New Members: September 2013

By Joan Buck

Alyssa Fogel is returning to her native Massachusetts after spending several years at Carnegie Mellon University as an undergraduate and as a coach. She sweeps and sculls, which makes her a versatile addition to the Women’s Sweeps Team. Her favorite rowing moment is sitting on the start line in the final of the W2- at Dad Vail, because it was a boat she put a lot of work into. Welcome to RBC, Alyssa!

RBC welcomes another international member, Avalon Valstarfrom The Netherlands. Avalon is studying medicine in Rotterdam, she is here doing research at Boston’s Children’s Hospital as part of her degree. She started rowing at her university at home and can both sweep and scull. Her preference is for speed, so she likes 8’s and 4x’s. Despite only a few years of rowing experience, Avalon has several great memories. One stand out moment, is racing the GB Women in the 4- at the Royal Henley. Avalon brings a lot of fun and interesting experiences to RBC!

A former coxswain AND rower at Carnegie Mellon University, Josh Harvey is joining RBC. He can fill any seat in any boat as he can sweep and scull…and cox! The triple threat. His most memorable rowing experience is staying out for 3 hours of seat racing in the rain. Outside of RBC, he works as an analyst for Liberty Mutual. Apparently, he is also a classical pianist, maybe The Blades will recruit him for their next show!

Liz England is a new member to the Women’s HPG. Originally from Virginia, Liz learned to row as a novice at Clemson University, before transferring to Washington State University, where she rowed for 3 years. A member on the 2012 U-23 National Team, Liz lists her most memorable rowing moment as winning the OKC Night Sprints in 2011.

Charlotte Cavaille is another international member at RBC, originally from Brest, France. She is currently a PhD candidate at Harvard University. She started rowing last year at Oxford University with sweep rowing, but is currently learning how to scull. Her best rowing memory is her first race, a bumps race at Oxford! If you’re not sure what that entails, track her down and she can explain it!

Jimmy Hughes works upstream at CRI as the equipment coordinator at CRI, but he is happily returning to RBC to row after a couple years break. He learned to row with the Michigan State University Club team and can both sweep and scull, so he will be a great addition to the Sweeps Men. As an MSU Spartan, Jimmy was happy any time his boat beat a University of Michigan boat. With Jimmy around, we can hope for some more delicious treats at the Head of the Kevin breakfasts, as he went to culinary school and aspired to be a pastry chef!

A native of Reading, Massachusetts, Julia Saraidaridis has just joined RBC, while in her surgical residency. She rowed at Andover, continued rowing in college at Dartmouth, where she enjoyed pushing icebergs off the bow on the Connecticut River in March. Most recently she was rowing at Ann Arbor Rowing Club, mostly sweeping, with a little bit of sculling experience. She is attempting to hike all 4000 foot peaks this summer and fall and she’s looking for hiking buddies!

Ragan McNeely is a masters’ rower who first learned to row at University of Oregon. During the 80s and 90s, he rowed with the recreational sweeps team at CRI and now has come to RBC. His favorite rowing memory is racing in his first HOCR in 2009 in the Masters 8, where they placed 10th out of 42 boats. It seems that he’s pretty handy, as when he was younger he rebuilt the engine of his VW bus and was able to drive it cross country!

New Members: May 2013

Catherine Parkhurst, originally from Greenwich, CT, is a new member of Womens’ Sweeps at Riverside. A 2011 graduate from Princeton University, Catherine lists Princeton women sweeping the top 4 events at Eastern Sprints in 2011 as her favorite rowing moment. Currently, Catherine is working on premedical requirements at Harvard Extension School. Please welcome her to RBC!

Claire Churchhouse is a citizen of the world (she’s British, but grew up in Abu Dhabi) and is joining us at Riverside, because she is in Boston working on her Post Doc at the Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard. Claire learned to row at Oxford University and will be joining Womens’ Sweeps. Every row she doesn’t catch an ejector crab is considered a success for Claire.

Catching up with Rob White

How did you get started in rowing?
I started rowing in 1986 at the University of Rhode Island.  It was the spring of my sophomore year, and I had spent the last half of the fall recovering from a cycling injury. I was living with a group of rowers and they let me joint them in their winter training, helping to jumpstart my training again.  It was time for them to go out on the water and me the road, but something happened and I ended up sitting in a boat with socks on my hands and an oar in my hands.  I was very interested and tried to make it work for two more semesters before I took a year off to hike the AT. When I went back to school I realized sculling was in my future; I’m not the greatest team sports guy. I purchased a used Vespoli single and proceeded to win my first race in Albany where Burt Aphelbaum  saw me and asked me to join his guys (PVRA) rowing out of Trinity college’s boathouse.

