Equipment (and a HUGE Thank You!)
We wrote in our Summer Update about getting a new double kayak from Hody Sports. This K-2 is a “touring” or training boat, being a bit wider and much more stable than the racing K-2s we also have. This boat we had thought would be in Seattle for us to pick up at Nationals in August but instead, it didn’t arrive in a shipping container from Hungary until this Fall. We were stuck wondering if we’d have to ship this boat to Ventura, an expensive proposition, or have to go pick it up ourselves which would mean another 2,400 mile round trip trek to Green Lake in Seattle.
With some contacts at the Casitas Rowing Club, we reached out to rowing groups that might be taking trailers south sometime this Fall or Winter. We called Micah Boyd, the west coast rep for Vespoli rowing shells and not only did he say he would help us, but that he would do it gratis! Recognizing that our sports are always struggling, he felt this was an easy way to help out. He’s taking our K-2 plus a K-4 and another K-2 for River Town Racers to California the first week in December. We really were stuck and this act of kindness is one we greatly appreciate. We’ve trailered boats for other clubs for free and had others help us in turn, but this goes above and beyond that help. If you’re a rower, please consider buying Vespoli shells! They are good people!
Recruitment
Our Summer recruiting netted us two new youth paddlers – and they are quickly moving out of the “I fall out of the boat every workout” phase to the “I can paddle with some of the team” phase. Hopefully they will work hard during our coming Winter training period and be able to help push our returning paddlers from the previous seasons to new heights. Clubs always do better when there is competition within the club’s ranks as paddlers push themselves harder with each workout.
Races
Most of our club went to the “Off Da Couch Race” at the Newport Aquatic Center on October 18th, and for two paddlers, it was their first real race. Coach Lynn raced the Long Course first, finishing in the top third of the pack and then paddled along side our novice racers in the Short Course, giving them encouragement and coaching along the way. Coach Drew had a good race finishing 10th overall in the Short Course and attributes this success to many of the kayakers getting weeds and other objects from a recent storm caught on their rudders. All racers finished and all who have done this race before improved.
Coach Drew checked off a bucket list race by going to the Frank Havens 10K at the Washington Canoe Club in Washington, DC in early November. Racing with Jim Ross, a teammate from the 1979 Junior World team, they took first place in the short boat division. The race is in honor of our first gold medalist for canoeing, Frank Havens, and is done in aluminum canoes and big, fat, marathon boats as these are more like the “peanut” racing boats Frank used in the Olympics. Read more about the legendary Frank Havens here.
