The team is staying in a small town on the beach called Yamba (pronounced like the vegetable Yam), described as "very beautiful... wonderful beach, great accommodations." To row, the crews drive 20 min inland to another town called Maclean - "The Scottish Town in Australia!" as locals reportedly never fail to add when mentioning the mane of the town. The local club received funds to build a new boat "shed," and the crews are rowing out of a new 3 bay, 2 story boathouse. Both towns Yamba and MacLean have been very helpful and hospitable.
The crews are rowing on the lower Clarence river, an arm of the Clarence that runs about 12K. The stretch is described as "very protected, very rowable." Apparently, there is a current and tide, so times are essentially meaningless, although some coaches have attempted to do some timed pieces.
Rowing conditions have been quite good, save for a single day where the region was visited by 50 knot winds. While most of the world's crews were blown off the water that day, US crews snuck in both morning and evening rows, so experienced little or no setbacks.
Before leaving Princeton, men's pair member Sebastian Bea was experiencing some back problems, and sat out several rows, while alternate Kurt Borcherding, fresh from a gold medal in the Worlds in the coxed pair, subbed for Seb. Apparently this arrangement persists in Yamba, as Borcherding and Bea alternate workouts with Ted Murphy. Good luck to all concerned here.
Coach Teti has been looking after the men's eight, as well as spreading some magic dust on the open and lightweight straight fours. Meanwhile, coach Curtis Jordan was rumored to have given a speech to the local PROBUS arm of the Lions Club, a group made up of men over 60. Jordan asked what PROBUS stood for, and was told Professional and Business. But apparently another guy laughed and said "Like hell! it stands for Poor Old Bastards Useless for Sex." This story is third-hand, and you never know with RC stories, so row does not guarantee veracity.
At about the time this report came in, the spares were to race in a local regatta; the only reliable information we have on this race was that the women's pair of Helen Betancourt and Sally Scovel won the final - well done! As one person said, "so far the US women are undefeated in Australia."
True to form, the spares seem to be doing an excellent job fulfilling their most important task, which, after being ready to row at all times and on short notice, is to create as much diversion as possible. Along the left column of this page, see the evidence of their success, sent to row2k by Mark Kornweibel, the documentary filmmaker who is working on a film about the US women's eight.
The crews head to Sydney proper on September 12.
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