Canadian Henley Day 1

Racing is officially underway at Royal Canadian Henley! Our morning started very early as Bridget, Taylor and I were in the first few races of the day. Mackenzie, Rhiannon and Mark also rose with the sun to get a piece of that early morning practice session. After their practice, Mackenzie and Rhiannon headed back to the AirBnb for some breakfast and rest as their racing starts tomorrow. Meanwhile, Mark headed to the local Timmy Ho’s for some coffee and then parked himself in the grandstand to cheer on the Senior Women. His cheering certainly paid off, as Taylor, Bridget and I all won our heats!

After racing, we headed back to the Cottage for some downtime (well everyone except for Mark because we lost him at the course and we don’t have cell service in Canada). Coach Grace had about 90 minutes of downtime before she fired up Moby and took Andy to the course for his Heat. But just before Andy launched for his race, a RIPPING storm blew in from the east, and he was held back from launching. Rhiannon, Mackenzie and I had the opportunity to watch the gnarly storm blow in across Lake Ontario from the comfort of our cottages, while Andy, Grace and Mark (they found him!) battened down the hatches and kept the boats safe at the course.

Racing picked back up at 2:30pm and Andy was able to race his heat before more storms rolled in. He finished 3rd and advanced directly to tomorrow’s semi. Overall it was a great day for the GRP! Tomorrow will have more racing as the schedule has been compressed due to weather. Mackenzie and Rhiannon kick off their racing tomorrow with the heats for their 2x. Which brings us to six Cedar Leaves who will be taking trips down the course tomorrow!

For now, we enjoy a delicious pasta & chicken dinner prepared by Mackenzie and our friend, Doug! Till tomorrow!

-Alex Spaulding