How did you end up at Riverside?
1995 was the year.  I met Wendy Harland hiking with friends.  She was a member of the summer lightweight program and she introduced me to Jamie Ames.  And that is how I started rowing again after a four year break.

Rob with his family at his boat dedication.

You were President of the club from 2005 to 2007, tell us about a major project or projects you facilitated? 
I was Captain of the club in 1998. It was the year the master’s sweep programs came to life in a big way. The challenge was equipment and managing expectations, all the typical stuff with a group of eager new members that want to be on the water as much as possible during core hours.  AND then the ramp collapsed!  We replaced all the ramps with the current ones.  It was all about keeping my head above water.  At the time I only had email at work, and the emails were coming in at such a breakneck pace, that I was forced to have our IT guy put a filter in to turn emails back.  At the end of the year I decided to run for Trustee and was elected.  With the shellacking I took as Captain, I realized the best thing I could do as Trustee was to help the Captain get off to a good year.  I worked with Cheri Ruane, the new captain, to make her life easier by initiating a captain’s committee and assistants to help with scheduling.  My three year term didn’t even make it to a year when I decided to take a two year ex-pat assignment in Germany with Bosch.  I took off in the fall and brought my boat with me. I had two great years of rowing in Strasbourg, France.

When I returned from Germany it was late fall and elections were coming up.  Savas asked me to run for VP and I did.  I wasn’t elected, but on the spot I was nominated and elected for Trustee.  It was an interesting first year as Trustee.  My first main task was to have an open forum to discuss teaming up with either Simmons or G-ROW to improve the boathouse.  It went down like a ton of bricks; we’ve come a long ways since then!  After that I worked with Caro on the bathroom reconstruction, the sweep bay rubber roof and skylights, the heating system, the exterior lighting, repair of the rubber roof over the porch, managed the rigger, and many excel spreadsheets about building expenses, program costs…

Then I was asked to be President.  I thought Patricia was crazy, but between Sarah and Patricia they persuaded me to do it.  I’m certainly not the most charismatic leader, but I got into the nuts and bolts of running Riverside with the goal of getting the financial picture squared away such that RBC could entertain teaming up with another organization to improve the club.  Additionally with Sarah running the membership, we were focused on staying connected with supporting members, alumni, Simmons, Brookline and other clubs on the river with the goal of creating a larger RBC community than those of us that row regularly.  We also made some of the first bylaw changes since they were originally written. We added a presidents committee to the club that had grown by nearly 100 members since I had joined; it was becoming less manageable.  I can’t deny that there were a number of frustrating moments while on the board, but I’m glad I did it.

Tell us about a memorable racing experience.
My first speed order down at Princeton was an 8k Saturday evening.  I was 4th overall and the fastest lightweight with the previous year’s single sculler behind me.  The next morning we did 2ks. I won the lightweight men’s single by 2 open lengths. At this point I had only been sculling a year.  It ended several months after that with a herniated disk in my lower back.

You and Kevin are pretty quick in the double, any future athletic endeavors on the horizon?
Kevin is great to row with.  He makes me row so much better than when I am by myself.  Sarah doesn’t know this, but I’ve been contemplating cycling again.

What are you reading/watching right now?
Downton Abby – this is Sarah’s evening soap opera.

Tell us something we do not know about you.
I like to cook everything!  Dishes I crave are a northern Italian lasagna made with a ragu, béchamel sauce and homemade pasta.  I love to make fruit crisps, custards and English trifle.  When there is time I also like to make bread.

One additional fact, I stood 8 feet away from a 500lb grizzly bear in Alaska, we surprised each other and I didn’t make my underwear untidy!

New members: November 2012

Like our beloved chief Secretary Kit Casey, Dan Polasky hails from Minnesota. He’s currently a research technician in a lab at the Tufts Medical Center doing biochemistry/analytical chemistry/stuff. Dan began rowing at Bowdoin College, the more studious cousin of Bates and Colby, and his favorite rowing moment is placing 4th (medaling!) in the Collegiate Four at the 2011 HOCR. Dan also competed on the Bowdoin Nordic team. He’ll be racing the Birkie this February with several other RBC athletes who have slightly less skill but enough pride to hopefully complete all those k’s (call us for lessons, please?).

