The newsletter of the North Palm Beach Rowing Club

Feb-March 2015

NORTH PALM BEACH ROWING CLUB IS A 501(C) (3) NOT-FOR-PROFIT, TAX EXEMPT FLORIDA CORPORATION

EDITORS NOTE:

Mornings at this time of year are….well, majestic! Early morning darkness (BMNT as the military calls it- ‘before morning nautical twilight”), then a lightening sky moving from grey to coral as the sun reaches for the horizon, the cry of birds flying low looking for breakfast just below the water’s surface, a manatee or dolphin fluke flashing nearby, all this coupled with the sound of water skimming along the hull of your single as you slice through the water cutting the first tracks of the day on a placid, glasslike surface….this is living! This is rowing!

Editor.

NEW ASSISTANT COACH

Say welcome to Billy White who joins us as an assistant coach while he prepares to take the bar exam. A U. Mass graduate, and also a graduate of the US Marine Corps Officer Candidate Course in Quantico, VA and more recently successful in acquiring a JD from Hofstra University School of Law he is looking forward to becoming a member of the bar and getting on with his life in the legal profession. Meanwhile, he’s ready to help kids learn to row and to compete. Speaking of competing, here he is leading the way on a 20-minute erg set with the juniors just to let them know he still has it. That’s him in the white hat.

COACH’S CORNER

The Start

Spring racing brings sprint starts. To get a good start, get up on the balls of the feet and work the shoulders against the feet during the drive. The hands should feel locked onto the water with shoulders prying the boat against the foot stretcher. It is also a time to be certain you are not missing the catch as you try for more aggressive strokes. Remember, the catch is part of the recovery! Load the blade with water BEFORE you pull it. You can practice this with catch drills by seeing if you can come up to the catch and place the blade in at extension without pulling the stroke.

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PREPPING FOR A ROAD

TRIP

Nuts! How many does it take to remove one rigger when preparing a boat for transport? Quite a few as this picture clearly shows.

Actually there is much more to it than meets the eye. These kids are getting training in a host of useful life skills: rock-climbing, rappelling, and did I mention also being a team player?

If you have a chance to come witness it then swing by on a day when the trailer is being loaded for an away regatta. There is a lot to do, and it all must survive the journey undamaged and accounted for. Not an easy feat.

HOUSEKEEPING

Signing Out This is a good sign (pun intended): masters are all signed out and able to be accounted for at an early morning row. Please, please, please remember to sign out and then back in whenever you go out.

We have had a few instances along the way when

inadvertently people have still been out rowing and return to find everything locked up, including them when others left and didn’t happen to notice someone hadn’t yet signed in. The reverse has also happened: someone returned but didn’t erase their name from the board and others went looking for them. Neither is good. As another check, just see if slings are still out

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and awaiting someone’s return.

TEAM DOES WELL IN

TAMPA

PBAU, Oxbridge and NPBRC Represented The picture says it all….our rowers represented Palm Beach County in admirable fashion at the Tampa Mayor’s Cup: 4- gold, 2-silver, 3-bronze and 1-fourth. Not bad for a day’s work. This was the team’s first time at this venue and likely won’t be our last as it is a beautiful setting and has great water. We almost pulled the plug as there was hint of a hidden cost which no one had foreseen and it would have made the overall cost prohibitive. Indeed, several other teams pulled out of the regatta when they became aware of them. A last minute call from the Coach to the regatta director cleared things up and…well, the results speak for themselves.

For the first time this season Oxbridge crews raced under their own colors. Conor Downey sat a seat for Chase Morrell who is Devon Scirrotto’s regular training partner and schoolmate but who couldn’t make the regatta. They raced in the men’s youth 2x and pushed the field hard and for a time were holding down first place…until they were waked by a passing motor boat. Go Figure! After quickly recovering from a lost oar, they jumped back in and just missed winning. But for that they would have carried the day in a very fast race.

On the women’s side the NPB girl’s pair of Kathleen Kuesters and Aubrey O’Brien, racing in the women’s youth 2x event took a silver medal. Later, racing in the women’s collegiate open 2x event they beat a college women’s double which doesn’t happen very often and took a gold medal. On the collegiate level a PBAU crew of Monica Larkin, Kara Fadden, Suzanne Loe and Morgan Kruse in the collegiate open women’s quad event took gold. The men of PBAU finished with a silver medal in the collegiate open men’s quad with Colt Griffin, Justin Johansen, Spencer Carroll and Billy White. Colt and Spencer teamed up again for the men’s collegiate open 2x and finished first place (another gold)!

