It was great to have several of the Arizona (and formerly-Arizona) Outlaws together again to race - Paula, Ted, Kathy, Rebecca, and Iskra, with Iskra’s friends Nick and Teddy from Vancouver as honorary outlaws and Laurie as honorary Oar Wench / pit crew.

It was also pretty exciting to be racing at the rowing venue from the Sydney 2000 Olympics - the nicest course we’ve ever rowed on (and the only one with either spectators’ stands or enough toilets). There were 9 lanes across, which also makes it the widest course we’ve rowed on - good thing, with so many competitors.

Standing in lines turned out to be a feature of the Games; unlike the accreditation lines, the boat-hire lines weren’t long, but they also weren’t moving. Fortunately we were able to get most of that worked out the day before races started; then Rebecca and Iskra went off to register, which took them 2-3 hours - it had been five hours earlier, until they streamlined the process by not putting photos on the badge. Kathy and Laurie opted to wait until the next afternoon.

Despite the boat-hire lines, though, the race was incredibly well run, with a huge number of well-trained volunteers. They managed to maintain three minute centers (that is, races only three minutes apart) for the whole five days - this means there would actually be two races on the course at the same time. We saw no safety incidents, and the only times the races ran late were when high winds interfered.

Day 1: Ted and Paula left for the regatta while it was still dark out, under the misapprehension that he had a race in a quad with some guys from the Port Macquarie Rowing Club; unfortunately, he’d been looking at an old schedule and the race that morning was for mens fours instead. We stayed around, though, because Rebecca and Teddy were racing in Women’s A Singles that afternoon, and Nick in the Men’s D Singles. This regatta was so big that most races had heats, semifinals as well as finals, though some events went straight to finals just depending how many rowers registered for each event. The number of people advancing on also varied and could be anywhere from the top two to the top four - I think it was four for the Women’s A Single. The singles races were all pretty full, with the Men’s D having 12 heats. With so many competitors and such a high level of racing, it’s a big deal that all three made it to semifinals! Rebecca said that this was one of her best singles races ever - always good to time that for one of your biggest races ever.

(Photos are of Rebecca launching early, Teddy racing, and Rebecca racing.)

Ted, Rebecca and Paula also figured out how to game the system at Penrith Panthers that night - it was Saturday, so there were big crowds, but instead of waiting in line for dinner, we placed a take-out order at one of the restaurants there, then ate it at the bar area’s outside tables. Much nicer than being in with the crowds, too!

Day 2:
First thing in the morning, Kathy and Paula got to race a double together for the first time in about 3-4 years. Unfortunately we were probably not warmed up enough, which probably didn’t help our speed since we came in last, though only by 0.3 seconds. (Most of our regattas are not even equipped to call a race that close!) This was the most crowded event any of us were in - 13 heats, with 9 boats in each, so only the top 2 advanced on.

Paula and Kathy had to get right back in the boat for a Women’s A quad less than an hour later (you had to launch 45 minutes before each race, to allow for proper staging). This time we were warmed up; Rebecca and Teddy had warmed up on the ergs to be ready too. Though the three of us from AZ had never rowed with Teddy before the boat felt good and solid. Unfortunately Teddy came off her seat shortly after the start and we lost some ground until she could get back on. Oh well, vicissitudes of racing - and to her credit she didn’t miss a stroke the whole time. We came in 4 of 6, nearly 12 seconds out of 3rd place, so it might not have made a difference. This was a “cooperatively-coxed” boat I’ve ever been in - Paula in bow steering before and after the race, Rebecca in stroke steering during, and Kathy calling the start and the focus pieces. Not a normal way to row, but it worked out OK.

Did I mention we were at the Olympic venue?

Iskra had her single race the same day, and won the first medal for our group, to no one’s surprise.

Nick and Ted also raced that day in a Men’s C Double - they were only 6 seconds out of first place, but it was a very close race - they placed fourth, with only the top three advancing to semis. More vicissitudes of racing - this was just an unlucky draw, as their time would have put them in first in any of the other heats.

