Press Room - Jack London Aquatic Center Junior Rowing

Nov 21: River City Novice Regatta. There was bright sunshine in West Sacramento, but no-one could feel it with the biting cold winds that blew all morning. The wind had most people hiding their hands in their pockets and sleeves. We had brought our most experienced novices plus a hardy contingent of parents/family/supporters, and the lesson for all in the early hours before the race was 'Bring more clothes!'.

Our boat started well in the Novice 'A' event but ran into trouble 1/3 the way through the race. The wind, which was stiff and picking up all morning, blew the boat up against the far shoreline. Several girls quickly hopped out of the boat into the water and pushed themselves off the shore, and, after a minor skirmish with a local fisherman's line, they got back to racing. Unfortunately they had lost the fin off the bottom of the boat, making it nearly impossible to steer a true course. Despite all of the difficulties, they finished the race 8th out of 11 boats.

Frustrated, wet and cold, but not ready to give up, the girls decided they wanted to race again and better their results. Coach Hale barely had time to put in a new fin, get the girls into dry gear, change out one rower and send them back out for the Novice 'B' race. Although the wind was now worse, they steered a great course, rowed very well and finished extremely strong, ending up 3rd out of 9 boats in their second race of the day!

Our JLAC food tent was nicely setup (although the wind tried to take it back down) by the parents and well appreciated by hungry rowers after the race.