day 1

What up my peeps.... so, day one, complete!

Let me start by saying that the water here is fucking awesome, i mean FUCKING AWESOME. We went out for a row this afternoon after our organizational meeting. The row was about an hour long - 14k in the 1x, nothing better; well, except perhaps, for the fact that i only had to turn around once. That was just the tip of the iceburg; rumor has it, there is about 22k of continuous stuff round these parts. 

Allow me to paint the picture for you:

There are five of us, supposedly one guy may not be coming.

First row, i get assigned to the 1x, a filippi hw single... took a bit of adjusting, but after a quick change in foot stretcher position things began to pick up. 

Off the dock, we are a pack of two mens 2x, two womens 1x , 1 mens 1x. 

The doubles take off and as I make my adjustments. I'm ready to go after a bit of work and take the first of 3 gradual turns as I make my way toward the first bridge. Passing under the 'railroad' bridge the path narrows quite a bit, and as I notice the reverberation of my oarlocks I take a peak around. I am literally rowing between 40ft cliffs on either side. As my good buddy Chris Clark says, its like rowing in the Lord of the Rings, seriously, Frodo.

After about 1k of trippy, awesome, gorge rowing, the course opens up into a gently winding, lushly green, lake. As I make my way through the course on a flat lake, though my roommate Mike (a local, who rowed here as a junior) claims this was a windy day. I have a bit of trouble believing how awesome this place is. As I near about 3/4 of the way out, the launch catches up, and I get some good coaching from Gunter. I row a few more minutes then turn, my body taking the single home, while my mind was floating somewhere up in cloud nine.... haha, ok, you get the point. 

Anyway, this place is an awesome place to row, I am literally living in a closet, with a roomate. 

enough space for a bunk bed and a walkway..... 

Living the dream.