Jon Kraus, friend to (or of) the McAuliffe Gig, comes to Riverside after taking time off from URI during a collegiate bout of mono. Jon’s hometown is Milton, MA but he is originally from South Boston. Pending recovery from both the gig and the mono (and the fall catch-up course-load), he’ll return to the program at URI. Jon’s favorite rowing moment was having the opportunity to stroke a 4+ at ACRA’s on the Olympic Course at Lake Lanier.

Don’t look this kid in the eye. Hannah Jeton is an Andover native who joins RBC after rowing at Dartmouth College. She is an Architecture Project Coordinator and Assistant at TROJB. She is an RBC rookie (Caro, sign her up for something), a sweep rower, and can hold one eye crossed. We can only hope that the Dartmouth tradition at RBC is carried on with her membership.

Suthesh Sivapalaratnam is a Post Research Fellow (MD PhD) originally from Amsterdam. He began rowing in 2001 and continues to prefer sweep rowing (of the big boat variety). Last year, he watched what was likely the most controversial Boat Race ever rowed. He is eager to get involved at RBC and is an avid cyclist and runner when not enjoying the bends of the Charles.

Jordan Sullivan is a Mainer, South Berwick to be exact. He’s been living in Cambridge since 2008 and only recently heeded the siren of the stripes. Jordan rowed all four years at Davidson College and his only experience in a single found him in the water. He now does genetic analysis at the Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard. As luck would have it, Jordan’s favorite rowing moment is also having the opportunity to compete on Lake Lanier. Jordan used to work at a brewery so hopefully he’ll consider joining the ranks of the van Lennep Social Committee.

Katie Melvin is a Florence, Alabama native now working at Composite Engineering. She rowed at Georgia Tech from 2007 – 2011 and her favorite rowing moment is battling it out on the Schuylkill at Dad Vails in 2010 for a silver medal and taking second with just .016 over the third place boat. She’s a sweep rower eager to get involved at RBC and to cite her next best (or next-best) rowing moment on the Charles. She has lived in four cities in 18 months, so let’s encourage her to stay and row for a while.

Jamie Nicole Heinzen is a Neurologist originally from San Clemente, CA. She rowed for 2 years at Oxford, 1 year at Cambridge, and 1 – 2 years at MBRA in San Diego. Her favorite rowing moment is paddling out on the Isis River in Oxford at sunrise with the swans swimming around the boats and the steam rising off the water. I’m sure the geese and sweet sweet scent of bacon near the Hyatt will replace that soon enough. Jamie is a starboard and met her husband, fellow RBC member Evan Labuzetta, in the middle of a “Bumps” race (British collegiate rowing competition) in England. FYI, captains don’t approve of bumping in club equipment so please keep it clean. Welcome to RBC everyone!

Kansas meets Syracuse

Jeff and Lisa

How did it all start?
Lisa: I started rowing as an undergraduate at the University of Kansas in 1978. I signed up for rowing because 2 tall, gorgeous men were recruiting during enrollment. The club had no funding and little equipment. The men and women shared a Pocock 8+ from 1936 that was covered with fiberglass and weighed about 400 lbs. The coach was a former coxswain, so he coached from a small boat tethered to the 8+. Later, I bought a Vespoli 1x in 1985 and since I learned how to scull by watching videos of German scullers, I carried my hands right over left for several months. I often had to race against men as there were few women scullers in the Midwest. Despite the dearth of sculling in the Midwest in the 1980s, I was coached briefly by the Canadian rower, Theodore Dubois, and by Miriam Baer from the Minnesota Boat Club.

Jeff: I started rowing in the 9th grade at Poughkeepsie High School in upstate New York. I had been swimming, racing row boats, and mountain climbing since I could walk, so it seemed like a good sport for me. I had been playing the baritone horn in the marching band, but couldn’t do both band and rowing. I think the band director was relieved. I had a scholarship to Syracuse in rowing. I funded my post-collegiate rowing by coaching. I coached at St. Anthony’s High school on Long Island, the Merchant Marine academy at King’s Point, Northeastern University, and MIT as well as a few other places. I also started the rowing program in Albany, NY where Austin Meyer (who finished 4th in the under 23 2x at the world championships this year) learned to row.

