The Peter Archer regatta at Long Beach this weekend went well - She-Hulk is going to write it up for the Outlaws webpage. The regatta wasn't until Sunday, and she had some issues with her car that needed to be taken care of, so we didn't leave until 11 on Saturday morning. Rowers sleeping late - what a concept. While we were getting ready on Saturday, Rudder had the idea of bringing the iPod instead of hauling our usual 3 packs of CDs. (Not that we'd really need that many for a total of 12 hours driving, but you never know what you'll want to listen to on the road.) So we loaded up a bunch of his music onto the iPod (because most of mine is to mellow for him while driving) and made an emergency electronics run tot he Apple store to get a car charger and a gadget that plays the iPod sound through FM radio. I was surprised and pleased at the sound quality. I still love being able to shuffle all the songs on there (though when Rudder was driving back at night I had to skip through anything too quiet) and it was wonderful to have one small object instead of several bulky ones rolling around the passenger footwell.
I drove most of the the way up, except for the last leg into LA. I'm not crazy about driving the Orange Crush (Rudder's Hummer) or about driving long distances, but we talked the whole way up and it went surprisingly fast. Rudder had asked me to drive so he could sit in back and work on the entry packet for an upcoming junior regatta here. I don't think She-Hulk was entirely happy to be displaced from her usual comfy back-seat nest, but she manned the iPod and it was actually kind of fun, with us all putting the words of the packet together as he typed. We were all sharing a room this time, in our usual pink ghetto-fabulous hotel, which turned out to be a mistake. It's not so much that I mind the peeling wallpaper, or the cracking ceiling, or the heat lamp in the bathroom that has no switch to turn it on, or even the odd lumps on the woman at the front desk (we're guessing branding, becaues of the raised area's symmetry) and it seems to be clean enough. I don't even mind being in the handicapped room even if some things are too low. (But only some - I'd hate to stay there as an actual handicapped person. It's just that when you get a room with two beds there, the beds are miniscule. They didn't even seem like double beds, though they were bigger than twins. Also the pillows were both thin and hard. I'm spoiled, I know. I just need to start remembering to at least bring my own pillow.
We got there in time for our usual pre-race Crab Shack dinner, which is probably not the best place to go when people are wanting steaks for race fuel, but none of us had the energy to decide on another place. Anyway, I like the food and I like eating while looking at the boats outside. They've added some entertainment since we were last there: every hour they make an announcement and all the staff line up to dance around the room. They're obviously choreographed and rehearsed this, but it's still a little strange. The first time it was to a sampled version of Saturday Night Fever, and the dance involved some of Travolta's moves and the Hustle but all at an oddly slow pace. None of the staff were anywhere near old enough to remember disco dancing in its original incarnation, but they made it look much more draggy than I remember it. The second time around they did something called the Windy Windy (or possibly Whiney Whiney) that was mostly about winding around the room in a train. Other than that, though, She-Hulk and I were enjoying the music, which was all about flashbacks to our youth. Rudder's comment on the dancing was that the last time he'd seen anything similar it involved the removal of clothing and the giving of ten-dollar tips.
I woke up sore from the minibed. but we managed to all get showered, fed and out to the lake for the 7AM regatta meeting which turned out to be figmentary. However, they'd condensed schedule so the 5-hour wait we were expecting before our first race turned out to be just a couple of hours to rig and relax. Even better, our last race was just after one, so we got to leave much earlier than expected, which is a welcome change when you have a six-hour drive home. The weather was changeable, but the threatening rain never actually came and it never got too hot or too cold.
Rudder and She-Hulk each raced a single and then had two doubles races together. Despite having hardly any time to recuperate between races, from four races they brought back four medals. (Actually 8, since each got a medal for both doubles races.) The most gratifying was the Men's Open double, where they wasted their much larger, younger, male-er opponents, especially after they were told by a referree that said opponents had been joking about them at the start.
The regatta was not well attended; the lanes were full in She-Hulk's singles race but only because they'd combined events. She was racing against only one other person, with all the others being open or lightweight. All three of the other races had only two or three competitors. (Which isn't to say they wouldn't have done as well even with more competition.) (And if She-Hulk wants a new nom here, she's welcome to suggest one. Ahem.)
This was more of a practice race for them than a priority one, especially since we've had lake closures for so much of this year. We did get a chance to talk to the coach we worked with at January's camp, and she's given us some tips on what to work on in training for the next few months.
The races were done just after 1, and we've got packing down to a fine science. (My tactic is mostly to stay out of Rudder's way as he turns into a packing, strapping, fitting-in machine.) I finished the sock I was working on just before we left, and will post a picture when I can upload it from the camera.
I need to remember that the Subway we usually stop at as we leave the Marine Stadium does not have bathrooms! (Isn't that illegal or something?) I bought a Coke at another cafe so I could use theirs and we were on the way. The drive home was uneventful except for a traffic jam outside Phoenix, and for another FO. I had some yarn left from the sock, so after eating my sub I cast on for an iPod cozy, because in only a few days it's gotten several scratches from being carried in the tote I take to work. No pattern or anything, and I "measured" by putting the iPod in my newly-finished sock and pinching it together to see how many stitches were extra. I used a K2P1 rib so it would pull together but be subtle, 1x1 ribbed the top inch and added a flap to tuck in at She-Hulk's suggestion. (Easier than adding on a buttonhole, and it seems to be secure. ) It fits perfectly. I'll post a picture of it, too. We also came up with slogans for Outlaw T-shirts (I'm considering a contest - will post details here if we have one) and put together some words for the official regatta report. Best of all, thanks to the compressed schedule we got hom in time to get to bed by 11, instead of 1AM as it would otherwise have been, which probably explains why I'm coherent enough to write all of this.
Posted by dichroic at March 21, 2005 12:49 PM