Oddly, the Opening Ceremony was on this night, after we’d already been racing for two days. After our last race we headed out on the train to the Olympic Park, where they mustered us in one of the stadiums for our parade. The muster by sport was interesting, looking at the other sports and talking to the rowers standing by us. It also finally made sense of the feathery halos we’d seen in the airport a few days earlier - lots of people had costumes for the parade. Once the muster was complete, they called us by sport and we all walked over to the main Olympic Stadium for the ceremony. Unfortunately, once we got there, the walk slowed to a crawl and we spent about an hour in the parking garage under the stadium, advancing a hundred feet or so then waiting until we could move again. We am now in a position to report that the garage is decidedly not the most scenic part of the Olympic Stadium. The ceremony was nice though: welcomes, anthems, speeches, fireworks, constant references to the Sydney Olympics, and aboriginal dances. Once the concerts started, Nick and Teddy stayed to dance but the rest of us left to rest up for the next day’s races.

(Photos are the parade about to enter the stadium, some of the dancers, and us at the ceremony.)

Day 3:
We got to sleep in a little this day, as none of us had early races. This was the day of the women’s B doubles: Kathy and Rebecca raced in one heat, Teddy and Paula in another. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out well for Kathy and Rebecca with their boat - another crew had to race it as a pair (one oar each) shortly before their race, so they barely had time to rig it back as a double (two oars each), and weren’t able to make other adjustments before going out, so the shoes were way too big and the oarlocks way too high. They came in 5th of 8 in a fast heat, and since they’d been training together they were pretty upset, feeling like the boat was a big part of that. Teddy and Paula had some of the same issues with the boat being just too big for us, but there was simply no way to adjust it down far enough - at least they were able to lower the oarlocks enough and we were given better oars to race with than the ones we’d had in practice. (Also, it started raining just then.) Never having rowed together, though, and considering how little time Paula has been on the water this year, they were really pleased with our race and their 5th of 9 finish, right in the middle of the pack

Ted’s single race was also this day; he had the same issues with not having been on the water enough (though at least he’s been able to row during business trips to the Netherlands). He finished 4th of 5, mid pack in terms of all of the heats’ times.

Also, did I mention that we were at the Olympic venue?

This day was nice, too, because Paula’s online friend Anne, who actually lives nearby, came out to watch and brought her kids. The kids were great; they totally charmed Kathy and were completely engrossed by sorting through the river-smoothed rocks on the water’s edge. They were there in time to cheer Ted on, and seemed to enjoy learning about rowing, too.

This night we went to Luciano’s, an Italian place someone had recommended, and found they had most intelligently created a “rowers’ special”: garlic bread, salad, and three kinds of pasta for $20AUS a head. A good way to feed big hungry crowds and not have to keep track of lots of orders per table!

Day 4:
We’d originally expected to have this day off, but Ted’s quad with the Port Macquarie guys ended up being scheduled this day. They must have been impressed with Ted, because they put him in stroke seat, which is usually where you have your most experienced guy. The boat was actually only two Australians, filled out with Ted and a Canadian rower (more on him later). They were 5th of 7, once again not quite making it to semis (four boats advanced). It was a rough race, though; the wind predicted for afternoon came up early, and shortly after they guys had launched, the race officials announced that no more boats were to leave the docks due to high wind. They raced against a gusty headwind, and the day’s races were called after the heats, with no semis or finals being held that day.

Anne and the kids had come out to watch again, and we got the kids to try out some rowing machines to give them an idea how things work - the machines we had them on were a bit too high -tension for them though! Later after they left we also got to meet up with the sister and brother-in-law of another internet friend of Paula’s, whom we’d also met four years ago at the last World Masters Games in Edmonton. This turned out to be a real coincidence, though - what we hadn’t realized was that the BIL was also the Canadian who had rowed with Ted in the quad! One of the best things about traveling to regattas is being able to reconnect with rowers you’ve met elsewhere and this was no exception.

Day 5:
Last day of racing, and unfortunately the winds were not cooperating. The races were called off once again - but luckily, not until after the mixed D quad (Iskra, Nick, Kathy, Ted) got to race and won gold medals! Mixed events work a little differently from single-sex events; there are no semis or finals, so medals are given for each race. The times in different heats can’t really be compared, because the wind was getting worse and gustier throughout the morning - but their time would have won medals in all of the heats that raced after the wind began to kick up!