For the men, NPB’s LW quad racing in the men’s collegiate/open 4x event in the club’s new Vespoli V1 took silver in their race with Matt Green, Casey Moore, Michael Ricci and Cameron Winslow. In other results NPB’s men’s youth novice 8+ with Benee Benardo, Varun Hariharan, Bernardo Hasbach, Jack Spingarn,

Conrad Fite, Preston Kirschner, Anthony Kuzenkov, Ethan Ridgway, Max McGould took third (silver) against a field of six crews

For great pictures go to Julie O’Brien’s website at: http://julieobrienphotography.com/tampa-mayors-cup/ . Thanks Julie!

Next Up: Miami! Mark your calendars for April 4

th- the Miami

International Regatta. This promises to draw a very large field and is a really nice venue. Wind and sun can be factors but the water and event is usually fantastic. So far there are 11 teams signed up including NPBRC and OAPB.

Safety Moment The club’s Safety Committee has just about finished their update of the Safety and Operations Manual (SOM). If any of you have tried to access it via the website you found that the link was not active. It soon will be.

Once it is, we will invite everyone to visit it and read it. For master rowers/members we will also ask that you acknowledge in writing that you have done so when you join or renew your membership. If you have come through one of our learn-to-row classes or taken private lessons from one of our coaches then you will have been given all you need to know to operate safely

and properly care for club equipment, but you will still have to acknowledge that you have read it. This will be a living document meaning that it will be actively reviewed and updated as time and events transpire and we learn more about our situation and adjust operations with lessons learned.

If you wish to bring any matter to the committee’s attention, then please see one of the following members: Gretta Curry, Rick Blackall, Mary Boehm, Alex Chin or Jock Merriam.

New Member Crashes the Gate for Dunkin Donut Leftovers Look who just burrowed under the gate. Not sure he can pass the swim test, so we will let the safety committee discuss and advise before he gets into a shell. Wait…he already is in one.

All jesting aside, we do have terrestrial visitors coming and going all the time. If we don’t haul the trash away frequently then the raccoons invariably inventory it and never put it back in the can! Likewise, water bottles or other plastics need to find their way to the recycle bins…and then off site. So, please try to NOT bring food that will have to be tossed into the trashcan, or leave half-finished sweet drinks lying around (Dunkin Donuts drinks are the biggest offenders) as these are favorites for these visitors. As I said, the critters seldom clean up and if you (a human) bring food or tempting drinks please take them with you when you leave….or offer to recycle the empty plastic bottles on your home’s recycling day. We have garbage bags available for your use. Thanks!

Adaptive Rower Chooses NPBRC

Please say welcome to Jacqui Kapinowski, an adaptive rower and new member of the club. She’s also a pretty new convert to the sport.

She tried rowing for the first time at the Endeavor Games in Oklahoma three years ago and fell in love with it. Not long thereafter she and a teammate won the trunk and arms double sculls at the 2011 Adaptive World Championship Trials. She is now on the US Adaptive Rowing Team and is sponsored by US Rowing while she trains for her next event. If you

come to the site you will notice a very new, very nice Swift single scull outfitted with pontoons which was given to her by US Rowing so that she could train properly. If you have a chance to meet her you will find that she’s also very nice….AND very competitive. She has her eye on medaling at US Nationals this summer and if she does well, the Olympics in Rio next year.

Not content with just rowing, she also likes to compete

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in other sports. She placed fourth in the 2010 Paralympic Games for Wheelchair Curling, took bronze at the 2007 and 2008 Marathon World Championships and took bronze at the 2008 World Championships for

Wheelchair Curling. She has competed in 57

marathons, 17 before becoming disabled.

She plans to train 3 days a week at our site under Coach Susan’s tutelage. Having named us as her preferred training venue she will gain access to US Rowing grant monies which hopefully can help her with her training. Please say hi to her next time you are there. GO Jacqui!

Annual Meeting This is the first notice of our annual meeting for all active members. It will be on April 18

th at 10AM at the

club. A separate e-mail notice will go out to all members in good standing about a week beforehand and will confirm the location and time. There will be a Presidents Report followed by the election of officers. If you have interest in joining the board please let our Secretary Gretta Curry or another board member know.

