This Life is Not a Dress Rehearsal: The Big Race

This rain has been such a pain. I was finally able to dig a hole for the pipe to house the newest fire hydrant. I had saved the forms from the last two bases I constructed, so it was an easy operation to pour the concrete and level it out.

In building the brick surround, the last brick to be installed had an overhang of about 3/8’s of an inch. This will not do. Rather then relay all the other bricks; I decided to just shave off that offending excess. That overhanging brick was really not that big a deal. But, it annoyed me so that I would forever be cursing the fact I did not fix it. To make that one cut on the brick entailed me going through the aggravation of setting out the brick saw and then tearing it all apart again. I sometimes wish I were not so anal about that kind of thing. It sure would make my life easier!

The best part of the job was getting “high” off the Sweet Olive which is in full bloom now. It is hard to believe such tiny white blossoms can emit such a strong sweet odour. The aroma permeates the house from the open windows in the back. The small olive I planted just outside my bedroom is now mature enough to have lots of blooms so I drift off to sleep now to that smell…..

Friday Rachael and I drove to Chattanooga together for the big Chattanooga Head Race. This will be the first race I’ve ever coxed and I’d been a wreck worrying about the outcome. There has been so much rain; the Tennessee River was high with a real strong current. The weather reports were for rain and storms.

Right before getting on the road, my cousin “Tootie” called and we had a nice visit. “Tootie” is in poor health, but a real trooper. She promised to pray to Saint Jude for our race to go well. She assured me they were on good terms.

Driving up just before exit 205 on I-59 the traffic stopped. There had been a horrible wreck and the last of that mess was getting cleared up. I had to get a picture to document the wait for this entry. The trucker next to us explained the easiest way to detour in case we had to get off at exit 205. What a nice guy. He wished us luck in the race! Slowly the traffic began to move, and work up to the speed limit. When we passed the guys taking up the work cones, I know we were home free for a little while.

Just outside Chattanooga we hit rain. UGH! In typical fashion it seems traffic just speeds up under these circumstances. I had to hit the brakes a few times to avoid rear ending the vehicle in front of me as they slowed to gawk at the many fender benders lining I-24.

We got to the launch site and located the sweeps for Alabama Crew, alone with our boat. Nobody was around, so Rachael and I wandered the area in search of a Starbucks. We easily found it and I luxuriated in a coffee and we split a chocolate brownie.

We joined up with the rest of the crew and got to work rigging up the sweep. I wanted to be sure we did that work ourselves. I did not want the Alabama crew guys doing that. As clubs we work together, I don’t want us to be seen as a burden by them. Jason and Alison showed up to do the technical spread and oarlock adjustments.

The weather report for our Saturday race was NOT good. The river was flowing FAST and the clouds were rolling in as we split off. The womens team booked rooms off I-75. It was awkward with me being the only guy, I sprung for my own room downtown. I got a great deal at a Days Inn not far from the race through Priceline. Ted showed up for the race so we split the room cost. For some reason I got an upgrade on the room. I’ll not complain about that.

The weather alert beeped through on the TV of dangerous thunderstorms. It figures, Ted and I had to drive to the other side of the city to join the crew for dinner at Applebee’s. What a drive. It was sheets of rain falling. Traffic was slowed to 35-40 mph at the max on I-75. I’m not that keen driving at night to begin with, let alone under these conditions. We arrived safely and joined everyone.

I had one beer to calm my nerves and water for the rest of the night. God forbid anything happen and you have a blood alcohol over .08. A bacon cheeseburger was my supper. That should hold me just fine.

Saturday morning dawned with a steady light rain. If we have to do the race in the rain, that should not be too bad. Alison wanted us at the launch site at 6:45. She wanted the entire crew to be at the Captain and Coxes meeting at 7:30. I packed in such a hurry I forgot to pack a jacket… Alison loaned me a hooded sweatshirt which greatly helped.

There were over 300 boats registered for the Head Race. The organizers wanted all the novice coxes to be in front. I was up there with the high school and younger kids. I told them we were all in the same boat!

The race course was explained and the river currents described. At this point my stomach was one huge knot. We were #18 in the race and had to be in the first wave of departing boats. We launched off a floating dock after passing the safety inspection for foot stretchers and the bow ball. We had to shove off before I even got the cox box hooked up so I had to really yell to get us turned around. I was warned of a tree limb floating just under the surface I could not see directly ahead of us. A great way to start: I was a wreck…..

Afternoon congestion at the dock:

The dock we launched from is the same we finish at. We had to row upstream the entire race course on the left side of the river. We worked through drills ending up rowing pretty much the entire distance with all eight. Alison was in the stroke seat and walked me through calling out what was needed. It takes a LOT of stamina and strength to do this kind of race: we were up against some heavy competition.

We had to get in some sort of a line upstream from the start. The 19 team was with us, we were missing the 17 sweep. Finally they crossed the river and we followed them. I hit the reset on the cox box and for whatever reason it stopped registering the stroke rate. We trained at a 26 rating Going down the “chute” This is where you build up speed and passing the line you hear “Mark” and you are in the race.

Alison coached me on the calls. I was concentrating on not riding the rudder and obsessing on not crossing a lane marker. I was constantly reminding ports to check down and starboards to watch hand levels: not having the cox box to check the stroke rate was driving me frantic.

Push through the legs, upper body swing, tap out with your elbow and the never ending DON’T RUSH YOUR SEATS was my harangue through the race. I was in constant apprehension of Rachael catching a crab….EARLY ROLL UPS!!! Melissa WATCH YOUR RELEASES…. GET A BIG STRETCH!!! At the 3,500 meter mark was when things began to blur. Rachael noticed it, when my calls went off. I was sweating, my vision was getting blurred and that lightheaded feeling was hitting me. Was it from hyperventilating or the pressure? I had to hang in there and finish the race. I recovered and we completed the race without any real mishap. The crew did well and we stayed on course.

We did not row strong and as a consequence did not place. But, we were not last. We were 5th out of 7. Basically we accomplished what we originally set out to do which was to complete that first head race in one piece.

The weather held for the rest of the day. It did not rain on our race, we completed it without mishap. I need to thank cousin “Tootie” and Saint Jude. They both came through for us!

Jamie Tina Rachel, Melissa