Despite the windy conditions, all three varsity women's crew teams rowed successful races this weekend at the Head of the Charles regatta in Boston. The varsity A and B boats raced on Sunday, coming in 27th and 42nd places, respectively. The varsity C boat raced on Saturday coming in 30th out of 36 boats, but beat four varsity A boats including those from Bates and Vassar.
The boats' final places fail to indicate just how close many of the races in the women's collegiate eights divisions were. For example, there were only 30 seconds separating seventh place Smith College from 31st place URI. The Tufts A boat placed 27th out of the 50 boats entered, and its finishing time of 13:55.778 was only about a minute behind that of first place Minerva Rowing Club.
"It doesn't look like it was a great placing, but that only tells part of it in terms of time," senior Abby Schlessinger said. "It was a very close race where there were a ton of boats finishing in a small amount of time."
Junior Daniela Fairchild agreed.
"I think that the placement was not indicative of how we rowed. UConn. started really close to us and moved up early on, but we held them off the entire race," Fairchild said. "If you look at the times, besides the first four or five boats, the difference is small, only about 20 seconds."
Because of bad weather conditions, the length of the race had to be shortened by two thirds of a mile, but the boats were still able to focus for a strong and steady race. The B boat placed 43rd out of the 50 boats, finishing in a time of 14:22.310.
"There were tough conditions," sophomore Morgan Glasebrook said. "There was a lot of wind, waves and rainy, cold and gross weather altogether, but everything else went well."
Although the Charles River is usually tricky to navigate because of its many curves and bridges, the windy weather conditions made it much more difficult for the boats to stay together and stay balanced.
"It was really windy all around," Schlessinger said. "[The wind] was changing directions and the start was crazy, but we stuck it together. I think our coxswain took the turns really well. We definitely didn't have any problems in terms of crashes or anything like that."
In this race, the coxwain's steering is crucial to a team's success. The course is difficult to maneuver and the coxwain needs to steer a straight path while blocking the way of other boats.
"The only problem that we had with the race was that there were so many crews," Fairchild said. "[Our coxwain] did a great job of steering the course. UConn.was trying to cut through us, but she didn't give them any room. We smacked oars with them, which takes off time, but we managed to stay strong and keep a good rhythm."
Since this is the last race of the fall season for the women, the strength and determination of the team during winter training will be integral to its success in the spring. The close times at the Head of the Charles prove that the collegiate women's teams are a very competitive group and winter training will be a determining factor in the spring sprint races.
"Because the time between the boats that were [in the] top ten and [in the 30's] were so close together, this means that the work that we do this winter is important for the spring," Schlessinger said. "It is in our hands to take it to the next level. We are in a position to be really competitive with these teams.
