NZ Rowers To Russia (W4-): Latest Update

The Main Building in Kazan

Well we have had a relatively productive day today. We were first told by the organisers here that we could only row between 10am and 11am. A one hour window for all of the rowers at this event to all go down to the lake in. That sounded like a pretty ridiculous rule to our coaches, and by the sounds of things, all of the other coaches at this event too. They must have realised that finding boats, rigging, setting up, training and just getting to and from the lake takes wee a bit more than 60min! So they extended training time to the entire day. What a relief!

Anyway, we managed to get out to the lake this morning on the 8:30am bus to go out for a training row. We planned to do a few laps of the course and some speed work, and to get settled in to our new boat. Which I must say is amazing. A brand new Filippi four worth around $37,000NZD and a brand new set of oars to which a very nice to row with. We must have looked like kids on Christmas when we unwrapped the boat and riggers from their cellophane and bubble-wrap yesterday.

Brand New Filippi!!

When we got out on the water we were yelled at by some of the officials, we paddled down the course in the lane we were told to when at the start line, and then at the 1000m marker we were told to move again. "Ok" we said, taking the best option, not to argue in English (pretty pointless when only Russian is understood by most). We rowed down and then grilled again when we came in to change some boat settings and pushed off. The regatta officials thought we put our boat in the water on the "out" pontoon rather than the "in". After trying to explain that we were adjusting our boat (and looking like we were playing charades) they let us paddle off again.

By the time were were done with our row it was back on the bus and home for lunch. While on the bus we were filled in on something we had been trying to figure out recently. Google blogs tells you how many views the blog has had and from which countries its been viewed from. When we started this blog we never thought it would go global but it seems to have headed that way. With views from all over the world it was interesting to see that almost a third of the views were from the Netherlands. We were almost concerned as to who was reading it. However, when we got on the bus today, some dutch rowers sat behind us and asked if we were the famous Kiwi's they had read about. Turns out some one had found it and posted it their Facebook and they had been reading our blog!

In the afternoon we went out for another paddle. We had a really good row practicing our race plan and getting excited for Friday. While we were out, the Dutch rowers that we met went for a quick swim. At the end of the warm-up bay there is an old pontoon ramp, where an old launching section used to be (which Kirsty says should be removed, or that the Russians should have warned everyone about) and they rowed straight into it at full speed. Kirsty saw them post-crash sitting in one of the officials boats along with the entire bow end of the boat. There goes a few tens of thousands of dollars and a brand new Stampfli boat! The stroke seat was wearing an Australian rowsuit at the time of the crash and we joked with him about pretending that they were an Australian crew. Following that it was quite ironic that one of the officials came up to us and asked us if it was our boat that was crashed, we said no and them overheard them talking to another official and thinking it was an Australian crew.

The Damage...

To be fair though, the Australians, and most of the other countries we have come into contact with have been very welcoming and friendly. One of the great parts of racing here is meeting athletes from all over the world, it really is a unique part of the experience. Meeting people from other backgrounds and lifestyles who spend most of their day doing the exact same thing as us. Rowing.

Well its only two sleeps now until our first race and with that in mind, it is off to bed and ready for our last training day tomorrow.