Back to Racing

We woke up at 7:30 today a little less jet-lagged and a little more refreshed. After a few days, we have grown more accustomed to our temporary home and our close quarters. The manor is a fairly large house that has 9 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a number of living rooms or studies, and the kitchen/dining room. The rowers bedrooms are situated mostly in one section of the house with the exception of two rooms. It is clear that the house was meant for shorter people as everyone, except for Johan, has hit there head a few times on the doorways, especially when we are groggy in the mornings. There are two baths in the house, but we can not use them because they leak, which is why we take showers at the race course. The cold water faucets in the bathrooms have low water pressure, so we make the best of what we can when it comes to brushing our teeth and washing our hands or face. For breakfast, there is always an assortment of juice, bread, muffins, cereal, and spreads. We have developed a habit of using the chocolate spread and the raspberry jam.

The crew headed to the race course at around 8, and as we have gotten more comfortable with the new river and new boat, we have improved our practices. There have been some good improvements in each practice. Afterwards, we cleaned the inside of our boat, which had been spotted with water stains since we had gotten it, and now at least it looks nicer. Once again, we all headed into town to find lunch, but this time we split up, and each group found some kind of deli. Most of us were able to find lunch for less than £4 which is a pretty good deal as far as we can tell.

Similar to yesterday, we returned to the manor for a couple of hours to rest, and this time, most of us took naps, which we discovered was much better than swimming and noodle fights. But what came after our nap has been our biggest rowing challenge yet. We returned to the race course for our second practice where we did pieces against Green Lake Crew. They are a club crew from Washington State, and they won the Northwest Regionals this year. Because of their club status, they are competing in the Thames Challenge Cup as opposed to our race, the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup. We won a piece and they won two pieces by the end of practice. It was clear that their extra week on the course was an advantage. They all knew many of the course markers and quirks of the race course which we have not yet learned; nonetheless, it was good to get some racing experience, and we feel that we will be better prepared in the future since we know what we need to work on now.

The crew returned back to the manor for a pasta dinner, and many of us made another walk to the grocery store to purchase additional snacks. We also played some football, or to be precise, American Football as it is called here, with the two boys. And as the night wears on, we are aware that the Henley Royal Regatta is one day closer. We look to heighten our focus once more for another productive day tomorrow.