Today I had my first homemade corrugated plastic splash-guard taped to my boat.  Today I had Tom give us a running launch off the dock with a Jack-be-Nimble maneuver over two sets of sculling oars for the first time.  And today I had my first International event delayed, and then canceled.

After the conditions yesterday that left us stranded at the hotel all day, we were prepared to do battle in some potentially very bad water today.  And all day, every day, actually, we have been preparing ourselves for the water to get wild... anticipating that the good conditions we've had for the past week weren't going to hold.  Even so... the water we rowed in today was remarkable.  I'm not sure that any amount of mental preparation can really amp you up for the quality of the swells that were barreling down Lake Karapiro this morning.  The best way I can qualify it at this point is "whitecaps plus".

We launched the quad on time, knuckles white and teeth gritted.  We made it up to the top of the warm-up area, and as we were spinning to start our first loop, officials directed us on to the course and back to the docks.  Ugh.  So frustrating.

Granted, it would not have been easy racing had we been allowed to go down and for the safety of the athletes and the integrity of the equipment it is probably good that we came home safely to wait it out. 

We spent a few hours at the course waiting to see if racing would resume this afternoon to no avail.  After lunch, the announcement was made official, and we piled on a bus to come back to the hotel. 

Racing is scheduled to resume tomorrow morning, and will include both Sunday and Monday programming.  Good luck to all who are racing, and who are dealing with the disappointment of not getting to take a shot at the course today.

Happy Halloween,

--MK

http://megankalmoe.com