The City of Tempe also ran the 6th annual Hothead regatta this weekend, to provide a competition venue for those who didn’t get into the HOCR or couldn’t travel to Boston. The regatta ran under typical blue Arizona skies.There were some issues with racing as Outlaws this year, due to USRowing rules (like many other small clubs, the Outlaws were unable to join USRowing as an organization member in 2007 due to high fee increases). Nonetheless, Outlaws participated in running and racing in the regatta. Results can be viewed at the Tempe website or on Regatta Central, and E Diethelm (a.k.a Spark eDesign) has published three large galleries of photographs, including images of most participants (and even a few ducks). You can view the photos here, here, and here. (If any readers of this site participated in the regatta and would like to provide a detailed report, please email it to us.)

On the Outlaws Abroad front, Ted and Paula participated this weekend in the Cornelis Tromp regatta in Hilversum, Netherlands. This is a big national regatta, with many former Olympians and current national team members in attendence, so the level of competition is high. The day was clear and calm but cold. Ted rowed with his partner Erik-Jan in a M2xB, finishing 7/8 among the B crews and 10/18 overall; Paula competed in a W4xB, finishing 3/5 among the B crews, 10/14 overall. Not bad given the level of competition. Results are here; HV is Heren Veteranen or Men’s Masters, DV is Damen Veteranen or Women’s Masters.

Upon reaching Empacher we saw the numerous trailers full of Empacher boats that had just returned from the Rowing World Cup in Munich the day before. We walked into a very large lobby, with no one around, and hypothesized that everyone was taking a vacation after the World Cup.

We walked upstairs and looked in all the offices until we found a person, who lucky for us was the person who had all the paperwork for my boat. After signing some forms and reviewing the packing list it was time to load the boat.

We then had to wait a little while for our tour guide to return from lunch. While we waited in the large, barren lobby, a person walked in off the street. Immediately I recognized the person as AC Dupont from Long Beach Rowing. He and I have met in very strange locations in the past to load or unload boats, but this was over the top. Our tour guide arrived, Mr. Empacher himself, and all three of us were personally guided through the factory. It was a very impressive tour that really highlights the craftsmanship of the workers. I was also amazed at how many of the smaller parts they actually make including the seats and fins.

The return trip was in much better weather but it still took over 4.5 hours. The next day Paula and I (mainly me) rushed to the boat house to rig the boat and christen it. It is named the Zonsopgang II which is Dutch for Sunrise. The II was included since this replaces my other boat, Sunrise, that was crushed by an oar rack during a freak storm back in Arizona last year. The Zonsopgang II feels good on the water and I am looking forward to rowing it more.

The Outlaws had small representation in the event in a double (Ryan and Rick), and in a women’s 4+ (myself in a Tempe Town Lake boat, wearing Outlaw colors). Both boats completed the 10,000-m course in good time and enjoyed some sunny, warm weather that verged on too warm (85 degrees and climbing), which led to more than a few new blisters. But a good time was had by all.

First, I need to provide a little insight into what a ringvaart is. As you probably know, the Dutch have converted many bodies of water into useable land. A low lying area that has been reclaimed is called a polder in Dutch. One of the keys to reclaiming an area is to build a canal around the entire area. The canal that encircles a polder is called a ringvaart in Dutch. Historically, Windmills were placed along the ringvaarts to pump water out of the Polder to keep it dry.

The Ringvaart Regatta is a 100 km race that is primarily on a large Ringvaart southwest of Amsterdam that encircled a large piece of land that includes Schiphol Airport, which is the international airport for Amsterdam. This is the 32d consecutive year the race has been run and there was a good turnout with 107 boats and well over 400 competitors. Many of the crews take the race very seriously and train specifically for the race. The race includes every type of rowing configuration possible including some that I find just unthinkable for this distance including a coxed single and coxed pair. The 8+ is the most popular and there are always a few 8x. Each crew is a required to have a pit crew and I now understand why. Martien and Monika, our pit crew, were awesome. They took pictures, videotaped sections of the race, provided coaching, added encouragement when necessary, and were always available with our essentials. This is not an easy job since they had to ride their bicycles for well over 60 km of the race with all our extra stuff.

The race starts in Leiden and for some reason the sadistic race organizers make you row 5 additional kilometers just to get to the start of the race. The start is a mass start of all the people in your heat (19 boats in our heat) with a sprint across a rough big open lake to the beginning of the 60 km Ringvaart. After you complete the circle you race an additional 40 km through Leiden on to the finish in Delft (where Delft china is made). In general you row on very nice canals that that are wide enough for about three boats. You have to share the canals with large barges that are nearly the width of the cannel, but we only had to deal with 4 or 5 of them.

