Gearing up
Oct. 18th, 2013 06:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rebeccmeisterIt's almost time for the Head of the Charles! Yesterday morning, I got to go out in the coaching launch with a friend who coaches for the Tufts Varsity Men's team. Along with the visit to the Malden River, I got to finally see the new boathouse that got built 6-7 years ago. Swanky. I'll post photos at some point.
Then, in the afternoon I headed out to Community Rowing, Inc., to meet up with my boat-mates for the race. I'm rowing as a German; two of the rowers got in touch with a third rower from Arizona, who contacted a coxswain and myself about putting this boat together. We were hoping to practice yesterday, but plans fell through, so we only have today to hop in a boat and see how things gel. Anyway, meeting up at CRI was a jaw-dropping experience. In some ways, it's the polar opposite of the High-Performance Training Center in Oklahoma City; I believe CRI still operates as a rower-funded endeavor, and they only recently finished building a brand-new boathouse. Actually, a pair of brand-new boathouses. One is full of small sculling boats, the other contains a cadre of sweep boats. Both buildings are huge and beautiful, and it's clearly the kind of space that has been assembled by a group of people hoping to generally promote the sport of rowing. Elements of the CRI architecture are just as jaw-dropping as the OKC boathouse, but if I had to choose between the two styles, I'd easily go with the CRI option because the architecture both pays homage to traditional boathouses and brings in some good contemporary elements.
I'll have to look up more information about CRI. So you can expect plenty more rowing blather in upcoming days. Rowing history is rich in Boston.
Then, in the afternoon I headed out to Community Rowing, Inc., to meet up with my boat-mates for the race. I'm rowing as a German; two of the rowers got in touch with a third rower from Arizona, who contacted a coxswain and myself about putting this boat together. We were hoping to practice yesterday, but plans fell through, so we only have today to hop in a boat and see how things gel. Anyway, meeting up at CRI was a jaw-dropping experience. In some ways, it's the polar opposite of the High-Performance Training Center in Oklahoma City; I believe CRI still operates as a rower-funded endeavor, and they only recently finished building a brand-new boathouse. Actually, a pair of brand-new boathouses. One is full of small sculling boats, the other contains a cadre of sweep boats. Both buildings are huge and beautiful, and it's clearly the kind of space that has been assembled by a group of people hoping to generally promote the sport of rowing. Elements of the CRI architecture are just as jaw-dropping as the OKC boathouse, but if I had to choose between the two styles, I'd easily go with the CRI option because the architecture both pays homage to traditional boathouses and brings in some good contemporary elements.
I'll have to look up more information about CRI. So you can expect plenty more rowing blather in upcoming days. Rowing history is rich in Boston.
