Friday morning we woke up to a miserable rain. We’d seen the gloomy weather forecast, but nothing really prepared us for the day we were about to face.

We did our best to stay warm and dry.

Staying cheerful anyway:

The varsity men raced first. It was a tough race, but they came to the top of the island in first place. The second place boat, Virginia Tech, sprinted hard in the last few hundred meters, but our boys were able to hold them off.

The novice women and varsity women both had strong races. The rain and cold was unusual for us, and we weren’t mentally prepared for those conditions. Unfortunately neither advanced to semi-finals.

Will and Fawn were busy watching races and recording finish places.

While Mark just looks generally confused:

And, I don’t really need to explain Chris’s coaching strategy:

We left the regatta eager to get back to a hot shower and a dry change of clothes, only to get stuck in traffic in the worst state in the Union: New Jersey.

We couldn’t really figure out what was going on, so Will grabbed my racing binoculars and scoped out the situation.

By the time we finally found a detour, we’d been in the van so long we had to make a rest stop.

We finally got dry and headed back into Philly for dinner. I parallel parked the van again, but this time on the left. I’m pretty proud.

Jim’s Steaks:

The Franklin Fountain, a really cool old-timey ice cream shop.