This weekend LSU Rowing traveled to Chattanooga, Tennessee for the Head of the Hooch Regatta.
We groggily boarded a charter bus at our dock at 2:30 a.m. and made the long drive to Chattanooga. We arrived at the race site around 3:00 to see the most competitors we had ever seen.
Everything about this race is big.
The Head of the Hooch is the second largest regatta in the country. More than 1,200 boats have entered. In comparison, the Hobbs Island Regatta that we participated in earlier in the season had only 152 entries.
(Crews set out their oars near the launch dock to ease the launching process on race day.)
The river is big. We will be rowing on the Tennessee River as it passes through downtown Chattanooga. At Hobbs Island we rowed on the Tennessee as well, but we stayed in a small channel sheltered from the wind and waves of the main stream.
The venue is picturesque. The racecourse ends in the middle of downtown Chattanooga. Crews will row past the Hunter Art Museum, Tennessee Aquarium, the Bluff View Art District and numerous parks along the river.
The sheer volume of boats trying to launch for practice sessions before the race made things difficult this afternoon. A few of the boats LSU Rowing planned on racing tomorrow did not get to practice.
The crews that did get to practice experienced what I found to be the most beautiful rowing venue I have encountered in my short rowing career. The water was clear. The trees covering the mountains lining the racecourse were displaying their brilliant fall colors. Beautiful buildings sat atop steep cliffs along the river. The sky was clear, there was a slight breeze and the temperature was just cool enough.
Everyone, whether they rowed today or not, is looking forward to tomorrow’s races.
(Photo courtesy of Courtney Mills)
No comments:
Post a Comment