April 15, 2002

Lauren Yoder is a junior from Charlotte and a member of the UNC rowing team. Throughout the year, she will provide TarHeelBlue.com readers with an inside look at her team and the experience of being a varsity athlete at North Carolina.

Hello Carolina Rowing fans!

This weekend we competed in the Knecht Cup Regatta in Camden, N.J. Nearly 20 crews were there, many of whom were from northern schools we don't regularly get to see. It was refreshing to compete against a different field. We also pulled up to the line with crews we have recently raced, such as Villanova and the University of Central Florida.

We arrived at the race site on Friday afternoon and the rain held off while we rigged and got in a short row over the course. The racecourse was set up on a short stretch of the Cooper River. It was a nice race-site with footpaths and a park area for warming up and plenty of spectator shoreline. The many trailers, hulls and athletes were grouped in a field next to the two launching docks.

Saturday's weather was pleasantly warm with a thin layer of clouds overhead. The second varsity eight rowed early and made it to the grand final race in the afternoon by posting one of the top times. The team went to IHOP for breakfast before the varsity eight had to be back to the course for their early-afternoon race.

The varsity eight competed against some crews we have seen in the past few weeks, including Villanova. UNC had a strong first half of the race, finding itself leading the pack through the 1,000-meter mark. Villanova was able to march back, though, and snagged first. It became a race for second between UNC and West Virginia, who sneaked back into the race in the final stretch. UNC came in second, but it wasn?t a good enough performance as only the first place finisher and the next two best times from the three heats got to advance to the finals. Joel wasn?t satisfied. The boat members weren't satisfied, either, but felt that they put in a good and fairly complete performance.

We all stayed at the racecourse, cheering for the novices and then sending off the second varsity eight for their second race. They raced well, but were only able to turn in a fifth place finish.

The novice eight and the varsity four (which was rowed by novice rowers) boats were plagued by some technicalities in their races. Both caught boat-stopping crabs. ("Catching a crab" means that the oar gets caught in the water before it is meant to on a stroke. The oar gets stuck as the rest of the boat continues to move, causing the handle of the oar to swing over the rower's head. Even when the boat is not moving very vast, if the oar gets stuck severely enough, this can be very difficult to rectify. Generally, the whole boat must stop and lean away from the side that the oar is stuck on, and the rower must maneuver it out of the water. This can happen in rough water and happens quickly.) The second novice eight, though, advanced to the final where they took fifth.

Saturday night we enjoyed a pasta dinner at the hotel, then had a team meeting before heading to bed.

Sunday morning we got to sleep in. We arrived at the race site at 9:30 for the Villanova Invitational. Both the second varsity and varsity eights came in fourth in their races. The novice boats were successful as UNC took first in the novice eight race and second in the second novice eight race.

Shortly after the varsity boat landed, the boats were de-rigged and the trailer was ready to go. We boarded the bus for the long ride home.

Now we look forward to ACC's in Clemson on Saturday. I'm especially excited about the coming weekend. The ACC championship is a fun event and Clemson is a particularly nice place to race. I hope that some of you can make it there to cheer us on.

Your Tar Heel Pal,

Yoder