Pictures, a layout or two and a bit about the weekend...

I left on Friday to drive Josh and a couple of his team mates to Tampa for the Florida Scholar's Rowing Association Regatta this weekend. There were 40 teams competing at the Tampa By-Pass Canal near Brandon. We got over there around 2 on Friday, the teams all took a practice "run" or two and we headed to our hotel, then to dinner and back to the hotel for the night. We had to be up and in the lobby to eat a quick breakfast at 6am. Our school had it's first heat at 7:24am. YIKES!

The weather was pretty calm early in the morning but by mid morning, the winds had picked up. Thus making it a rather challenging day to row. Josh's boat wasn't racing till 1:08 originally but ended up not hitting the water till almost 2:00 due to the delays from the wind. These were the same kinds of wind we dealt with at the Hood Cup back in March...and then, the races got scratched. It would have really been a P.I.T.A had they cancelled any of the races on Saturday. The delays just caused us to be at the canal much longer than we'd planned to be. But...it was fun anyway. And I got some great shots too! Our tent was set up on the shore just past the finish line and the boats all passed just in front of us as they headed to the start line and then again as they finished and were heading back to the launch dock. Very very cool, IMO!

See how close I got??? These were taken as they were headed to the start line. Sure wish Josh would cut his hair and keep it cut. LOL

This picture was taken as Josh's boat was heading down the canal during their race. They finished 5th of 6...there's a story behind that one...but I won't get into it. Put it this way, another boat should not be able to stop the race if their seat happens to conveniently come off just after the start. Of course, the high winds didn't help at all either!
We got back around 10 pm Saturday night...I was absolutely exhausted and was sound asleep by 10:30. Only to sleep till after 11 on Sunday. I just could NOT wake up! Alex said it's because I get somewhat dehydrated when I'm out there all day like that. I drank water...but I really wanted to stay away from those porta potties as much as possible. YUCK! Being in the sun like that always wears me out though. It just takes so much outta me.

We have one more race this season. The Southeast Regionals are coming up the weekend of Mother's Day. Gotta love the sacrifices we make as moms! That regatta is also in Tampa. And its gonna be another long one! Let's hope for calm winds, lower than normal temps and of course, LOW HUMIDITY too! That's really not asking for much, is it?