Her Majesty’s Royal Canadian Mounted Secondary School Rowing Association Championships takes place at a world class venue. The World’s took place at this location just a couple of years ago. Prior to that, it was in Europe. There is a permanent grand stand at the finish. Serious racing takes place. There are also about 11 clubs who row out of this location. So, for those who have not been here before and have not had the pleasure of watching the Canadians race, it will be a treat. Unlike past years, we have entered our novice rowers. Races are by age, not ‘varsity’ and ‘novice’. Line-ups will illustrate that difference. Below is the current list of entries. I will finalize by Sunday.

Event 4: Junior Wm 4(Jun 3) Alexis Pawluk, Mary Kosanke, Emily Mittelstaedt, Brenna Multala, Mary Coppola

Event 9: Junior Wm Double (Jun 3) Marcella Rose, Olivia Zucaro

Event 11: Senior Wm Quad (Jun 3) Taylor Eyerman, Ashley Domagola, Erin Clark, Lexi Eyerman

Event 19: Senior Wm  4(Jun 3) Emma Bevilacqua, Marina Vanini, Amy Quinlisk, Emily Peartree, Abby Posadni

Event 22: Senior Wm 63 kg 4(Jun 3) Rachel Krokenberger, Erin Kilmartin, Maggie Miller, Elena Pochodylo, Josie Sheftic

Event 26: Junior Wm 8 (Jun 3) Lauren N, Marcella R, Kiera H, Allison H, Brooke M, Lauren F, Katie S, Brenna M, Olivia Z

Event 35: Senior Women Eight (Jun 3) Jane+Anne Minges, Caprie R, Taylor E, Emily V, Clare M, Mary A, Abby P, Hannah L, Erin C

Thanks to all of you who helped out yesterday. Hopefully we will be able to manage the throngs of new rowers who will be coming on Saturday. I will be in the Adirondacks unfortunately. Well, its not unfortunate. Just the timing.

Forecast: nice

Vocab word: luxuriant

Since the Juniors and others have something else to do, we will have our own backwards day.

Slings. Please bring your $4 for the replacement of 2 slings. I would like to order these as soon as possible. thanks.

Forecast: Sunny skies. High 64F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph.

Vocab Word: Shun. To avoid deliberately; keep away from.

Tomorrow is our Open House. Please make certain your cubbies are relatively clean!

Friday is boat meeting day. If we have time, we will still row. All depends on how the conversations go.

Lineups:

More of the basics. Rowing through. We are still moving up the slide too quickly. What’s the rush?

Drill: Release to Catch, top 1/4. Almost the same as release to catch (starting at the finish and ending with the catch…no stroke). This adds the element of engaging the legs at the top of the stroke. I am interested in a couple of things. 1. Clear separation of the catch from the drive. 2. Locking in the body forward angle without ‘lift’. By adding the legs, you should feel how well you are making the catch and starting the drive. It should be obvious if someone is out of sync. Catch timing has not crisp enough lately. Once the blade is placed at the catch in this drill, engage the legs but use only the top 1/4 of the slide, then release the blade from the water. Press with the legs. Do not lift the back.

Lastly, I apologize for recanting the offer to switch rowers. I didn’t think it was an appropriate swap, as that change would not be in a racing lineup. We are practicing to win. If I didn’t think it mattered, I would have obliged. But it does matter.

Open House this Thursday and Saturday at the Boathouse. All team members are expected to participate. Please wear a Mercy hat or other crew gear to identify yourself as a current team member amongst the hordes of prospective rowers. Encourage your fellow Mercy classmates to attend and highlight the opportunity to actually sit in a boat and go for a short row. Please do anything you can this week to promote Mercy Crew.

Learn to row. See general website for dates and times. As usual, we need current Mercy team members to volunteer to help with the LTR program. Rowers can cox. Coxswains can row. Ports can row starboard and starboards can row port. The LTR students will not know the difference! If we have a surplus of volunteers any given day, we can also put an experienced boat on the water.

Thank you in advance for your support and another huge congratulations to the entire team for an incredible weekend at States.

Coach Mark 

Just a quick note to say thanks for a great weekend of racing. I wish the entire team could walk away with a medal but we all know that isn’t the way things work. On to the next regatta!

I know everyone wants to attend the baseball game for Emma Falk and I want you to as well. But we have to unload the trailer and rig the boats. You can do both. Get the boats ready to row for Tuesday and attend the game which starts at 4:30. Your best bet is to get to the boathouse on time and get right to work.

See you tomorrow.

Coach ‘P’

Updated and terrific forecast for Saratoga:

FriMay 11

67^°F 42^°F

Partly Cloudy

CHANCE OF RAIN:  10%

WIND:  WNW at 15 mph

SatMay 12

75^° 54^°

Partly Cloudy

CHANCE OF RAIN:  10%

WIND:  W at 8 mph

SunMay 13

72^° 53^°

Mostly Cloudy

CHANCE OF RAIN:  10%

WIND:  W at 6 mph

Tomorrow we load the trailer for the weekend. The Quad will go out for a test run. Line-ups for Saturday are as follows:

Novice 4+A: c Megan H, Mary C, Brenna M, Amy Q, bJosie S

Novice 4+B: cAlexis, Lindsey S, Erin K, Emily M, Mary K

Quad: Lexi E, Ashley D, Erin C, Taylor E

Junior Varsity 8: cOlivia Z, Hannah L, Erin C, Mary A, Abby P, Caprie R, Clare M, bEmily V

2nd Varsity 8: cEmma B, Brooke, Marina, Katie, Lauren F, Maggie M, Elena P, Allie H, bEmily P

Varsity Sr. 4+: cAnnie M, Marcy R, Ashley D, Kiera H, bTaylor E

Good practice today. Thanks also to Kiera and Ashley for helping out with the Novice 4+.