There are twelve lightweights here for the camp, 6 from the national team training center in Oklahoma City and 6 invited from elsewhere. This morning we did about 15k of steady-state and technique in straight fours, and if the weather holds up we will be back out there this afternoon. The next few days are a sort of a re-introduction to rowing, especially for those of us who haven’t been on the water since November, and next week we’ll get into the fun (race pace) stuff.

Aside from rowing, there are other sports represented here as well including field hockey, track and field, and soccer. We see them around training, in the dining hall, or the athlete lounge, where Kyle coincidentally ran into a girl he went to high school with – she is on the national field hockey team now and went to both the Beijing and London Olympic games.

It’s too bad we have to miss out on all the new snow, but we are definitely excited to be out on the water again and the warm weather is a nice change for now. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned!

- Phil Henson, Kyle Lafferty, and Phil Grisdela

Welcome to Chula Vista!

It feels like a different country after walking around in a T-shirt, sweating, and seeing palm trees line the road.

A view of one of the BMX courses here. Should have brought the staff bikes!

They call these distant mountains “hills” here, so they are fair game for “hill workouts.”

Previous Oar Rack

The oar rack team consisted of Dick Dreissigacker, Judy and Carlie Geer, Kyle Lafferty, Phil Grisdela, and me, with helpful insight from a variety of others. After settling on a space for the oar rack in the waterfront, we came up with a design that would use the existing trees as posts, taking advantage of the natural landscape without having to uproot any trees or dig post holes. Our first step was to put together a rough prototype, figure out the various dimensions to get an idea for the capacity of the oar rack, and decide what kind of wood we would need and how much. Then, we cleaned up the rack location a bit by clearing the low branches using a tree trimmer made from an extra-long Concept 2 carbon fiber oar shaft and a saw blade. We screwed some 2×4’s into the trees to add structural stability to the cross beams, and then went to work on cutting boards. After a couple days in the workshop with a table saw, circular saw, wood glue, nail gun and a good supply of local lumber milled right here at the center, we were ready to start putting everything together.

Adding the "teeth" that hold up the oars by their collars

After all the pieces were put together, we filled out the uneven terrain with soil and woodchips.

A truckload of fresh dirt helps to even out the ground

There is only one more weekend of sculling camps this season, but hopefully we can get some good feedback on the oar rack to see if it needs any tinkering before the boathouse starts closing things down for the winter.

(left to right) Phil Grisdela, Phil Henson, and Kyle Lafferty stand in front of the new oar rack

A picture from the back of the oar rack shows its proximity to the docks

Maddie waves to the camera on her way to the dock

Astrid and Molley show off the guns

First win of the regatta for Craftsbury's SBTC!

Emily and Erin duke it out over 500m in the dash

Craftsbury finishes second in the mixed 500m dash

Henry and Ricky win Henley Gold!

Another shot of the mixed 8+ for the Da$h for Ca$h

Craftsbury qualifies for the final at the finish line in the Men's Champ 8+

Another win for Craftsbury!

The lovely ladies of SBTC 2012 (plus Dan!)

Some of us spent the night somewhere in New York State, while others went all the way through to Canada in one trip. Regardless, we all got across the border without any difficulties, and wound up on Henley Island to rig boats (all 19 of them) on Monday morning.  We then moved ourselves into four town houses that we’ve rented from Brock University for the week. With air conditioning, a full kitchen, and a bed for each of us, we couldn’t have asked for a better setup!

Due to the nature of the regatta, some SBTC athletes started racing on Day 1, while others have had to wait with excessive amounts of taper-induced energy, waiting for their chance to battle it out on the water. Craftsbury has been doing very well so far, with many boats advancing all the way from the heats to the finals, and even on to winning Henley Gold (U23 Men’s Lightweight Single and Senior Men’s Lightweight Four). Results so far can be found on the Canadian Henley website or you can check out the latest press release for SBTC specific results.

That’s all for now – check back in a couple days for a new blog post, and don’t forget to look at the press releases to see results of all the Craftsbury athletes!

[I apologize for the lack of pictures, but it’s been difficult to send large files over the internet here. We’ll be sure to post a bunch at the end of the racing.]

Our first stop was Hosmer Point, the kids’ camp down the road from the center.  Jon Hammond, the camp director, introduced us to some of the new members of the camp: 6 pigs, 16 chickens, and 2 goats. We had a competitive chicken catching competition, followed by an egg toss. Henry won the chicken catch, but to be fair he had a significant advantage over the field since he grew up on a farm. Or, in his words, “Country is as country does.”

Kyle and I beat the heavyweights in the egg toss due to some athletic catches by Kyle, but after attempting a Hail Mary from one side of the animal pen to the other, we found the hand-eye coordination of our duo to be pretty one-sided. Active rest day: 1, Phil: 0.

(Note the egg covering my right arm)

Back on the bikes for some more light riding and scenic views, then another pit stop at the “bubble pools” to cool off. I’ll let this photo speak for itself:

The first couple blog posts are back-logged since we didn’t have a place to put them when they were first written, but here they are now:

5.8.12 – Introductions

Nothing says “Welcome to Craftsbury” like 80 degrees, abundant sunshine and flat water in April!

…Or is it, “April snow showers bring May flowers?”

Despite the wacky weather, things have been going very smoothly for Craftsbury’s all new GRP Rowing program. Since this is our first post, I wanted to say a little bit about who we are, where we are, and what we are doing out here in the middle of the woods.

The Athletes

The inaugural members of the program are Emily Dreissigacker, Kyle Lafferty, and Phil Henson. Emily and Phil both rowed for Dartmouth College and graduated in 2011. Kyle Lafferty was a 2010 graduate from Bucknell University, where he started rowing, and for the past two years has been working in Boston and training at Riverside Boat Club. Emily, Kyle, and Phil are all planning to race this summer – Emily in the single and Kyle and Phil in the lightweight pair. Check out the team bios for more info and flattering headshots!

Location

Craftsbury is located in what is called the Northeast Kingdom – a fitting name for this part of the country, with sprawling fields and scattered mountains.  It’s a far cry from my hometown in New Jersey, scattered instead with deer and cul-de-sacs. The center itself is home to many running, mountain biking, and cross country skiing trails, and it is a stone’s throw from Mt. Mansfield, Stowe, Jay Peak, and other great hiking, climbing, and skiing destinations.

Food

It may seem odd to have a section here devoted to food but trust me (yes, I am a lightweight rower), it’s incredible! There is a big emphasis on high quality, healthy food with locally grown ingredients. The kitchen staff is extremely friendly and passionate about preparing the best food around. Just don’t forget to compost!

Work Opportunities

Our role in this new GRP Rowing program is not only to try to get to the top level of our sport, but also to contribute to the center’s projects and long term goals. For example, we are working to develop an electric launch to potentially replace gasoline-powered coaching launches. There are also opportunities to work in the garden, on the trails, and in the kitchen. Original projects are encouraged, as long as they are in line with the mission statement of the center.

This blog will be mostly about the goings-on of the year-round GRP Rowers, but since we train with the U23 SBTC athletes in the summer, the posts over the next few months will be more inclusive.

Stay tuned!