It’s been a busy but exciting few weeks for Blue Crew. From bow seat of the 1N I’ve been fortunate enough to see a great deal of racing going on behind us... So here’s a not so quick recap of the past three weeks of racing:
NEWMACs:
With some last minute lineup changes we set out a bit nervously but settled in after the first 500. We walked away in the second thousand, crossing the finish 17.2 seconds ahead of second place Mt. Holyoke. On our row back to the dock, Jess, our coxswain, sang us a heartfelt rendition of “Just a Little Bit.” She was about to start on “Smang it,” but unfortunately we ran out of time.
We docked just as the 2V was going into their final 500 and hear the announcer calling how close the race was. They finished second, just seven seconds behind Smith. We put our boat in slings and ran down to watch the 1V go by. As they passed by the boathouse (near the 500m mark) they were down on almost the entire field. It was a nail-biting race with Wellesley even with Coastguard at 250 to go. Ultimately Wellesley took it in the sprint- as Bamy, stroke seat of the 1V later said, “Well, we decided to win in the last 8 strokes.” It was a great day of racing for everyone, especially for the 1V and 1N winning their individual races. The team won the NEWMAC championship and took home the Florence Jope Smith Cup for the second time in the team’s history.
Malden Sprint Regatta:
With a new lineup, once again, we set out in the 1N a bit nervous for our first race. Racing Smith’s 4V we established an early lead and maintained our composure throughout, recovering nicely after, as Jess put it, nearly grazing the bridge. Later, we raced Smiths 1N and opened the margin by nearly 10 seconds off our margin at NEWMACs, assuring us that the lineup changes would not inhibit our performance. The 1V and 2V both had a strong day as well racing Simmons then Smith. The 1V opened the margin on Smith, and the 2V closed in on Smith. The 3v had a rough first race against Simmons but had a solid second race, finishing 16 seconds ahead of Tufts.
New England Championships:
With our first time racing in the same lineup as the week before, we went into New England’s nervous, but confident. For the first time we hadn’t had our characteristic wakeup call on Thursday morning thus were excited to race and show the improvements we had made. In the morning heats we were between Trinity and Tufts and knew we’d have to have a solid race to advance. We had a rocky start, settling high at first, but we found our rhythm and walked away mid way through the second 500.
In the afternoon we knew we’d have a race from the entire field. Holy Cross and UNH were only one second slower than us from the morning heat, so we knew we’d have to perform in the afternoon. The race went off without a hitch. We were up by a few seats if not even at the 500 meter mark and moved throughout the body of the race. With 500 meter to go we could see Tufts, Holy Cross, and UNH battling it out behind us and set into our sprint with only one thought in our minds, “medals dock.” We crossed the line third, behind Williams and Trinity, five second ahead of fourth place UNH. After cooling down we made our way to the medals dock (the Williams coxswain asked us for directions). It was our perfect race- our start, our settle, the body, the moves, and finally the sprint. We are very proud of how we executed the race and owe a large part of that to our ever wise, and inspiring coxswain Jessy Walker (who made some excellent calls including “They’re wearing flowers in their hair… They have bows!” which inspired one of our biggest moves).
Afterward we watched the 2V and 1V race. The 2V had a strong race but ultimately came in sixth in the grand final against a strong field. The 1V’s race was probably the most exciting of the day. According to Lyndsey (who may have briefly ‘glanced’ out of the boat) at the 500 meter mark) they were even and walking on Trinity. From the beach we could see them ahead of the field and nearly even with second place Bates. Thus the second Wellesley boat of the day made a trip to the medals dock (though this time they knew where they were going).
Going into our last week of the regular season we know we have some work ahead of us. As always the goal is to be even faster this week then we were last. For us in the 1N our goal is to return to the medals dock next weekend and close the margin on Trinity and Williams. As well as get the entire team to call Jess, Jessy. We’re up against everyone we raced this weekend and New York schools, which will surely make for some great racing!
Additionally we have some individual goals for the final week of the season. I’m working on getting my baby hairs under control-- with the help of my ‘big sisters’ Shernaz and Aidan. Jessy is working on a new post race play list-- she’d like to add “Big Girls You Are Beautiful” to her repertoire. Olivia, like always, would like to be more like Bamy. Bamy is campaigning for captain- she believes she will do an excellent job as captain from abroad in Kenya and Tanzania. And Lyndsey would like to even our her tan (burn) lines—she’s got the back of her legs covered, so now the front needs some work…
-3rd place finishes in the 1V and 1N
-4 more days of classes
-5 more morning practices
-6 days till ECACs
-8 days till “Selection Tuesday”/my American Politics Exam
Becca Freeman-Slade ‘14
