First Regatta of the Last Season

I've been competing with Row Huntsville for almost three years now, having gone from never taken a stroke to competing at 16 different regattas, and now I'm in my last spring season, so I'm determined to make it count!  So far, we're off to a good start!  The first race has already gone by at the Percy Priest Sprints; the first regatta of the last season! 

My first event of the day would be a single race at 9am, so my family had to leave home early in the morning for our trip up to Nashville.  By the time we arrived, though, a teammate of mine had already rigged my boat, so there was nothing left for me to do except warm up until it was time to launch.  

My sister (right) and I (left)

That time came around soon enough.  With a little help, I was out ready to row my first race of the season! 

Oh, and in case you're familiar with the past few years of rowing at the Percy Priest Lake, the weather was against us this weekend too!  At least in the morning it was! 

Before I'd even launched, my coaches were talking about ice on the dock.  Our team's men's four came back soaking wet talking about choppy water and strong winds...it sounded like it would be a tough race!  And it was!  The ice had already melted by the time I got on the dock, but it was still wet, and the water was surging beneath us!

A glimpse of what the water was like...

I haven't rowed in a single very often.  Just a handful of practices and a race at last year's Head of the Hooch.  And I've NEVER rowed one in anything other than perfect weather conditions.  My coaches were always looking out for my safety, so they didn't let me row one in choppy water or strong winds, which is good, but it also meant that I wasn't prepared for rowing that day!  All that made me pretty nervous about what to expect!  

Heading towards the starting line

Just after pushing off the dock the currents nearly pushed me on to the rocks.  Fortunately, I was able to get away from them!  But not long after, just about a hundred meters or so from the dock, a wave went over the bow of my boat and left me sitting in a few inches of cold water!  Ever stroke after that caused the water to splash around within my boat.  I was afraid that I'd sink even before I got up to the starting line. 

After my race

With a few more close calls, I got there safely with some time to spare.  But soon enough, the time came to line up our boats for the event to begin! 

Before I'd even gotten to the venue, I already expected that my single would place last.  I'd barely had any practice and didn't feel prepared.  My goal was just to not flip and not get too far behind. 

There were six of us, and I was thrilled when I managed to pass a boat right off the start!  But I didn't really expect for us to stay there.  I imaged that I'd soon get passed.  But that wasn't the case!  As the race went on, through some choppy water, I kept my strokes clean and managed to widen the gap!  Then, about a thousand meters in, I looked to my left and saw that I was even with another boat!  A "power ten" and I was in the lead!  The other three boats weren't too far behind, so I kept pushing as much as I could, but being careful not to tip my boat! 

It paid off, as I ended up placing third in my event!  I was thrilled!  

Docking was kind of easy; since there were so many waves, the water basically docked me without me making much effort!  The dock was still wet, and the waves under the dock made getting the oars out kind of tricky, but we still managed to get that done quickly. 

And with all that out of the way, I put away my boat and got some rest before my next event of the day! 

That next event would be my four.  For weeks we'd been practicing in a quad; a slow quad that we just couldn't seem to get going. Then, one day at practice, Coach decided to try out the same lineup, but in a four (one oar each rather than a pair of oars).  That boat suddenly worked a lot better!  We felt stronger and were going faster, and it felt great!  After three practices rowing in it, we were ready to race!

By then, the weather had cleared up and was a lot better!  

By then, the water was just about perfect! 

This had been the boat that I had the highest hopes for.  We'd had a bit of practice in it, and it felt great, so I was really optimistic going in! 

But I guess that it just wasn't our day.  We didn't have the best luck at the start either, with us being unprepared when the officials made the call.  It didn't leave us far behind, but it did make the entire race more painful considering I wasn't completely ready yet!  And from what I heard, one of my teammates had her feet come out of the shoes during our event. 

Still, we didn't place last and came in 6th of 7. ​

Our team had a few more events, including the women's doubles, but I was done for the day, so I went ahead and helped the others launch, recover, and put equipment away. 

And after a long day of racing, it was just about time for us to wrap up! 

Part of that included being presented with my medal!  I really hadn't thought that I'd get one, so it was an amazing surprise! 

The Percy Priest Sprints are typically a rough regatta, and this year was no exception, but it was nonetheless a successful event and a great way to start out the season!  I can't wait to see what comes next!  

My sister and I