Another beautiful, sunny morning at the course (and perhaps one of the last for a little while) did bring a bit of a cross headwind, which definitely made the trip up the course quite different from the trip down the course; coaches and crews could be heard discussing adjustments when they arrived and turned around up at the starting line. But perhaps most notably, all of the teams that were hiding out across the Channel in Europe have arrived and are at full strength, so it is full metal jacket out on the course during practice hours, wow.
The rumor mill is cranking at full strength as well; the absence of Tom James from the three-seat of the GB four yesterday set folks to wondering, but he was back in the saddle this morning, having missed a practice due to feeling "only a little bit out of sorts," as the Brit insiders were quick to share to dispel any questions. In the US ranks, alternate Jamie Redman did a couple laps for Esther Lofgren, who was in a similar predicament, nothing serious.
Also direct from the rumor mill is the explanation for a slightly lesser on-water marshalling launch presence: volunteers were ticked off that sailing volunteers got better gear than did rowing volunteers. Who knows if it is true, but let's be honest; sailing gear is always better than rowing gear - you can't compare a killer all-weather suit to a four-ounce weigh-in unisuit, under any circumstances.
The quest for technique improvements has not ended for many crews; the South African four mentioned yesterday installed straws on their gunwales to define the catch angle; a couple British single scullers were also practicing bouncing their boats wildly enough that water was coming on board while pumping their fists in the air; I'm not sure what that drill is for, and neither were their coaches.
Maybe they were just going for style points, but they were beat out by the double from Portugal wearing matching green berets - yeah!
More unusual was the double button on the oars of the GB four; maybe they have a plan to lighten the rig mid-race?
Speaking of changing things mid-race, what an awesome amount of tactical interest that could add - like in a baseball or basketball game, what if you could change the person in the stroke seat with 300 to go, or change your rig right before the sprint?
You know it is the end of an Olympic cycle when at least half the crews have someone who immediately checks, picks, and bites their hand callouses when the boat stops to turn around; having just been through the full gamut (old-timers will think that a pun) of training, pre-selection, training trips, World Cups, usually more selection, then, you know, doing final prep for the Olympics, no one has had too many days off, nor very many easy days, for their hands to soften up.
And the racing is getting close; at 11am, officials tested the start system by offering full-blown official-sounding starts to many of the crews training on the lake. They got the full dose - stakeboat kids, two minute calls, lights, beeps, the whole show. The cool thing was that crews from entirely different events were pulling in together, so you might see a start that included a women's single, a men's pair, a women's eight, and a lightweight four. A few of the starts actually included folks in the same event - those were a little tense.
I set up a camera on a fence post in hopes of doing a time lapse, and it was just a bit above head height for the coaches going past on bikes; many turned abruptly when they heard the clicks every two seconds, so hopefully we have a few good facial expressions for your amusement.
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07/26/2012 12:41:01 PM
07/26/2012 12:42:48 PM