New Website After many months of less than optimal performance our website will have a new look and much smoother customer interfaces. We hope to go live the first week of April. Some of the new features include the ability to sign up online on the website for any of our programs and also to pay for them at the same time. We will keep Regatta Central available as a backup but expect PayPal to be more useful for us and also you. When you join as a member or register for a learn-to-row class or sign up your child for a competitive program you should be able to do it all in one stop. All members will also get a username and password which will allow you to see and interact with protected functions such as the club calendar to reserve a boat, the member’s forum to stay in the loop for what others are doing or join a user group. Once we go live, members will get an e-mail with instructions on getting through the initial registration and on how to interact with the new features. Stay tuned for more information soon.

Oar Tags How would you like to show off your team spirit to friends and family and of course to your teammates too? Check these hot new talismans out….On the

left…our oars; on the right….an “oar tag”. Oar Tags are custom designed and handcrafted for our rowing team. Each Tag infuses our team blade design with the lustrous iridescence of mother of pearl. Hand made to perfection and accented with silver beads, each unique pendant is both lightweight and durable.

The silicone necklace is available in either 16.5 inch (most women) or 20 inch (most men). Additionally, the clasp has no exposed metal to pinch, which makes them ideal for wearing while you work out, practice, compete, or cheer on your team. If there is interest we can make a bulk purchase. In the

meantime you can visit their website at www.oartags.com.

County Commission Recognizes NPBRC We are thrilled to announce that the Palm Beach County Commission wants to recognize NPBRC for, as our home page on the website declares, “…. providing our community with a healthy, “carbon negative” way to experience south Florida’s natural beauty while sharing our love of the sport with kids and adults from all age groups, backgrounds or experience levels….” We received a call from them after several recent articles attesting to our junior program success at racing and one recounting the club’s history.

When: On April 7th at 5:00PM

Where: In Commission chambers at the county headquarters in West Palm Beach

What: A proclamation will be read and a certificate presented

Who: Coaches, team captains and board representation

All parents, rowers and friends of the club are invited. At a separate event on a date still to be scheduled individual certificates will be presented to the junior and PBAU rowers who have competed this spring.

The Monkey Cometh

…Survey Monkey that is. In our efforts to measure our effectiveness in meeting the needs of our various constituencies we will be sending out a very short, hopefully painless survey to all parents, athletes and masters rowers. Expect to see this in your in-box sometime on April 1

st. we hope you will take the time to

give us some feedback as we move ahead growing rowing in Palm Beach County. Thanks!

NPBRC Board and Coaches

President Jessica Merriam

Vice President Shirley Blackall

Secretary Gretta Curry

Treasurer Jock Merriam

Director Mike Danchuk

Director Beth Eisenman

Head Coach Susan Saint Sing

Assistant Coach Monica Larkin

Assistant Coach Billy White

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Random Thoughts as we age:

I don’t have gray hair. I have “wisdom highlights”. I’m just very wise.

Annual Calendar of Events - 2015

Jan: 1st day of HS training Jan 6th. LTR- Jan 16-18th

Feb: High School, Feb 7th- Southern Sprints, F I T campus, Melbourne Florida; LTR- 13-15th; Visiting Masters Camp- 15-18th; Junior ID National Camp (select juniors)- 15th; Visiting Masters Camp- 22-25th ; Feb 28th- Sarasota Invitational Regatta

Mar: 14th- OARs invitational, Turkey Lake, Orlando Florida (Masters and high school); March 21st, Tampa Mayor’s Cup (HS and Masters); 27-29th- LTR, Full Moon Row

Apr: 4th, Miami International Regatta; April 11 and 12th, Florida Interscholastic Sculling State Championship, Sarasota Florida; 18th, Annual Members Meeting and Masters Social; April 25 and 26th, Florida Interscholastic Sweep State Championships, Sarasota Florida; HS season ends/social event

May: 8th, High School End-of-Season Social, Rialto Club, Jupiter; 15-16th – Stotesbury Cup, Philadelphia; 22-23rd – SSRA Scholastic Nationals, Cooper Creek, NJ (champion juniors)

Jun: TBA- Masters, HS and Novice Summer Camp; 6th, National LTR Day

Jul: Florida State Games (Masters and high school), Sarasota Florida; LTR; possible second summer camp

Aug: LTR; HS Fall Registration and pre-season camp for novices

Sept: HS season starts; LTR

Oct: Regattas: Head of Indian Creek; Full Moon Row; HS FUNDRAISER

Nov: Regattas: Head of the Giblet; LTR; Full Moon Row; Masters Fall Social

Dec: Holiday Boat Parade (1st Saturday); Full Moon Row