Freshmen Boy's Victorious in Mohawk Cup

The following narrative of today's race against Shenendehowa and Burnt Hills was written for the Niskayuna Freshmen Boys' blog by Nick.

We boated out at about 8am, ready to race. It was a really cold, clear morning, and the water was the smoothest I had ever seen it. It was a good day to race. The finish was just past our dock, so we basically had to row the length of the race to get to the start. Our coxswain, Kevin, started us off rowing in groups of six. About halfway to the start, he took it to all eight. We were only rowing three quarters pressure, but we were going almost as fast as the sprints we had done a few days earlier during practice. Our timing was good and we were ready to race.

That changed when we were about two hundred meters from the start. We saw a huge motorboat coming up behind us. Water sprayed out from its sides for at least ten feet. The driver slowed down as he got near us, passed us, and suddenly sped up, creating a huge wake. Unfortunately for us, we rowed right into it. The wake crashed into the six seat, drenching us. It was kind of funny at first, but the water just kept coming. By the time the wake was over, there was seven inches of water, almost up to our seats. A lot of us were swearing so loudly, I bet the driver heard us over his engine. We were panicked for a few minutes, but Kevin successfully calmed us down. No one actually saw the driver, but we later imagined him as a big guy eating foot-long twinkies. Various people in launches, including the head coach came and helped us pump the water out of the boat. Then we finally were ready to row through the bridge and start the race.

We were second in the order, with the Burnt Hills boat in front and the Shen boat behind us. Our motivation was to pass the Burnt Hills boat in front of, or before, their own dock. They had about a thirty second lead when we started, and the chase was on. About a third of the way through the race, we were next to them. Our boat kept creeping up, until our stern deck was level with their bow deck. They valiantly held us for a long time, but our persistence paid out. Suddenly their morale crashed and ours soared, and we walked right through them. For the rest of the race we opened more water on them. As we approached the finish, we were golden. Our timing was good, and we were ready to win our race. We went through the finish with a new burst of energy. There’s nothing like finishing in front of your own dock, with all our teammates and parents cheering for us. When we stopped, breathing hard, we were excited. We had our fist win.