New England Trip, Day Four: Attending Crew Competition

Sunday, October 12th

I did not have the luxury of sleeping in this day. My cousin was needing to disembark to Middletown, CT at daybreak and, if I wanted to join him, I had to get up early. So after a quick shower and getting quickly dressed, I joined my cousin at the truck which was hauling three skulls for the regatta. We stopped at Mim's, Northfield, Mass' version of a convenience store. After getting coffee (the nearest Starbucks was forty miles away) and danishes, we took the road out of town, hooked up on I-91 Southbound, and headed for Connecticut.

Along the way, my cousin and I talked about family related matters, including sharing memories of our trips up to Alaska and the Grand Canyon. I won't go into detail but I really enjoyed the discussion I had with my cousin.

About forty-five minutes later we arrived in Middletown. After establishing our parking spot with the truck and long, long boat trailer, my cousin and I walked down to the regatta officials trailer so that my cousin could make sure that all registrations were done properly for his three individual teams that were competing. The sun was just rising above the Connecticut River and the fog was just clearing making for awesome opportunities to take some pictures.




Thirty minutes later, my cousin's crew team arrived. They were traveling separately and I believed they were chaperoned by an assistant coach. After placing their gym bags on the bed of the truck, the crew members proceeded to rig the skulls for competition. There were three entries from my cousin's school: the varsity four-man (quad) skull, the junior varsity quad skull, and the ladies 8-member skull.

After a while, my cousin gathered his team for the coach's pep talk. He relayed information about the race and also talked about his recent experiences of cave exploring with his daughter as a way to inspire the newer crew members to enjoy this experience (I believe). It was intriguing to see that all team members were paying stern attention to my cousin as he delivered his pep talk.

With the coach's speech over, it was now time to compete. With the separate coxswains delivering orders for their respective boats, each team lifted their skulls into the air and proceeded to the Connecticut. I was amazed by the highly coordinated effort between the coxswain and the rowers.

The competition lasted for two hours. All levels of competition participated in the regatta, IE: high-school, college, etc. Unlike what I saw on the Beijing Olympics, each individual team was rowing against the clock as opposed to competing in heats. Each team rowed upriver about three miles where I guessed they rendezvoused with the official starter. Meanwhile, my cousin fulfilled the ambassador part of his coaching duties as he engaged in conversations with parents, former students, etc. When his rowing teams approached the finished line, all conversations were interrupted with cacophonies of cheering and whistling for the crew members.



Afterwards, my cousin went down to the boat ramp to help the crew members prepare to take their boats back to the truck. Once again, each coxswain would deliver orders to their respective boats and the crew members would hoist their boat in unison and walk back to the truck and trailer. You could see the fatigue on each rower's face after they completed their duties of competing, de-rigging the boats and putting the boat back on the trailer.

After talking with each team member to see how they felt about their efforts, my cousin and I walked down to the official's trailer to get the official results. The boy's varsity crew finished third in their class. The JV crew finished fifth. And the girl's eight-team crew finished sixth in their class. Afterwards, we walked back down to the river where parents were serving barbecue-fare for team members, their family, the coaches, and a visiting KC Librarian.

With lunch completed, a few team members left Middletown with family. Other team members remained in town because they were planning a prospective visit to Connecticut Wesleyan college. The remaining team members got on the bus and went back to Northfield. After making sure each person was accounted for, and after making sure everything was secured on the trailer, my cousin and I started the drive back to Northfield. My cousin elected to take some back roads so that I could see more of the brilliant foliage.


That night we surprised my uncle (his Dad) with a phone call, just to let him know that I came to New England. I went to bed relatively early that night as I had to fly home the next day.