[2812] in APO News
Head of the Charles
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Bradley J Lichtenstein)
Sat Sep 27 00:56:13 1997
Date: Sat, 27 Sep 1997 00:43:17 -0400
From: Bradley J Lichtenstein <robocop2@MIT.EDU>
To: apo-news@MIT.EDU
Cc: robocop2@MIT.EDU
...Mark your calendars for Sat and Sun Oct 18 and 19: the world's
largest single-day regatta just split into two days. That's right,
the Head of the Charles is back, and hopefully there won't be any
debilitating storms. I'll be rowing in the men's (heavyweight) club
4+ <--that's four rowers each with one oar, and a coxswain to steer--
which will be sometime on Saturday, and which will be one of the
heaviest boats ever on the Charles. The MIT heavyweight men's squad
is also fielding a club 8 (that event is usually later in the day than
the club 4, and will probably be the last event of the day this year)
and a championship 8, the last event on Sunday. The lightweight men's
and the women's squads will also probably field about three boats
each, and new this year will be a junior boat: there happened to be 8
or more frosh under 18 who've rowed in high school.
Come witness thousands of boats and many times that in rowers!
Hang out on a bridge and cheer MIT boats along, and watch the carnage
as boats collide under those bridges or lose half a minute on wide
turns. Regarding the cheering, there is very little that can get an
oarsman to pull harder than hearing his/her name (hint) from a bridge,
and to hear the boat cheered on as well. (hint) Sound carries farther
than you think, so keep cheering for longer than you think we can
hear. (hint) it makes a difference--one of the three major home-field
advantages the Boston teams have. [and since I mentioned three: 2)
the cox'n has had more practice than anyone else steering on one of
the hardest courses in the world, and 3) the rowers know the course,
too, and so know that in some turns the boat will have better times
overall if they DON'T pull as hard as possible.
Anyway, I guess that's all for now from one of APO's newest die-hard
rowers.
Take care,
Brad Lichtenstein