My partner Eric-Jan has rowed this race at least 7 times previously including in the 1x a few times. (He was a member of the crews that hold the record in 2 categories, 8x & Mx2x). He had won his event every time he raced except for the time he had to stop due to a major medical problem. Just a few weeks before the race he asked me if I wanted to do it, and I decided to go for it to get the full Dutch rowing experience. Thus, we did not have time to train and ended up only doing two long rows together to establish our optimal pace. Two other people from our club (Beatrix) had won the last few years and had been training seriously for the race. I guess behind the scenes our entry was getting some attention within the club.

On race day I had to wake up at 4 am, to lots of wind and rain. I met Martien at 5:00 am for our 2 hour drive to Leiden. We arrived late; the weather had cleared slightly but the wind was still blowing. While we were driving Erik-Jan had been busy rigging the boat, mounting a larger splash guard on the boat, installing a pump, adding cellophane strips along the gunwales to keep the boat from being swamped in wakes or waves. To my surprise Eric-Jan had changed our entry to a composite entry Arizona/Beatrix so just before we launched I quickly changed into my Outlaw Uni that I had brought just in case (also for good luck). So I officially rowed as an Outlaw in the race.

Our plan was to row at 23 to 24 strokes per minute, with a pressure similar to what I applied during my previous marathons, and we would take a short liquid break every 30 minutes. Erik-Jan showed his experience by steering a nearly perfect race. It became obvious he had all 100km memorized including all of the bridges and canal intersections. I was able to keep up the marathon pressure and still feel good until about 50 km. At that point my body was in reasonable shape except it was very painful to come up the slide. I mentally struggled with this for the next 10 km fighting not to rush the slide and continue on. People told me that everyone has a mental break at some point during the race and if you can make it through it the pain would reduce. At around the 57 km mark we took our first quick break outside of the boat where I was able to stretch my legs. This break made all the difference - my legs were back in action. However, the pain in your hands when you start rowing after you stop is excruciating. I am glad that people warned me about this and convinced me the pain would go away, otherwise I probably would have immediately jumped back out of the boat when I tried to take that first stroke after the rest. I found the pain of a million pins puncturing your hands only lasts for about 5 minutes once you start up rowing again. Unfortunately I had to endure this every 30 minutes after each water break. Another factor is that rowing 11,150 strokes can get very boring, even when it is across the very beautiful Netherlands.

At the 90 km mark everyone has to stop to portage around a lock. This is the only place where the clock actually stops for the competitors during the race, and they allow a 30 minute break. During the break volunteers & your pit crew portage the boats while the rowers get fueled up and seek medical attention. They also have masseuses there to provide messages. At this point all your coordination is gone so the masseuses had to help me get undressed, then she provide a great massage, and then help me get into a new set of dry rowing gear. After this I felt great and the last 10 km was a relative piece of cake.

I was very proud of completing the race and extremely happy to learn later that we were the 3rd fastest boat out of all 107 entries with a time of 8 hours 3 minutes and 19 seconds (split including rests of 2:24 /500m). An 8x and unfortunately a 2x from another club beat us, so we ended up second in our category (no age divisions). It is amazing that we were faster than all the 8+ and 4x boats that should be much faster than our 2x.

So in summary my buddy Erik-Jan and I rowed a 100k race across the Netherlands, chugging energy drinks, and pushing our bodies until we could barely function while my wife was away, instead of doing the normal bachelor things in Amsterdam.

Saturday morning was race day, and the weather was a bit cool and just a bit more than a bit windy. There was a strong, gusty cross-wind, absolutely the most annoying possible kind of wind for rowing because it creates waves parallel to the side of the boat and blows the boat towards one side of the race course. My first race of the day was the Women’s 1x, and the rough water made me nervous so I don’t think I raced to my fullest potential. I managed to stay with the pack (all two of them), but finished third and felt like I could have done better if I had managed to stay calm. I’ll learn, eventually.