Memories…
Lisa: Memorable experiences, both bad and good, make us better. Only 4 months after teaching myself how to scull I entered Women’s nationals in Corning, NY. I drove 22 hours with my old boyfriend in a VW rabbit. The water pump blew out on the way, a tornado wiped out the motel where I planned to stay, and then I raced Ann Marden in my first heat. Many of my fondest memories of rowing at RBC were of training with the sculling group every morning in the 1990s with coaches Jeanne Flannagan (Olympic 8+ silver medalist in 1984) and Iskra Balcheva (Bulgarian Olympian). There was the ever present smell of chocolate Necco wafers in the basin. One year I drove to the Canadian Henley with Jim Hanley and Jamie Ames. Hanley kept rolling up the window when Jamie was trying to spit cherry pits outside. Two of my best memories are rowing with Jeff in a double at the Foot of the Charles on the morning of our wedding and in June of 2009 after his heart surgery. Winning the HOCR in the master’s women’s 1x after starting dead last was rather fun, too. I have started last 3 times.

Jeff: My most memorable experiences of rowing are of racing. I won the San Diego Crew Classic with Andy O’Brien in my boat twice. I raced with John Condon (former RBC president) many times. Rowing with John is always a memorable experience. He had a lot of enthusiasm. Winning 3 gold medals in a row while not getting off the water at the Master World’s in Belgium was really a highlight. I won the 2x, 4-, and 8+. Lisa also reminded me that I met her at the RBC HOCR party after winning the Master’s 8+ at the HOCR. That was definitely a memorable rowing experience.

Coming to Riverside…
Lisa: I rowed with a women’s 4x in 1988 at RBC, but I officially joined RBC in 1989. A couple of other friends from Kansas had joined RBC a year before me and told me that it was a really great club with nice boats, fast rowers, good coaches, and indoor plumbing. I had raced at Canadian Henley a couple of times prior to moving to Boston and many of the winners were wearing the blue and white stripes that I figured it would be a good place for me to learn how to row fast. Since I had to sell my boat when I moved here, Jim Hanley let me use his boat for racing. I am forever in his debt. Folks on the board discovered that I could repair boats and rig, so I worked part time as the rigger.

Jeff: I joined RBC in 1999. I had been coaching several people at MIT including President Igor Belakovskiy. They had joined RBC and I wanted to continue training with fast people so I joined as well. I was working at Gentle Giant and RBC was a good bargain. I could also keep my boat on the lawn. I drove the trailer for a few years for RBC to help with the rowing expenses.

Seriously, Kastle Kunze?
Lisa: I was leaving Boston to start my residency in orthopedic surgery at University of Michigan in 1997. Teddy Littlefield was still the groundskeeper at RBC and although he liked to paint, his efforts often resemble a Jackson Pollock painting. The B&G people would hide the brushes and paint, but he would just buy more. One day I caught him entering the women’s locker room with paint in hand. I stopped him and told him that I was planning on painting the locker room before going to Michigan. I really didn’t want to do that, but I ended up painting the entire locker room and repairing several lockers. In honor and in jest of my deeds, Marianne Ganzer painted the “Kastle Kunze” sign and put it over the locker room. That’s it.

Current Riverside Project…
Lisa: I am working on the Development Committee, and my primary focus is on program development. It is a long term effort, but this year I have spoken with many RBC members and coaches about how to create good programs. My goal is to initiate changes that will improve our programs and make them financially sound. This will take time and money. Some improvements in the program structure, function, and equipment can be made over the next year, but overall, this is a 5-10 year project. I am so appreciative of the people who have helped me up to this point. If you have ideas about how to make programs run better, I would like to hear about them!

It seems like you and Jeff are always on the go no matter the season. Let’s play a game. I’ll give you a date and weather conditions and you tell me where I can find you.

February, 20 degrees, snow, wind: 5 mph
Lisa/Jeff: Biathlon experience at Soldier Hollow. Lisa scores 14/15 and Jeff 8/15. Neither of us can ski for beans, but we had a blast. Later that day we headed to the Olympic venue in Park City and did the bobsled and zip-lined along the ski jumps. Weeeee.

