Brian de Regt’s (Rowing) World Cup Thoughts Part 1

Hey all,

While I write a regular e-mail to my supporters, a lot of it has to do with the day to day challenges of rowing, and as racing gets closer I, consciously or unconsciously start to write more and more on the specifics of racing. That’s fine and all, but it also means that a lot of the random, funny, and weird stuff that happens while you’re travelling and racing around Europe gets forgotten. Shivani asked Jon and I if we wanted to write something for the site, and I thought this might be a great opportunity to try to remember all of the random sweet things that have happened so far.

I’m going to start off with one of the best parts of the trip so far. The weigh in area at World Cups or World Championships has to be one of the most bizarre and stressful places in the world. Unlike heavyweight rowing, where the first time you might see your competition that day is maybe at the dock, or more likely in the warm-up area as they flash by in the other direction, in the weigh in tent you’re just sitting there, shoulder to shoulder with the guys that you’re racing in a couple hours. Everyone is on edge, making weight is routine but never exactly a pleasurable experience, and some guys are probably riding that razor edge hoping the scale tips in their favor.

BUT, at these World Cups the lady that calls up the boats when it’s their time to weigh in has been totally hilarious. She’s old, squat, extremely German, and makes fun of people when they don’t make weight. “Oh, do you need to continue running, Mr. Norway?” “Yeah…” hahaha. It’s great. Since we were in Bled, she totally remembers us, and she even guessed correctly where “de Regt” is from… touché! As we were weighing in for our semi final, she told us that she expected to see us promptly at 9am the next morning, no excuses (meaning that we had to make the A-final, or she would be very unhappy). And, after we weighed in for the final, she had a bag of Haribo gummies waiting for everyone when they made weight! When you’re in a situation like that, you can’t help but appreciate a break in the tension.

Another thing from Munich is that they had the plastic start gates, which is the first time I’ve used them. To those of you who don’t know what they are, they’re basically plastic “C”s that the stake boat holders push your bow into, which are connected to a hydraulic ram. When the horn goes, the gates plunge under water and you’re off. Anyway, the start of the heat was my first time dealing with these things, and while I was psyched about seeing what it was all about, there are some differences from a regular start. First, instead of Jon taping around at the start, it’s my job to be telling the kid (who never speaks a word of English) holding our stern which way to move it, so we’re pointed straight. Second, these things are LOUD when they go down, and on your second stroke or so, you pass over this mass of turbulent water, not enough to really mess up your rowing or anything, but it still draws your eye down. Third, starts are obviously tense times. Jon knows that I have a tendency to flinch when the red light turns on (the sequence is “Attention”, then the red light comes on, then green light turns on as the horn goes), the first time we raced together in 2006 I almost false started in the heats because I started rowing, but had enough time to recover and make to back to the ready position before the horn went. So having this start gate in front of you just adds one more element. I think in the start at the heat, I hesitated just for a split second, because in the back of my mind I was think “ok, so the horn went, now let’s make sure that damn plastic thing is out of the way so we don’t bang up our bow” even though I obviously, rationally knew that wasn’t going to happen. But by the semi and the final we had everything figured out, so no harm, no foul.

Now in Sarnen, this is our Sarnen story so far. When we arrived a couple days ago, we went for a short row just to make sure the boat was in working order and check out the lake. As we’re rowing near to the shore, we hear horns going off (and not those stupid, stupid vuvuzelas). It was a bunch of Swiss guys, in traditional dress, sitting near the lake with those massive alpine horns (think Ricola), just having a great time. It was a hilarious and fitting way to begin our time in Switzerland. I would have literally killed a vagrant for someone to take a photo of us rowing by that.

- Brian De Regt, LM2x

Check out Brian and Jonathan Winter’s video blog for more updates on their European tour - shivs

Brian De Regt began rowing at Norwalk River Rowing in 2001 at the age of 14, and was one of the original members of GMS Rowing Center when it was started in 2000 by Guenter Beutter. After graduating in 2009 from Trinity College, he was selected for the USA LM4- that raced at the Poznan World Championships. This year, Brian will race with Jonathan Winter at all three World Cup regattas for the 2010 season in the Lm2x, with the hopes of qualifying for World Championships in New Zealand.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 5th, 2010 at 10:14 pm. It is filed under ATHLETE BLOGS, Rowers, TEAM USA, World Cups. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.