A message from your Captain P:
I am finally recovered enough to form complete sentences and operate a keyboard, so here’s a quick and dirty recap of this weekend’s quest for glory.
You guys did great! Our mixed boat started off the day pulling a 2:21.08 after a totally lousy start. It wasn’t our fault. The starter honked the horn with very little honk warning. Everyone stayed cool and followed the strokes, and we did fine. We were able to get a clean start for our next time trial, and we pulled a second off the time to produce a 2:20.12. Not bad at all. It was good enough to land us in Intermediate Division G, where we pulled a 2:24.28 and won second place! Our 250m looked great and felt great. We pulled a 1:10.21, but did not place. Oh, and we learned that they don’t give medals for 2nd place, which sounds like some cliche I’ve heard. Whatever.
Living Ocean, our first ever women’s team (a combination of Living Root and Ocean State) kicked ass! They started out with a lot of trouble with their start piece, but they practiced it like hell and were able to really improve in a terribly short period. They started out with a 2:36.08 for their first time trial, but then managed to pull a 2:29.14 for their second time trial. They pulled 7 freakin seconds off their time, and I didn’t think that was physically possible. I was psyched! The good news was that we got seeded with some really good teams, the bad news was that we got seeded with some really good teams. LO poured their hearts and souls into the race, but the competition was intense. They pulled a 2:36.17 for the 500m. After two false starts, they managed to pull a 1:16.23 for the 250m. We came in 6th place in both finals, which was tough to take. When I got home yesterday, I noticed that the women’s best time trial was 29th out of 49 teams! The tough part about the women’s division is that most of the teams are either rock solid, hard core, soulless, demon ladies that can crush coconuts between their thighs or they are recreational teams. We fell right in the middle and now know what it feels like to be the coconut. (I think I had a dream like this once.) Anyways, I think Living Ocean did great, and I can’t wait to steer for another women’s boat.
I’m really happy with how everyone did. The competition up in Montreal is ridiculous, and it’s tough to come home with hardware. We had a lot of paddlers who had never been to Montreal, and I’m psyched they got some experience racing those good teams. We’ll need it because in a little over 2 weeks, we’re racing many of those teams again in Hartford. My expectations remain the same: get into the best division you can and then fight like a badger to win that division.
Thanks again to Chris and Karla for their service as PICOLS. Thanks to Michael for organizing rides, and thanks to Whitney for organizing hotel rooms. Thanks to Khamla for bringing her hilarious sister who took a thousand pictures. Thanks to Bri for taking an additional thousand awesome pictures. Thanks to Roxane for jumping aboard our insane team with little warning as to what she was getting into. Thanks to Lauren, Kim, Edric, and Chris for introducing me to the Let’s Go To The Mall song. Thanks to Scott for agreeing to leave the country again this millenium to coach and steer for us. Thanks to Sandy for putting up with the stench of my dragon shoes on the way to Montreal. Thanks to Ocean State (Rachel, Mary, Lyn, and Sweaty Pete)!!! Thanks to Kim for saying she likes beef jerky. Oh, and thanks to Karla and Nila for my awesome Poutine T-shirt, C’est bon!!!
