August 25 - First Strokes

Being at the world championships brings a strange blend of business and boredom.  It seems like there is always something that could be done, but very few things that absolutely must be done.  School work is a constant option, for example, but so is knapping.

After checking emails and updating my blog yesterday, I joined the rest of the team for our 12:00 meeting.  After that, we grabbed a quick lunch, dropped off the dogs to be watched at the Concept2 tent (I forgot my crate in the hotel), and checked our bags at the secure area before heading out for our first practice.

Our first row in Germany went well.  We were back in our own racing shell, which was a huge improvement over the boat we had during training.  We rowed our old boat while in Philadelphia because the racing shell began its journey across the Atlantic with the other US boats in mid June. 

Yesterday we also tried out some new oars from Concept2.  Aerial prefers them because they are easier to feel in the oar lock than our old blades were.  I don’t know what I really think about them.  I rowed with C2’s in college, but I am used to the Crokers that we’ve been using.  Hopefully I’ll relearn the feel of the new oars by the end of our row this afternoon.

Another interesting development yesterday was the draw of our first heat.  There will be 4 heats, 2 semi-final rounds, and the grand finals.  Three boats will progress from each heat to the semi-finals, and 3 from semi-finals to the finals.  Our first heat is the smallest of the 4.  We only have four boats: Korea, Canada, Israel, and us.  I’m not sure what our strategy will be, yet, but we only need to beat one boat to advance directly to the semi’s without going through the repechage rounds (aka the losers’ bracket).

Really, that’s about it.  The pattern for the next several days will be pretty consistent.  Right now we’re just focusing on feeling the boat, getting used to the new blades and the venue, and adjusting to the time difference.  I just want to accelerate everything and get to the racing, but that will come soon enough.