Sunday was the Head of the Potomac Regatta. It was a drizzly day, but quite a good one for the races: the wind was low and the water calm. We had 2 men's 4s in the morning, 1 men's 8 in the afternoon and several ladies' boats. Our 4, #189. launched around 11 am for an 11:40 start.
We rowed by pairs on the square to warm up through the Key Bridge. Then we switched to all 4 on the feather and rowed steady state all the way up to Fletcher's Cove to warm up. I think the line up worked pretty well. It was Paul G in bow seat; Bob in 2-seat; I was in 3-seat; and Bill F was stroke.
I like the head races because we get a rolling start. That is to say you start rowing for about 20 strokes before the start line, and then as soon as you cross over, you're on pressure. The race plan was fairly simple: 20 hard strokes to get started and then settle. I think we got a good start and I was especially pleased that the rowing seemed focused. These are long races--15 to 20 minutes, So to maintain focus and form throughout is a real challenge.
At about half way through the race, another boat overtook us with apparent ease. It is at such a point that one must maintain focus and "row your own race". If you get distracted by who is around you or passing you, that can cause panic, rushing and all kinds of other ills.
By 3/4 through, I think we were still rowing with good form and balance, but we clearly lacked power which lead to our less than stellar placement at 21:03 minutes. By comparison, the winning boat finished at 15 minutes and some seconds. There are 2 reasons for lack of power. The first is simply not staying on pressure enough on every single stroke--driving the legs down. The second is that we are still struggling to learn how to let the boat run out underneath us and not rush the slide. Our ratio at a 28 rating was probably no more than 2 to 1, but possibly even 1.5 to 1. That's no good.
So, while I think there is a lot to be pleased with, we are still placing last against boats with a higher average age. We rowed well, we maintained the set and our focus, but now we need to add the power.
We had Nancy H as cox. She was very good, very calm and level headed. The only thing I would have liked more from Nancy was that as we came to the last 500 meters of the race, it would have been helpful for her to have called out how many strokes were left, or otherwise found a way to focus us. At one point I thought we had 20 strokes left, and then the race continued for another 100 strokes. The role of the cox is critical for discipline, correction and motivation when you start getting tired.
My next race will be the Occoquan Chase on October 17. Between now and then I have a few specific things I need to work on both in the boat and in the gym--mostly slide control, and power at the drive.
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