The second race of the day was the women’s A 8+, which included seven rowers from Tempe and one rower from Marin. Our coxswain was a junior coach from Arizona who barely it to the course in time to shove off, so we had one of those “Jump in and go” sorts of experiences that tend to make me a touch nervous. Things hectic and crazy at the starting line again because of the cross-wind and because of a micro-managing starting official. It’s hard to get 6 boats simultaneously aligned and pointed down the race course when the wind comes and goes in gusts. At one point, all of the boats were reasonably well aligned, but the starter hesitated a second too long (don’t get me started on how overly chatty he was) and things were blown akimbo again. When he finally got fed up, he started the race without recognizing coxswains’ hands, and so we all just shook our heads and leapt into the fray. Right off of the start, lane 5 (we were in lane 3) veered off course towards our lane (3) and looked destined to crash straight into us (I think lane 4 managed to nip ahead fast enough to avoid entanglement with lane 5). But our coxswain stuck to her guns and we managed to squeak out of the situation without any smashes. Finally, by about 150 meters into the race, the boats got straightened out and the race to win finally began.

The team that I row with tends to be a bit too nervy when racing–we manage to row long and fast during practice, but a lot of our efficiency gets lost when we go to race because the rowers like to stampede about. I felt a bit of rushing during the race, but altogether we actually managed to buckle down and row effectively given the crazy conditions and gusting winds. I think it almost helped that things were so chaotic at the start because we had to give up a bit of our individual drive to zip along and instead focus on just hanging in there. We ended up placing third and had a pretty solid race given all of the conditions.

Following the 8+, Carrie and I hopped in the 2x and headed back down towards the starting line. The wind conditions had started to get pretty serious by that point, verging on whitecaps, but we hadn’t heard any announcements about race cancellations or delays, so we figured we’d go for it. Carrie and I giggled a bit nervously while putting our boat in the water because the wind was strong enough to almost pick the boat up out of our hands and we were convinced we’d end up swimming. Once we got on the water, we decided our main goal would be to stay upright through our race; anything beyond that would be bonus. Since we had both just hopped out of the 8+, we were pretty well warmed up and so we headed to the starting line without wasting much time. Our stakeboat holder complimented us on our efficient maneuvering at the starting line, and before we knew it, we were headed down the course again. By about 500m into the 1000-m race, we managed to settle in to a comfortable rhythm and locked on nicely, rowing with length and power at a lower stroke rating. When I looked around a bit, I found that we were sitting in third place. Following that, it was simply a matter of taking the race stroke-by-stroke, and we managed to walk up and through the second-place boat. By about 250m to go, we were in a fight for first. For our sprint, we just locked on and worked on moving our boat forward, and whatever we did did the trick because we managed to win! Needless to say, C and I were both ecstatic. We think our sporadic practicing and occasional quality coaching paid off quite nicely.

That was it for Carrie and me for the rest of the day–a medal in every event was a reasonable accomplishment. So after that I got to sit back and enjoy watching the remaining racing. Shortly thereafter, we watched our men’s 4x (Pete C, Ryan, Alex, and Rick) race by, and noticed that for some bizarre reason Pete appeared to be rowing with just his port oar (which was for the better because the wind was blowing from starboard towards port)! The reason why became clear when the boat landed on shore after the race: at the 200-m mark, his starboard oar had snapped mid-shaft. He said that the whole boat stopped at that point, held a brief executive committee meeting, and decided to continue racing. They actually managed to beat a boat despite their handicap, and Pete received some applause from another team who thought he was a physically handicapped, one-armed rower. “I’ll take credit however I can get it,” he said.

That wasn’t the end of the equipment drama, either. A men’s 2x (Rick and Alex) had a crazy time when Alex discovered that he had forgotten to tighten the bolts on one side of his rigger and they dropped off at some point during the race. Alex was convinced it was sabotage; I’m convinced it was rigging negligence, which was his own fault.

Then the women’s C 4+ (Tempe rowers plus Kathy) put in a strong performance and walked away with a hard-earned gold eked out stroke-by-stroke with a strong sprint at the end of the race, and the mixed C 8+ (again with Kathy) also nosed forward at the end of their race to win silver.

Altogether, it was another exciting day at the races. I love the Gold Rush Regatta because there’s good racing but the whole event is laid-back, and aside from the ridiculous wind, the weather was pretty nice and the racing venue is fantastic.

It has been a busy spring for the Outlaws. On March 10, Carrie, Kathy, and I raced in the Desert Sprints under various different names and identities. The best news of all was that the weather was perfect for racing, unlike last year’s regatta, when we all became convinced that the Armageddon was upon us because it was so cold and rainy and miserable. This year we had only ourselves to blame (or credit) for the results.