March, 18 degrees, snowing, wind: 30 mph
Lisa/Jeff: Lifting weights at the Murr Center at Harvard and running into the awesome Sarah Schwegman who is also pumping some iron and demonstrating her exceptional balance. (Note: There may have been some bribery associated with this response.)

June, 72 degrees, partly cloudy, wind: 8 mph
Lisa/Jeff: There is no better day to do 2 minute pieces. We welcome others to share our pain.

August, 91 degrees, clear and sunny, 72 degrees, wind: 2 mph
Lisa/Jeff: Paddleboarding at Marblehead! Lobstas for dinner.

October, 48 degrees, cloudy, wind: 12 mph
Lisa/Jeff: Rowing in the HOCR and cheering others on from the dock.
Lisa: I volunteer with the first aid team for the HOCR.
Jeff: I roam the crowds to talk with the some of the hundreds of rowing people from my past.
Lisa: After the races are over we head to the kickin’ RBC party. We first met at one of the parties so it’s one of our anniversaries.

New Members: October 2012

By: Sophie Ordway
Photo Credit: Mike Farry

Victoria Stutz comes to us from Trumbull, Connecticut. In addition to rowing sweep all four years of college, Victoria has a couple summers of sculling under her belt. Her favorite rowing moment is when she crossed the finish line at the Canadian Henley with less than a second lead to advance. When she’s not consulting the general public on how to manage their money, Victoria has put in some work hours with RBC and hopes to help out with fundraising. Before Victoria ever got into rowing, she had the opportunity to play cello with Yo-Yo Ma at the Symphony Hall.

Beatrice Sims is a recent graduate of Brown where she rowed all four years and won NCAA championships her junior year. Because she couldn’t get enough of the sport (like the rest of us), Beatrice spent recent summers with the Quinsigamond Rowing Association near her hometown of North Grafton. She rowed for RBC this past summer along with volunteering at Master’s Nationals. She is also working towards a certification as an Assistant USRowing Referee in addition to her job as a Software Engineer at Vistaprint. While Beatrice obviously has skill on the water in both sweep and sculling boats, she has yet to learn the same finesse on land: She once broke her leg while answering the phone…

Christopher Lyver hails from all over the country and beyond. An honorably discharged ‘veteran’ from the Air Force, Chris spent his high school years bouncing back and forth between Fordham Prep during the school year (where he won most outstanding novice his first year and was captain as a senior) and Pelham Community Rowing during the summers. He rowed recreationally with Fordham University and has trained as far north as Canada and as far south as Miami. His favorite rowing memory is the New York State Scholastic Championships in 2011. He plans to volunteer on the 29th with RBC at Cambridge History Day and is hoping to sign up with some of the regatta committees.

Kelley Woodacre, from Wellesley, MA, comes to us from an assortment of different rowing teams and clubs. She rowed for University of Rhode Island all four years and managed to become Captain her senior year. She also spent a couple summers rowing for CanAmMex and the Boston U23 Development Camp. And if that’s not enough, she’s also spent some time with Community Rowing. We’re definitely hoping she plans to settle with RBC for a good while, as she can row pretty much anything and everything. Her favorite rowing moment is when she won Head of the Charles in the CRI Youth 8+. As a landscape architect for Sudbury Design Group, Kelley plans to bring her skills to the Buildings and Grounds Committee to help make RBC a more sustainable club. In addition to all the rowing Kelley has done the last six years, she’s also an avid skier and rock climber.

Grace Lin is migrating to us from just down the river. She has spent the past four years coxing for MIT, or as she responded, being ‘deadweight’. Of course we all know the real value of coxswains, so we’re very happy to have her with us. We will have to figure out how to keep her out of the Charles, as she’s been in over it ten times. We may also have to give her a new cheer, otherwise she’ll start up the Beaver Call come race time.

Allison Lavigne hails from the Midwest and has been rowing off and on for the past 11 years. She started at Bucknell in 2001 as a walkon and has also rowed with the Masters team for the Greater Columbus Rowing Association. She’s been rowing with the Women’s Sweep program for RBC and hopes to start sculling soon. Her favorite rowing moment was wet launching from the sandy beaches of Long Beach, CA during Masters Nationals. One fun fact about Allison is that before she learned to row in college, she spent her high school years playing tennis and badminton.

