OTW with Potomac Boat Club's John Forrest, Part III: Pirates, Locks, and Blazers

PBC Thames Cup VIII on the way to Reading (Photo: Allison Prevatt)

It was a busy weekend for Potomac, as the PBC Thames Cup VIII headed over to compete in the Reading Town Regatta–a common practice as crews prepare for Henley Royal–narrowly avoiding a group of 'pirates' paddling along the Thames as PBC progressed through the locks on the way to Reading. 

Here's the latest from John Forrest: 

On Saturday morning, the eight paddled from Henley to Reading for the Reading Town Regatta. The row was about eight miles long and took us upriver through a fairly winding section of the Thames. This was a scenic row as we passed by a lot of country houses, waterfront pubs, and open fields. There was a little bit of excitement as we passed a group of pirates paddling down the river in canoes. They later wandered onto the Henley course and almost collided with the Potomac four as it was practicing.

One of the unique parts of the row to Reading is rowing through three locks. The first time rowing into a lock was slightly terrifying as we had to maneuver the boat into a narrow space and try to stay in place as water filled the lock. This was complicated by the strong stream and winds.

Pirates on the Thames (Photo: Allison Prevatt)

We eventually made it to Reading and had a couple of hours to relax and grab lunch before our first eight hundred meter race. The day gave us a chance to get in a long row to stretch our legs, some sprint pieces to shock our jet-lagged systems, and a lot of strokes into the stream and headwind conditions that we might see in Henley.

As sometimes happens to American crews on a Henley trip, we traveled a few thousand miles to race a crew located less than five miles from our club—Gonzaga College High School. Gonzaga is also located in Washington, DC but rows on the Anacostia River. It’s been great to see them have a successful domestic racing season and the opportunity to race at Henley. We will be cheering for them throughout the week.

The regatta Draw was also posted on Saturday. The Henley Stewards have tagged the eight as one of four selected crews in the Thames Cup. We race Marlow Rowing Club on Wednesday evening in our opening race. The Wyfold Cup four has drawn London Rowing Club ‘B’ in the first round and races Wednesday morning. The PBC scullers start racing in the open-level events later in the week.

Both crews have settled into a routine of paddling on the course twice a day. One goal of these rows is to become familiar with the course markers. Since the course is slightly longer than two thousand meters, we have to use markers on the shore such as the Barrier, Fawley, and the Mile Post to measure our progress rather than five hundred meter markers.

As a club crew, we don’t really have many activities or day trips planned as schools often do. Instead each crew member has been using downtime to wander around town, head into London or Oxford, engage in some epic ping pong games, and just catch up on sleep.

The first full group activity is the Overseas Crew Reception this evening. Some of the guys have been itching to break out the PBC blazers we ordered for the trip. This will be the first time for us to wear them as a group. -JF 

 The PBC contingent will be donning their finest apparel for the first time, and gearing up for the regatta to start on Wednesday. As John states, the Potomac Boat Club Thames Cup VIII was named a 'selected' (seeded) crew by the Henley Stewards, and, according to The Draw, will be racing Marlow Rowing Club (at 630pm according to the Wednesday Timetable, now posted to the HRR website), while the PBC Wyfold entry will be taking on what is likely to be a competitive 'B' crew from London RC.

The excitement is brewing in Henley-on-Thames, and our publishing schedule here on RR will reflect that, with the VOTW timetable rearranged so that we can bring your more from the Stewards' Enclosure. We will be releasing our 2012 HRR Picks and Predictions tomorrow. 

Stay tuned.

