Bair Island News: December 2004
Editor: Min Tang
Email News Items to: newsletter@gobair.org
Welcome to the fall season wrap up here at BIAC.
Wishing everyone a safe and relaxing winter holiday!
Many thanks to Mike Martinez from the Paddling program, photos of BIAC's Fall Regatta are
available online and for purchase at www.coolsportspix.com
(1) Paddling
(2) Novice/Intermediate Sweep
(3) Sculling
(4) NorCal Juniors Sweep
(5) Advanced Sweep Programs
(6) Fall Regatta
(7) End of Fall Season Party for Sweep Programs
(8) Work Party and Program Leads Meetings
(1) Paddling
Contributed by Brad Saguindel and Dave Jensen.
HAWAI`IAN OPEN HOUSE: ONE-DAY PADDLING SEMINAR
It's 80 degrees in Honolulu and the forecast reamins hot and sunny. Okay, Honolulu is over 3000 miles away and it's freezing here in California, but warmer days will arrive. So it's time to think about
even hotter events coming to BIAC in 2005; Hawaiian outrigger paddling!
Hawaiian Outrigger paddling events have been experiencing a huge growth over the past few years and BIAC/Hui Wa'a is one of the best outrigger teams in the USA. Hawaii may be the mecca for outrigger paddling, but teams have sprouted all over the US including Italy, Brazil, Japan and even the England. Come and see why outrigger paddling is creating all of this excitement from the #1 outrigger team in Northern California. Keiki's and adults of all ages are encouraged to attend.
On Sunday January 16th, 2005 BIAC will offer "Hawaiian Open House" a one-day paddling seminar on Hawaiian outrigger paddling. This free seminar is being offered in preparation for the 2005 outrigger paddling season.
This free session will encompass:
-introduction to the Hawaiian Outrigger paddling.
-technical basics of outrigger paddling.
-water safety
-LUNCH
This free seminar will be open to the public.
For more information contact:
Brad Saguindel / Novice Coach - Hui Wa'a at bad.saguindel@gmail.com
(2) Novice/Intermediate Sweep
Contributed by Ellie Mitchell, Dan Alexander and Meg Lee.
ROW WITH AT-RISK TEENS
 Dan Alexander and his cousin Laura organised a row with at-risk teens on Saturday, 23 October. Following the novices' practise, several teenaged girls joined the novice rowers for a row. From the launch, Coach Kate Demers directed the rowers and Dan took video and still photography which he shared as souvenirs. Dan felt the teens had a good time and enjoyed offering the teens the chance to get out on the water and learn something new.
FALL RACING
The novice and intermediates enterred a mixed 4+ at the Head of the San Joaquin. Below is an excerpt of Dan's light hearted recount of the race in Stockton.
 "We had fun at the Head of the San Joaquin, and it turns out that Stockton is not a bad place to row. Louis Park is a huge public park on the edge of the shipping channel with public boat launching facilities, and the Stockton Rod and Gun Club has a meeting house near the water. Stockton Rowing Club used the Rod/Gun Club as the regatta headquarters.
The channel is wide and relatively straight, we launched and rowed about 5000 meters toward downtown, under the Interstate 5 bridge, and were early for our start by about 10 minutes. Along the way are large freighters, an old ferry converted to a restaurant, and the usual funky/industrial
waterfront stuff. No other boats were in sight, so the starter sent us off, racing back toward Louis Park. We power 20'd though the start at about 30 spm and settled into 26, and through the race were between 26 and 28 spm. A few power boats were roaring around making some pretty big wakes that we had to fumble through, but we made sure we looked at our best as we passed the
Rod and Gun Club toward the finish, the advanced women's team were cheering us on as we went by. We won our division handily :^) as did the advanced women's 8 (neither of us had any competition), and Ian Cox won his singles race against one other competitor."
 At BIAC’s Fall Regatta, the novices competed in a women's 8+ and a men's 4+. Coxing the women's 8+ was the lovely Dan Alexander with rowers: Meg Lee (stroke), Rachel Rothbaum, Ellie Mitchell, Sylvia DiCello, Helen Wolter, Jean Nelson, Mimi Wolf and Milliana Morowitz. Dave Clark and Jasen Higgins competed in a men's 4+ along with Mike Benet and Andy Cordes.