Rachel Pettis is originally from Georgia but she’s been a local in Boston since 2008. She walked on to the BC women’s team and has been hooked ever since. Her favorite rowing moment is when she raced in the Club 8+ event in the Head of the Charles. She is currently a legal secretary and hopes to help RBC with the fundraising committee. If you ever find yourself rowing behind Rachel, be sure to ask her where her extra vertebra is that she has endearingly named Fernando.

Ray Firth is making the transition to us from CRI, although he first learned to row on the Charles in 1970 with Northeastern University. He works for Alden Rowing Shells and while he can row sweep and scull, his racing shell of choice is the open water. If you ever find yourself on the water next to Ray on a rather windy day, be careful about racing him back to the dock. He was also an Adaptive Coach for CRI. He’s joined the Masters team with RBC and is looking forward to all the new faces and activities.

Jeanette Saraidaridis has been rowing since 2003 when she first learned at Phillips Academy Andover. She honed her skills at Brown University for 4 years, along with a couple summers at CRI and GMS in between. Jeanette can scull as well as sweep but for now she’s joining the women’s sweeps team. Her favorite rowing moment is the snowstorm during the Head of the Charles in 2009. And while we all may not understand her dislike of cheese, hopefully we can entice her to use her teaching skills to help out with some of RBC’s learn to row days.

Sophie Ordway, also from the Midwest, learned to scull around ten years ago. She spent the following six years sculling, coxing and rowing in a lightweight 4+ for Grand Rapids Crew. She rowed at Marist College for the two and a half years she wasn’t abroad and has since done a little bit of coaching but is looking forward to being back on the water. She’s helping the club out with the newsletter but she would also like to get involved in the Buildings and Grounds Committee. She loves to knit and sew, which is why she works at Gather Here, Cambridge’s first and only Stitch Lounge. It’s hard for her to pin down a favorite rowing moment, but one of the many mornings on the Hudson when everything just clicked in her Varsity 8+ will definitely suffice.

Andrew Hashway and 2012 World Championships

Andrew Hashway strikes a pose.

Tell us, how did you get started in rowing?
I started rowing my freshman year at Saint John’s high school in Shrewsbury, MA; one of my friend’s parents thought it would be nice for all of the kids from our town to participate in the same sport. Seeing as no one really has any prior experience with rowing before high school, it was a level playing field for us all. I also knew that I was not a superstar on my baseball or football teams, so I figured why not. I do remember that one thing I was not happy about was that fact that I had to wear spandex to participate… oh how times have changed!

When did you join Riverside?
I joined Riverside in the summer of 2007, partially due to a strong suggestion from Will Allen. He had rowed with me at college and knew my personality and drive and said that if I took a year off to do the backpacking trip I had planned to do in Asia, I would fall behind. So I decided I loved rowing enough to continue at a higher level, thus Riverside was the place to be, especially considering that same year the Senior World’s Lightweight Men’s Eight had been developed and qualified from Riverside, I felt that it was a good decision.

Tell us a little bit about the qualification process for World Championships.
For this year’s Senior Lightweight 8, our coach (and CRI Director), Bruce Smith employed two major tools to determine seat racing. The first is the PowerView, which is a fabulous tool that is even used in NASCAR and it can measure almost any little movement from the acceleration of the boat on the drive and recovery, to the amount of check that is produced just by getting the hands away faster or slower on the recovery. It is truly a miraculous tool. The second is the SmartOar, which is run by an RBC alum, Greg Ruckman. It was the main tool in deciding who made the boat. Essentially, it is a system that can measure the length of the stroke, the power curve created by the oarsman, the power produced as well as the stroke rate. By doing set distances and or timed pieces, Bruce and Devin, our assistant coach, were able to calculate the effectiveness of each oarsman at any given moment in the boat and then from there, choose the best-qualified rowers in the camp.

Once we handled the seat racing and internal selection process, we had to head to Princeton, NJ to race another lightweight men’s eight from Vesper, which was comprised of some rather talented rowers. Since there were only two entries, the first race was a race for lanes. We both went down the course head to head in order to determine which crew would be in the more “favorable” lane, as determined by the weather conditions on the day of the final. On the finals day, it was winner-takes-all and whoever crossed the line first, had earned the privilege to represent the United States at the 2012 Non Olympic World Championships. It goes without saying that I was very glad we had come out on top, but felt sad for a few of the guys in the Vesper eight, who I felt deserved a seat in our boat.

Tell us all about your experience in Plovdiv.
I arrived on a Sunday with the rest of my team, we flew from Logan International to Heathrow, England, then to Sofia, Bulgaria.

