Friday, May 8, 2009

Annoying Morning - Regatta Afternoon


We woke today to no power! Our power went out at 4 AM, and on my morning walk I found out a transformer in the neighborhood blew! We slept right through it but according to neighbors close to the transformer box it was quite a loud explosion. Of course it took forever to get restored. We needed to leave by 1 PM, and the power was still not on. I felt totally helpless without it. It's crazy how dependent we are.

The reason we had to leave by 1 PM is today in Philadelphia is the start of the 71st Dad Vail Regatta, the largest collegiate regatta in the country, with over 100 colleges and universities participating. It is a 2-day event which is held each May on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. Philadelphia, like Boston is a big rowing city.

It is an incredible event with thousands of people. Unfortunately we've had so much rain that the river was running so high, fast and muddy that they had to shorter the course by 500 meters and change today's heats to head races. No one likes head races - they are racing the clock rather than competing in heats with other boats, and I would think a difficult thing to do. Each boat is sent out at 30 second intervals. Nonetheless, the competition is fierce with hundreds of schools competing. This is kind of like a super bowl for rowing for at the collegiate level.

Our daughter rows for UMass, and is competing in her first Dad Vail as a freshman or novice. I wish all of the athletes well, however I have to say, Go UMass! So far almost all of "our" boats placed for semi finals, and thankfully our daughter's did too. Looking forward to a day on the River tomorrow. The last event of the season.

2 comments:

Angela said...

We are dependent on power aren't we? When our lights are out...I still flip the switch every time I go into a room...I can not get it through my head!

lilylovekin said...

I'm glad you have a fun week-end planned. Hope your daughter does well. Enjoy!!!