The morning women novices entered the Head of the Lagoon as a women's intermediate 8+ with many thanks to Marsha King. Rowing with Marsha were Meg Lee (stroke), Ellie Mitchell, Sylvia DiCello, Vangie Crump, Maryhelen Greaves, Mimi Wolf and Milliana Morowitz.
This past month the morning novice rowers had an opportunity to review on video their erging techniques and receive immediate, incisive feedback from their coach, Kate Demers. During the height of the head races, novice rowers Mike Benet, Maryhelen Greaves, Vangie Crump and Jasen Higgins competed in a mixed 4+ at the Head of the American.
The morning novice group welcomes new participants: Mike Benet, Vangie Crump, Maryhelen Greaves, Alesia Harwood, Jasen Higgins, Milliana Morowitz, Jean Nelson and Helen Wolter.
(3) Sculling
Contributed by Ian Cox.
HEAD RACES
Some efforts of note in the Head racing season:
On a blistery day at the Head of the Port, Eric and Luis placed third in the Men's 2x. Ian finished in first place in the Mens Masters 1x.
At the Head of the American held on the eve of Halloween, Erin placed second in the Womens Open 1x. Rick finished second in the Mens Open 1x.
 BIAC scullers made a show at the club's fall regatta. Erin placed second in the Womens 1x Open. Ted and Doug finished first and 2nd in the Men's 1x Recreational. Luis' quad came first in the Men's Masters 4x. Greg finished second in the Men's Master Lightweight 1x. Kristen came in first in the Womens Open. Kristin's Quad placed first in the Women's Master's 4x.
At the Head of the Lagoon, the Women's Master Quad finished third.
SCULLING COACHING
We have found a regular coach from Lake Merritt to provide coaching to interested people. Unfortunately due to the limited number of working boats we have and the logistics of managing a number of scullers on the water, the class sizes are limited to 6.
The next coaching dates will be 4 Dec and 18 Dec. Ian will send out an email to ask if anyone is interested.
CORKSCREW ROW WITH LOS GATOS
We are also trying to arrange a row of the corkscrew with our friends in Los Gatos for Dec 19th. We plan to be at the west end of the slough by 8.00 a.m.,
therefore launching by 7.30 a.m.
Details are still being finalised.
JANUARY SCULLING CLINIC WITH XENO
We are also in the planning stages of a day clinic with Xeno Muller in January.
His web site is at http://www.gorow.com/
He looks a bit scary; however he is a nice chap really.
The day will cover:
1. Erg Training and stroke coaching indoors
2. On water coaching
3. Presentation on training periodisation
4. Lactic testing
Places will be limited to 12 and will cost around $200.
(4) NorCal Juniors Sweep
News will go to press in the next issue, please note NorCal Juniors' times at Head
of the Charles in Advanced Sweep Programs' notes.
(5) Advanced Sweep Programs
MEN'S ADVANCED SWEEP PROGRAM
Contributed by Craig Canine.
 The men’s advanced sweep team fielded an open 8+ in three recent head races.
At Head of the American on Oct. 30, we came in near the middle of a field of 13 boats
dominated by college teams. We had a good row and bested the likes of Long Beach State,
Stanford’s A and B open eights, and Cal Maritime. At the Fall Regatta on Nov. 7,
we battled it out with St. Mary’s in a two-boat field, holding off their repeated attacks
all the way down the course until the last 500m. If we’d had a handicap to account for the
creaky, advanced age of one or two of our crew members (OK, I’m talking about yours truly),
we would have edged them out. We’ll have to wait until next year to claim some of those
cool Fall Regatta mugs.
The Head of the Lagoon in Foster City saw us matched up against a boat full of ringers
from Kent Mitchell Rowing Club. They took home the Grand Sequoia Cup; we took home the
satisfaction of having spanked a few more college crews.
We’re planning to send an 8+ to the San Diego Crew Classic in April.
All interested men’s masters and/or open sweep rowers, join us in January as we train for
the 2005 season. Drop me a line at craig@ccanine.com and I’ll add you to our email list.
