Recap

It was a typical regatta with good mixed in with some less than positive. Overall I have to say that I was rather pleased with how the racing turned out and the performance on land by the kids. We have some issues to fix still but for the most part everyone pulled their weight.

The pros

All the races we entered were pretty competitive. Because of the nature of the race and the shortness of the course - 1k - we entered as many boats as possible to try and get everyone at least two races.

I was impressed by our lightweight boats and their finishes. The regatta had zero lightweight events so they were mixed into open weight categories and still more than held their own.

I think the best race had to be with our varsity men's four which took third in a barn burner of a race. The coaching staff was very happy with their result and I'm looking forward to seeing how they perform when given more time to actually practice.

My biggest surprise of the weekend were the performances of my team. We came up with zero race practice time and only a single abbreviated day of practicing starts and due to spring break hitting this weekend, four of our top rowers were missing. Still despite all the obstacles the boys pulled through with placing finishes in all three boats we entered. I was impressed by their resolve and determination not to let situations dictate the outcome and I'm looking forward to next week.

The cons

My biggest con is the behavior of one of my athletes. It's something that we've been dealing with since fall and yesterday was simply an extension of it. Unfortunately for him, this weekend will be the end of his career on this team as a coxswain as I take some needed steps necessitated by his choices.

Our travel was probably the biggest headache and we were less than pleased with our driver. 5 hours to Seattle with light traffic was a little much. We were supposed to arrive around 7 after leaving Portland at 4 but didn't get into the hotel till 9. Our return trip was even worse leaving Green Lake at 5:30 and not getting home till nearly 11.

Our next regatta is only a few weeks away and with most of my guys missing for spring break it will cost us some practice times but if this weekend proves anything, they're capable of doing some amazing things. I'm looking forward to having a team at full strength next regatta.