Lay of the Land

First - SOME PHOTOS!
Interesting Signs:
- Boston in NZ (look at store name)
- Cheerleading classes, anyone?

- View of boat racks and athlete restaurant
- Inside the athlete restaurant (at table, right to left, is Matt, Todd, Brian of my boat, and then Jimmy Sopko of the LM8)

- Boat containers and the rigging party
- Brand new oars already painted red/white/blue!
- Customs at the airport had a special lane for us

Onto today's update. Most of the team agreed that last night was the deepest sleep we've had in recent memory. I slept 11 hours, which was great. (Jet lag is useful for sleeping?)

This morning there was a shuttle to the course at 10am. It's about 45 minutes to Lake Karapiro from the hotel in Hamilton. It was calm and sunny and in the 60's - perfect weather. Traffic in all practice lanes were packed. Brian, our bowman, did well to avoid crews who act like only children; some never learned to share in a confined space.

Unsurprisingly, our rowing was night and day better than yesterday. Cobwebs are shaking off, and we're feeling out our boat stroke by stroke. We just did a few laps in the morning and a couple in the afternoon, but things are moving along.

In between rows, lunch was provided at the athlete restaurant next to the boat yard. The food was amazing. My favorites were the lamb, and cinnamon-topped carrot cake w/cream cheese frosting.

Before dinner tonight, I strolled to the nearest supermarket (about 20' walk) to get some snacks. Trail mix, for the good stuff, is about $25/kg - makes Whole Foods seem like Costco.

Tomorrow, we'll get on an early schedule and take a 7am bus and return after lunch.

Interesting factoid: Guenter, our coach, overheard a race organizer talking to a helicopter pilot. Apparently, there will be remote control miniature helicopters with HD cameras covering the races! The pilots know little about rowing, so the organizer was making sure the copters don't interfere.

Pete