The Saquish Rowers had an amazing day once again! The weather could not have been better. We had one of our largest group of rowers: three gigs and two coxed fours. 31 of our rowers competed this year. Over 105 boats participated in this year's Snow Row with and estimated 300+ rowers.

For our women's team, I will say as their cox, these girls are amazing; we never practiced together once as a team, we rowed a total of four times. We had injuries, a team shift at the last moment, and the worst start in rowing history. We were T-boned by the Belfast men's team in the Selkie at the start. Three rowers hit in the face with oars, two taken off their seat, and the poor cox - with an oar in her face and no where to go - grabbed the oar to push it over her head as their stroke pulled the oar back causing four lacerations to her hand. Heading out in next-to-last place we went, the spirit in our boat was relentless. I can't say enough about the will of this team. As we started passing one gig after another, I knew these girls wanted it bad. We pushed and gave 150% and then as we came around Sheep's Island, there was our competition about four boat lengths ahead of us. Shaving every morsel off the course, we took the Belfast women's team just after the Island and never gave the lead back, although they were right on our butts. I truely thought we didn't have a prayer, but I knew that this group was strong and they pulled off our eighth win in a row. Rumor has it that WE are the ones that Belfast, New Bedford, and Gloucester want to beat, and by the skin of our teeth, we held on to our trophy!

To the crew in the Tucker, they had their fair share of mishaps as well. Serious boat issues that resulted in very little practice, if any, a horrific crash at their start, yet they still pulled off a win. GREAT JOB!!

Then there were those crazy guys in the Australian Lifeboat that had a great start, didn't capsize, and felt that practicing was too dangerous, so they just drank instead. Unfortunately, our men's team - that practiced like dogs and gave it their all - for the first time in 14 years of Saquish rowing history lost to another US team and the Selkie from Belfast Maine took the win.

The team in the Interceptor was put together 48 hours before the race, never practiced, had a new cox, two first time Snow Row rowers, and a stroke that jumped in at the last minute for an injured rower, plus fill-in rowers from Gloucester and England.  The cox, Cathy Jenness, had never done the Snow Row before but got ready for the race in just 48 hours by doing her Wii Bowling. The crew had a challenging start, but kicked butt and finished the race with their heads held high. Great job!!!!!

Our men's team competed successfully at the Crash-Bobs on Saturday where Jim Brennan pulled a remarkable 17:54 on the 5K to win that event outright, as did Peter Smith in the 2k with a 6:57.  Ian Dargin participated in the grueling "Liffman Challenge," a 5k erg followed by a 5k run where he was first in his age group and 2nd overall.  Sterling pulled a strong 7:48 on the 2k to win his class and one of the coveted hammers.  Bailey Smith (Peter's daughter) from Cape Cod Rowing was along as well and made a 7:58 2k look easy to win the women's division outright.  Great job to all those who participated.

The men's team has been practicing 3 times a week as of late.  Saturday and Sunday mornings, as well as Thursday, late afternoon into the evening.  They have had some extreme weather conditions, including some sub-12-degree practice sessions!  Chris is working them hard, and they are enjoying (almost) every minute of it. The Thursday evening "debriefing" sessions at the East Bay Grill are keeping the crew motivated.  The team is heading to the "Crash-Bobs" in Hull this Saturday for the indoor rowing competition, and some of crew are heading to the CRASH-Bs (world indoor rowing championships) on February 14th.  Good luck guys!

Based on the observations, here are the seatings for the Snow Row (names are alphabetical):

Men's Gig: Ian, Jim, Peter S., Rick, Sterling, Tony; Cox: Chris
Women's Gig: Ashley, Janet, Jessica, Karin, Lydsay, MP; Cox: Jan Reddy
Mixed Gig: Brit1, Brit2, Dave, Josh, Lori, Scott; Cox: Peter O
Tucker: Dan, Hilary, Kurt, John

Ladies have pick of boat (let us know ASAP!!!!), so the men can then select theirs.
Teams, work out your own schedule as well as positions.
Still looking for people who can coordinate the pasta dinner.

We are having tryouts for the Snow Row teams over four days (weather permitting).  The first sessions are at 8:00 AM on Saturday and Sunday (9/10 January).  People can tryout on as many of the days as they want.  There isn't a one-time only shot.  That way if you want to change sides there would be opportunities.  And if you have a bad day you can get another shot.  Those who opt out of all the sessions will have their names randomly drawn for open seats in other boats.  Paid-up fees are required to participate in all our events, and must be paid before the Snow Row.

The Board of Directors wants to establish a five-person race/event committee made up of rowers (not BOD members).  This committee will be in place for a year.  The purpose of this committee is to coordinate all the actions necessary for Saquish to participate in events during the year.  Duties would be determining rower availability, developing a process for boat seating if needed, getting cox’n together with boats, coordinating towing as well as overseeing a practice calendar if one is needed for that event.  Once this group is formed, it will set many of the processes which we hope over time become more consistent than we now have.  This is a new and developing process.  The BOD would need to be kept informed of how the race/event committee is working out. The intent of the Board is to try to get away from having each event become a last minute series of phone calls, or a flurry of emails in the attempt to fill seats for events.  If you are interested in serving on the race committee please contact Tony or Cathy as soon as possible.