowers in the boat, quads can be FAST and QUICK.  So fast and quick that it becomes hard to feel the boat.  You are almost not sure whether or not you are actually pulling.  In smaller or slower boats, including slower quads, you feel some heaviness at the catch and you can feel the water run under the boat as you drive and swing.  In a fast quad, you have to row differently.  Instead of emphasizing the swing, you have to think about just tapping the boat along, quick rowing without disturbing the speed of the boat.  It is a hard concept to think about and even harder to execute properly.  The Wine Country regatta mixed quad reminded me of why I have an almost allergic reaction to the quad, but a natural affinity to the single or double.

Left to right (stroke to bow): Chris, three seat, my Mx2x partner, me

The moment we started rowing in the quad together, there was a feeling of secret, unspoken surprise and elation--the boat felt GOOD.  The boat felt effortless as it glided through the water.  We reached the start line with a few minutes to spare, as we all waited for the last quad, a BIAC and Los Gatos Rowing Club quad to pull up.

As the first boat of four total to start, we quickly built to rate and settled in to a rhythm.  Perhaps, it was our nervousness or overexcitment, the change in direction of water, or my steering, but that secret magical feeling from the warm-up disappeared and we had to settle for "pretty good."  The boat ran smooth enough with a few dips to one side or another, especially when I looked back or steered the boat, using the rudder.

Learning from my course in the doubles race, I knew the straight sections of the course would be the hardest.  With uniform marshlands to look at and no outstanding landmarks as points, it could be hard to keep a straight course without constantly looking back.  On the second or third straightaway, right after a turn to starboard and at a large gap between marker buoys, I tried to stay close to the center of the river to catch the in-bound current, but overshot.  A nearby launch shouted at us and I quickly corrected my mistake, but not before you could see my mistake reflect in trailing wake of the boat.  I know Chris saw too.

As we approached the finish line, we heard cheers from the few scattered spectators and especially from the North Bay Rowing Club president who had been so generous in loaning the boats to us.  After we crossed the line, we sat, watched, and waited for the other boats.  Chris reminded us of the age handicap and even after the other boats finished, we were not sure if we had beaten the other boats.

Regardless of results, that quad was exhilarating to row.  Even on the paddle back, with a low stroke rate, there was huge amounts of run in the boat.  The race was a good reminder for me that there is still a lot to work as bow seat in a quad.

In the end, we did overcome the age handicap to win the race.