Princeton, Our Second Home

It seems like the Clarion Hotel in New Jersey has become our second home because we have spent so much time there the past few weeks!  The rowers were there at the end of April for the first National Selection Regatta and then we returned again a few weeks later for the second NSR as well as Pan American Games Trials (a 10 day stint for me, Sonshine, and Dan).  It is so nice to finally be back in Craftsbury!

At both the NSR and PanAm trials Craftsbury was well represented by some close racing.  Check out the Outdoor Center webpage for write-ups on results: NSR II and Pan Am Trials, or look here for full results: NSR II Results and Pan Am Trials Results.

I don’t have any photos that I took to share, but here are a few pictures from the PanAm trials that are on the row2k website.  Most rowers are very familiar with this site and immediately after a race look to see the candid pics, but for those of you who haven’t seen these before I thought I would share.

Women’s 1x semifinal at PanAm trials.

Erik and Andrew in the Men’s 2x.

GRP’s Hugh McAdam with Matt O’Leary in the Lightweight Men’s 2x.

Phil Grisdela with Riverside Boat Club’s Tobin McGee.

USRowing also has photographers at the events:

Hugh and Matt.

Sonshine

Griz and McGee at the start.

And, here are a few original drawings from my budding artistic career to illustrate some of my adventures while away from the Center.

Once, when I was going for a short jog along the canal behind the hotel, I surprised a bird of prey that was about to eat a gosling. When it saw me coming, it flew away and the baby goose sprinted into the poison ivy and then rejoined its honking family.  Good for the geese, not so good for the other bird!

Another day during rowing practice hours at the course, I had a run in with a large fish.  It leapt out of the water and landed in my boat, on my rigger.  It is hard to say which of us was more surprised!  After a few aggressive flops it managed to jump back into the water.

So that’s all for now!  We will all be back at Craftsbury for a few weeks and then split off a bit to different races.