Pre-Season

Hello All,

I hope that everyone has been enjoying their summer, because it is about to come to an end.  Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.  However, the good news is that the fall season is about to begin!

Pre-season begins on Monday, August 20th.  We will have a bus going to and from Shipley during the pre-season and during the regular season, due to the unusually large numbers ( A good problem to have).  During the pre-season, the bus will leave from Shipley at 3 PM.  We will leave the boathouse at 6 PM, so the bus should return to Shipley around 6:45 PM as usual during the regular season.  Unfortunately, this means that we will have to have parental bus chaperones during the fall.  Linda Iqbal has volunteered to act as a chaperone on the days that she is coaching, and I can fill in on days when we don't have a parent chaperone.  To the parents, please volunteer to chaperone for at least one day if possible.  A lot of times I need to stay at the boathouse late or arrive early to make rigging changes on the boats or repair engines, etc.  Linda is not sure of her exact schedule yet, so stay tuned for the dates that we need to have filled.  I will need one of the captains' parents to establish a chaperone schedule in the next few days.  I will let you know who is coordinating this as soon as possible.  During the pre-season, practices will be Monday through Friday with the weekends off.  After Labor Day weekend, Monday will be off and we will practice the rest of the week.  Starting that Thursday, when classes start, we will shift to the normal schedule.  On Mondays and Thursdays the bus will leave at 3:30 PM.  On Tuesdays and Fridays, the bus will leave at 3 PM. 

During the regular season, We will practice Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  Sundays will be off unless we have a race that day.  This fall season, we will be participating in the following regattas:

The King's Head Regatta- Sunday, September 30th (Norristown, PA)
The Head of the Christina- Sunday, October 7th (Wilmington, DE)
The Navy Day Regatta- Saturday, October 13th (Philadelphia, PA)
The Head of the Schuylkill- Sunday, October 28th (Philadelphia, PA)

In the fall, the races are "Head Races", which means that the races will be against the clock, raced over a 2.5 to 3 mile course.

Please make sure that you show up for pre-season in shape so that we can hit the ground running.  I look forward to seeing everyone soon!

-Tom