Kathy and I first raced with some City of Tempe Rowers in the Women’s Open 8+ in preparation for an eights race at the San Diego Crew Classic. In the last minute of the race, an Arizona State University boat managed to pull ahead of the 8+ and won by 1 second. Right after that, Carrie kindly subbed in a Colorado Women’s Masters 8+ for a rower who had injured her back at the last minute. The Colorado rowers were happy to have Carrie along because they managed to win the event. As soon as Carrie finished that up, she jumped in the double with me for the Women’s Open 2x. We hadn’t had much time to prepare for the race, but had a fun time rowing in Kathy’s beautiful double and ended up coming in third, two seconds behind a double from Tempe Town Lake.

After the double, I hopped back in the single and tried to put up a tough fight against a TJC rower in the Women’s Open 1x, but ended up coming in second by a long stretch. I think that several weeks in the 8+ hasn’t helped my sculling much! In the meantime, Kathy ran the show on the dock as dockmistress and made sure that everyone’s launching and landing went smoothly. Brian, being the champion spectator he is, watched the racing and drank some beer on our behalf.

A few weeks later, Kathy and I headed over to San Diego with a gang from the City of Tempe to race in an 8+ the San Diego Crew Classic. Because of my age we had to race in the Women’s Masters A/AA category, which meant that our boat had to compete against ex-collegiate rowers; I actually recognized a few rowers from my old high school in another boat. We had a reasonably solid race, all things considered, but we weren’t quite fast enough to keep up with the field and placed seventh out of seven crews.

Race results for Desert Sprints and the Crew Classic can be found through RegattaCentral:

Desert Sprints
Crew Classic

Magill Weber also took some fantastic pictures at the Desert Sprints, which can be found through her website, although I believe Outlaw photos may be misclassified under other team names.

Magill’s website (check the rowing galleries)

• February 3: 3rd Annual Arizona Indoor Rowing Championship, Tempe Town Lake Marina, Arizona
• February 10: San Diego Indoor Classic, San Diego, California
• February 25: C.R.A.S.H. - B Sprints, Boston, Massachusetts
• *March 10: Desert Sprints Tempe, Arizona
• March 10-11: Heart of Texas Austin, Texas
• March 18: Peter Archer Long Beach, California
• March 31 - April1: Crew Classic San Diego, California
• *April 7 & 8: Tweehead, & Skiffhead Amsterdam, Netherlands
• April ?8: Open ocean Regatta Sausalito, California
• April 21: Outlaws are Sponsors of the Arizona Junior Championships, Tempe, Arizona
• *May 5: Gold Rush Sacramento, California
• *May 10: Ringvaart Amsterdam>Haarlem>Leiden>Leidschendam>Den Hague>Delft, Netherlands
• May ?6: Dam to Dam Regatta Tempe, Arizona
• June ?16: Lake Tahoe RegattaKings Beach, California
• June ?24: Rumble in the Jungle Marina Del Rey, California
• July ?7: Rural Henly Regatta Klamath Falls, Oregon
• July ?8: South West Master’s Regional Championship Location Unknown
• July ?28:Mid-Summer Classic Tempe, Arizona
• August 9-12: Master’s National Championship, Oak Ridge, Tenn.
• *September ?22: 4th Annual Outlaw Erg Marathon (42,195 meters) Tempe, Arizona
• October 20-21: Head of the Charles Boston, Massachusetts
• October ?27: Head of the Colorado Austin, Texas
• October ?27: Hot Head Tempe, Arizona
• November ?3: Head of the Marina Marina Del Rey, California
• November ?4: Newport Autumn Rowing Festival Newport Beach, California
• November ?10: Marathon Rowing Championship Natchitoches, Louisiana
• November 11: Fall Classic San Diego, California
• December ?2: Christmas Regatta Long Beach, California
• December ?8: Holiday Boat Parade Tempe Town Lake, Arizona

* = Plan to attend
Green = attended

2006 Race Schedule
2005 Race Schedule

• 2006 Race Results:
• 2005 Race Results:
• 2004 Race Results:

Note that the two of us got more airtime than any of the other (larger) crews filmed. We attribute it not so much to our articulate interviews, as to our photogenic unis, oars, and boats.