WOMEN'S ADVANCED SWEEP PROGRAM
Contributed by Gwendolyn Horton, Nicole Collins, Fiona Ashley and Jenny Antons.
IN SHORT
From the first fall regatta to the last, the Advanced Women’s Team consistently beat their previous time with every new race. This wasn’t easy when wind and choppy water tried to low them down, but while these conditions proved challenging, in the end the women prevailed. The Team is taking a break until January when they’ll return rested and ready to take on the Peninsula Indoor Rowing Championships.
IT'S YOUR CALL
BIAC member Nicole Collins has started a new program to teach at-risk girls to row and be coxswains. The program is called "It's Your Call" and is still in its planning phase, but they are organizing Saturday rows with the girls throughout the Winter. Please contact Nicole Collins at nicolepcollins@yahoo.com or 510-459-5134 to find out how you can participate in this exciting program.
Nicole has arranged another outing on Saturday, 4 December.
HEAD OF THE CHARLES (Two accounts)
 As many of you know, this was the 40th Head of the Charles, and the first time in 40 years that the course had to to be shortened! Due to poor conditions, the start line was moved up to Riverside Boat Club, and crews were discouraged from holding in the basin above BU bridge.
Although everyone got very cold waiting to start the race, this didn't stop the blood from pumping when each crew finally crossed the start line.
Our best result, without a doubt, came from the Norcal Youth W 4+ who came in 11th out of 34 boats, and in a time of 15:24.435. The event was won by Princenton University Women, so they had some tough competition! They also did the job of beating Penninsula Junior Crew , who had to take 14th place - poor them :-) Congratulations to coxswain Cassy, Katie, Julia, Ariel and Dina, not forgetting coaches Mike, Ally, Kevin and co... Well done team!
Coach Mike, also joined the girls on the water, and took 3rd place in the Master Eights Men, disguised in a crew called "87 Gold Rowing Club" ... Some creative naming seems to happen in this category! Nonetheless Congratulations!!
BIAC Advanced Women also had a good race finishing 22nd, this is 8 places up on last year and approx. a minute faster. Coxswain Natalie steered a brilliant course, and held off chasing boat #15 all the way down the course. Lake Washington won the event in a very fast time of 13:03.898 - we'll get them next year ;-). Great job Natalie, Kristin, Meldoy, Jenny, Alison, Vic, Ginel, Molly, ( me ;-) ) and coach Bob.
 Lastly, and by no means least, the Serra HS team also did an awesome job to finish in the middle of their field, of 55 boats, in Youth Men's eights. Another extremely competitve category with Cal Berkely taking 2nd place, and Penn, Princeton, Harvard, Brown, Yale etc. occupying the top spots. Congratulations to coxswain Marco, Tony, Mike, Sam, Nick, Brian,Kirk, Colin, Stephen and Tom, also Coaches Cassandra and Rich.
It's always great to have people cheering for you from the bridges, and the best BIAC supporter award has to go to Meg from the BIAC Novice team, who made it all the way over to Boston! Thanks Meg! Not forgetting all friends and family of the teams.
Anyway, that's a short update of how everyone did. Congratulations to all the athletes once again, and thanks very much for everyone's support at BIAC.
For full results see: http://www.hocr.org/indexcomp.html
Another view...
The clubs that row out of BIAC took Boston by storm! We sent 3 teams who row out of our boathouse this year, and I hope that next year, we can try to nearly double that. Everyone performed extremely well, and a special Kudos to the gals at NorCal who came soooo close to that coveted 5% of the winning time.
Friday we (Advanced Women) were able to get a practice row in some of the wicked Charles wakes thanks to Syracuse who trailered the boats in a few days before the race. Ginel was able to do some expert rigging and we all got well rested, fed and ready to take on the competition for Saturday.
As some of you may have heard, we got to experience a first at the 40 year anniversary of the Charles, and we rowed on a shortened course. The water seemed surprisingly flat compared to the day before, until we were about half way through our warm-up. Thanks to Natalie we were able to navigate through the congestion and get to our starting position. For at least the gals in our race, we all started in fairly cold conditions and closed quarters, but we all rallied as we got right onto the line of the course.