-RR

Trending posts this month

"I Row Crew" — Rowing in 'The Social Network'

Image
Like many of the rowing faithful, I've been keeping up with the saga penned by Dan Boyne about the filming of the rowing scenes in David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin's The Social Network , and I must say I had high hopes going into the film. The first problem I encountered: the phrase, "I row crew." It was uttered so many times before anyone "rowed crew" on the water that I had trouble buying any of it later. It's understandable that the character of Mark Zuckerberg makes that mistake, since he has no idea about the sport. But when the Winklevoss twins themselves utter the phrase several times, one begins to wonder where Boyne was when these lines were not being chopped or changed. Seriously, who says that? As far as the actual rowing goes, the first scene, which has the twins out training in a pair along with the rest of the Harvard squad, is not all bad — it just ends that way. The line, "Those guys are freakin' fast" is certainly every b...
Read more

The 30 Best Rowing Coaches of All Time, Part 3: The Top 10

Image
The top 10 best rowing coaches, including guess who (Photo © Iain Weir / Rowing Photography ) It's time for the third and final part of our 3-part series on the best of the best in the rowing coaching ranks. These coaches not only command respect based on performance, but have also shown the ability to adapt to new circumstances, build dynasties, and ultimately help shape the trajectory of rowing as a sport. Honestly, it would be easy to extend this series into 10 more posts... But we wouldn't do that to you. As we've said before, the hope is that the following may serve to educate and spark discussion, as both an appreciation of history and of the coaching craft. Also note: As we stated in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, there are few women in this list, but that is a reflection of a general underrepresentation of women in the head coaching ranks in our sport—and indeed (as has been well documented ) a growing number of NCAA sports in the United States. ...
Read more

Will It Make the Boat Go Faster? At Marin Rowing Association, Culture is Key

Image
Hands in after training  My alarm goes off—it’s 4:22am.  It’s been a while since I did this. Immediately, I think back to a college dorm room, rolling out of bed and running down the steps to carpool caravan to Marina Del Rey.  Not this time, though. It’s a Tuesday in late September, and I’m heading across the Golden Gate Bridge to Greenbrae, California, where I’ll meet with the Marin Rowing Men’s Masters squad. Fortunately, it’s an unusually warm morning—and when I roll in, the boathouse is already buzzing with activity.  Launch time: 5:10. Heading out into the Bay before dawn The Marin Rowing Association program has both men’s and women’s masters boats competing to win at every event they attend. In the fall, that can only mean one thing: The Head Of The Charles .  The boat that Coach Rodrigo Rodrigues and I spend most of our time with is the Grand Masters eight—average age 60+. But that’s just one of five crews that launched with us that morning. Everyone’s ...
Read more

So, are Naked Rowing Calendars a Thing Now?

Image
Warwick rowers are all in again this year (Photo courtesy of Warwick Boat Club)  The phenomenon started four years ago with the Warwick Rowing men's squad. Then, the following year, the Warwick women's team joined the fray. Now, Newcastle University's men and women are back on the naked calendar train. So, the question is, have rowing and naked calendars become a thing? The above video features the 2014-2015 Warwick women's squad—the third edition of the calendar , and, from the looks of it, the raciest. However, perhaps not so racy as that of the 2014-2015 Warwick men (see below). But raciness aside, all four of these teams have chosen worthy charities and have gone "the full monty" to make sure that those causes have received considerable contributions. The Warwick women contribute to Macmillan Cancer Support —a cause for which Warwick reports it has donated some £5,000. The Warwick men? Sport Allies —a charity that combats homophobia in spor...
Read more

Winter Workouts: Why Do Rowers Fear the Erg?

Image
Op-Ed from the RowingRelated Editorial Staff Friend. Not foe. (Illustration: B. Kitch) I am really frustrated by our sport when it comes to the erg being viewed as a torture device rather than a helpful tool that people can enjoy. This negative mindset, which is extremely contagious, plagues the sport, preventing athletes from training to their potential and possibly serving as one of the reasons that careers in rowing, at every level, are often so short. When compared to other endurance sports, I have not encountered an equal level of disdain for such fundamental mental and physical endurance training. My main problem is that everywhere I turn in the rowing community, whether it's high school rowers, college athletes, or even national team hopefuls, I hear of people dreading the erg. I've never heard about a cross country runner 'dreading' a track workout. True, basketball and football players may dread running wind sprints or other such conditioning acti...
Read more