The course was rather nice, all man made and sort of surreal… I’ve seen the course from Worlds videos, but to be on the actual course felt weird. As the first day of the regatta came closer and closer, the course got crazier and crazier, I would liken it to the week leading up to the Head of the Charles. Every inch of that course was pulsating with elite rowers just trying to get their own workouts in as effectively as they could. It sort of felt like being home on the Charles when BU, MIT and Harvard all decide to take their entire fleets out at the same time. Lots of rough water and dodging oars and wakes.

In my off times I tried to unplug from rowing. I watched videos I had on my laptop, read a few articles about Bulgaria along with re-reading favorite parts of the book Assault on Lake Casitas, checked out what was going on in the States and of course, I slept like it was going out of style. My pre/post practices were spent plugged into my iTouch. I had all four of Dave Cooks comedic CD’s going, you just can never have too many funny jokes in a stressful situation. I also had some of my famous “angry” music to get me focused up before races. Anyone who has erged in the winter with me knows the style of music I enjoy getting ready to.

After races I did get to see parts of Plovdiv. I walked around some of the Roman ruins as well as some statues that were erected during the Soviet Union’s rule over the area. One particular statue was atop a massive hill which overlooked the vast mountain scape, quite picturesque.

What was the race progression for your event? Did you have any memorable moments during any particular race in Plovdiv?
There were two roads to the finals, the short way and the long way and we ended taking the latter. The long way involved a heat on the first day of the regatta. Since we placed 4th in that race, we had to race again the following day in the Reps for one last chance at the top six spots in the final. Sadly, we under-estimated some of the crews in our rep and we were relegated to the B Finals.

The most memorable moment for me was not that pleasant. Our four-seat, my roommate at the regatta, had come down with sun poisoning between the heats and reps, so we had to scramble for a replacement, since he was not going to be able to race. Luckily a US Junior coach keeps himself fit and thin enough to sweat down to max and hop in our boat. I can only imagine the amount of pressure he was under, knowing that he could be the deciding factor between us going to the A or B final. But no matter how much harassment he received from the other Junior coaches, warm-up through to post-race, he did something I would venture many others wouldn’t even have the gumption to try and he did it to the very best of his ability.

Hillary and Andrew

You’re a lightweight, we have to ask, what was your first post-race meal?
Ha, well for me, once I was deep into the lightweight life style, I forget how good the tastier things in life can be, so I wasn’t really craving anything post-race, but once I started eating outside my own pre-approved dietary needs, the flood gates opened up to the wonders of sugar. Once I finished my racing, the very first piece of food I ate was baklava from a local pastry department. After that, I sort of lost count of the devilish things I ate.

What future athletic endeavors are you looking forward to?
As proud of my accomplishments as I am (representing the United States), I feel that my job could have been done better. So this year I am going for it again! I am going to do a better job on the international circuit and better represent the US, Riverside, Marist, Saint John’s and my family.

Soon enough, I will be looking to transition from purely rowing to triathlons and competitive skate skiing. New sport, same amount of dedication

New Members: July 2012

by Lib Diamond

Ellen Czaika joins RBC as a jack(jane?)-of-all-rowing-trades.  She has experience sweeping, sculling, and even coxing but joined RBC primarily to continue sculling.  She is PhD Student originally from Marblehead, MA and San Diego, CA (she spans the nation) and she has rowed for San Diego, MIT Rowing Club, and Oxford (stroke-side).  Ellen is involved in the yoga community in South Boston and hopefully can bring us all a little needed balance.

Kalmia Buels learned to row in Ithaca, NY as a wee 8th grader.  She sculled in college on a club team and after a brief hiatus from the sport continued sculling with a masters group in Portland OR.  Kalmia is a rock climber and a Postdoctoral Fellow at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center with a fondness for the adrenaline rush of the last five strokes of a sprint race.  Welcome!

Jon Miles hails from Woodstock, VT just north of everyone’s third-favorite fall Regatta, GMH.  Jon is an SAT tutor and an avid sock knitter(er) who began rowing during his senior year at Wesleyan University.  He was tricked into sticking with the sport after winning the Lightweight 8 at Canadian Henley in “all its vomitey glory.”  He’s recovering from a back injury but will be back on the water after he finishes knitting his first pair of blue striped socks.