We completed the course within 10% of the winning time. A great accomplishment and consistent with our performances in the past. Everyone felt that we had a great row and were glad to get out there against some new competition.
The exciting opportunity that lays ahead of us, is that the top 2 times came from.....
YOU GUESSED IT- THE WEST COAST.
Unlike years past, we have an opportunity to get back into the waters with these same teams again before we hit the Charles next year. And even more exciting, we are giving the East Coast a reason to come here and compete.
Thanks to all of the efforts of those who competed, prepared, and practiced with the Advanced Women's team, this trip would not have been the same without it.
(6) Fall Regatta
Contributed by Fiona Ashley.
 BIAC CLUB PRESIDENT THANKS ALL BIAC FALL REGATTA VOLUNTEERS
Dear All,
Thankfully, the 13th Annual Fall Regatta turned out not to be unlucky after all! The sun shone, crews raced the course pretty smoothly (albeit a few protests), and we managed to shift a large number of donuts!
 A HUGE THANK YOU and pat on the back to all who volunteered, including riends and family, and well done to those who raced. From parking trailers to launching and docking boats, observing tricky parts of the course to recording start and finish times, registering 140 crews to feeding crews and 75 volunteers - you all played your part. It was a fantastic club effort, and your flexibility and willingness to help was greatly appreciated.
The Regatta Team invested unaccounted hours lining up all the essential pieces, and I'd like to pay special thanks to each of them. They diligently performed their roles, and jumped in to help with
everything else that came along:
 Co Regatta Director: Ian Cox
Registrar: Julie King
Volunteers: Dan Alexander
Site Logistics: Matt Sullivant
Concessions: Nora Cain
Marketing: Ginel Hill
Program: Yvonne French
Sponsorship: Alison Greene & Molly Newman
Results: Kevin Clark
PR: Gwendolyn Horton
Thanks also to: Mike Martinez and crew, for laying the course and loaning us tables, canopies and timers. Mike also spent Sunday photographing crews, just above Fashion Island Blvd Bridge, be sure to check out www.coolsportspix.com, and purchase a lasting memory of your race.
 Signage: Linda Lyddon,SpotLight Signs
Webmaster: Vic Szabo
Logo: Jordan Fong
Starter Marshall: Peter Allen
Finish: Claire Biron
Referees: Win Rumsey, John Holt and Jan Stone.
Our sponsors: Peggy Greene Coldwell Banker, The Challenge Learning Center, CPSM, NextWeb, Maas, JL, Hobees, Peets Coffee, House of Bagel, Krispy Kreme, Sue Rowinski, BIAC Advanced Women and Horton Family.
Anyone else I've missed ...
If you have any feedback on what you liked or think could be improved on next year, let someone on the Regatta Team know. We’ll be doing a wrap up meeting to review everything next week.
Thanks once again, and hope to see you at BIAC soon!
GO BAIR!
Fiona
(7) End of Fall Season Party for Sweep Programs
Here are some of the pictures from the end of the fall season party held at
Fiona and Euan Ashley's domicile.
(8) Work Party and Program Leads Meeting
Work Party: Sunday Dec 12th
The Juniors will be practising until 11am on Saturday, so let's hold the work party on Sunday 12th, 9am -Noon. There will be a list of things for people to choose to do including: Tidying up the boathouse, preparing the walls of the entrance for painting, fixing part of the can dock, working on couple of boats and painting blades ... if we get to all of this we'll be doing well!
Part of BIAC's membership involves 10 hours of vounteer contribution per year. For those members shy of their 10 volunteer hours for 2004, this is a great opportunity to give something back to the club.
Please spread the word!
Program Leaders Meeting: Wednesday Dec 15th, Stanford Health Library, Stanford Shoppping Center, 7-9pm.
Please confirm you will be there and if you are bringing anyone else along. This is a great
opportunity to find out what's happening at a club level, within programs and consider where we can work more together. We don't expect you to turn up to board meetings on a monthly basis, but maybe 2-3 meetings of this nature per year will prove useful in improving communication all round.
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