Saturday morning, we were faced with better weather for the Men’s V4+ semi-final.

Before the race started, we had some time to check out the tents that were set up in the athletes’ village.
It’s a good thing we had been practicing so much Mario Kart over the last week, since there was a Kart tent.

Alyce showing off her very own Mario Kart driver’s license!

The men’s semi coming down the course. We needed to get 2nd place to advance to the finals. We were in 3rd place at the island, then walked through Clemson. Clemson started their sprint and regained the lead. In the last 50 meters, we powered up and started taking seats, but it wasn’t quite enough. Clemson ended up holding us off by 11 hundredths of a second. A heartbreaking defeat, but the guys were happy with their race. A performance like this from a group of young guys (Danny is the only senior) means great things for the future of our program.

We left the race and headed into town to eat lunch at Reading Terminal Market. On the way we passed some purple fountain.

Errikos and I ate at the Greek place. He approved, and assured me that we’d try some authentic Greek Gyros in Thessaloníki when i visit him this summer. I’m also curious to find out the real distinction between a Greek Gyro, a Turkish Döner Kebab, and a Lebanese Shewarme. I’ll have to do some research.
Our very own Greek Olympic Hero:

We said bye to Fawn and Danny who were on their way to Washington.

And said bye to Mark

On the ride home we drove through Washington to see some sights at 60 m.p.h.

We capped off our weekend with dinner at CookOut upon our return to Raleigh.

Coach happy at the end of a great regatta weekend:

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.

Posts have been delayed because my time and internet access were limited in Philadelphia. So here comes everything.

We headed up early on Thursday morning. Will and I were the only 21-year-olds riding in the van, so we had to bear the driving duties while everyone else had loads of fun.

In what is becoming a Dad Vail tradition, we stopped at my parents’ house for a lunch break.

We got to the race course and started rigging.

The rowers went out for a practice row on the course.
Novice girls walking the boat.

Varsity men lightning-fast on the dock.

Proud of our new slings:

But sad when people complained about our penmanship.

Parallel parked the van in Philly on our way to the Philly Diner:

And a lesson from Duran on how to pop a drinking straw:

We finished off the night with boat meetings and me and Will predicting the finish order of every heats race.

No practices today, because the boats are already on their way up to the Schuylkill. I grabbed lunch at Cooper’s BBQ, then enjoyed the beautiful weather under an oak tree in Pullen Park.

We picked up the van, then went over to Joanna’s for a pre-Vail team dinner, and we had some birthday cake for Alyce.

Then headed over to Napper Tandy’s where will managed to eat so many wings he broke the chair.

And in other exciting news, Meredith called to let us know that she and Greg got engaged, trying to make sure that she would tell us personally before we found out on thefacebook. Congratulations!!

Woke up early to see the last varsity women’s practice before the boats got picked up by Florida.

They pulled a great 2k piece, then we moved on to some drills.

Yesterday we did some eyes-closed rowing, and I imagined what it would be like to be doing something ridiculous when we said “ok, open your eyes”; like have us wearing clown costumes or something. I mentioned it to Gavin and Lianne who were in the launch, and we decided that they would hide in the bottom of the launch. Well, because the girls were really focused on their piece, it took a good 20 strokes after they opened their eyes again to even look into the coach boat. At least Will’s constant “head in the boat!” reminders have set in. The girls looked up at the launch, turned their heads back, and did a double-take. I have to work on that trick, I feel like it’s got a lot of potential.

Afterwards, we went to good old Clark D-Hall to enjoy the first Clark breakfast I’ve had in a long time, and certainly my first dining hall meal since my own Dad Vail training.

No trays! (Apparently a measure to conserve water, I guess I have to support it since I want Lake Wheeler to be rowable)

And these two beautiful shots of Gavin are just for Donny:

After breakfast, I went and ran some errands around Raleigh, and even got a haircut. Will and I grabbed lunch with Mac at the Village Deli, then came back for some GTAIV and Mario Kart until it was time for Sushi Blues.