Carnegie Currents: November/December 1998 Vol. XII, No. 6
Regatta Round-up Head of the Schuylkill: Win, Place & Show
The final head race of the 1998 season for Carnegie Lake was one of the best. At Philadelphia’s Head of the Schuylkill on October 24, CLRA fielded two eights, three fours, three singles and a double — and brought home two wins, one place and lots of show. It was a great end to a strong racing season for the club.
Crossing the line first was Stuyve Pell in the Men’s Veteran 1X, with Pim Goodbody not far behind, finishing fourth of the 24 boats in the event. The Women’s Master 8+ crew delivered another superb win — a first for a Laker sweep crew in this competitive regatta.
Barbara Johnson claimed second place in the Women’s Veteran 1X and the Men’s Club 8+ finished in the top third of a tough field of 35 club and collegiate crews.
Regatta organizer Pim Goodbody had his hands full with this event, not only because he rowed twice (once in his single and again with Loretta McCarthy in the Mixed Master Doubles event), but also because he had to juggle boatings due to last-minute personnel changes. Despite these challenges, Pim and the coaches managed to put together some great crews who took the changes and challenge in stride. Win or not, it was a fun, memorable day as recounted by some of the participants below.
— Karen Ellis
Report from the Men’s Master 4+
For the first time in years we had brilliant weather. Warm temperatures, good rowing conditions, sunny and calm. We installed the new Laker flag high (very high) on top of the Princeton trailer, which we shared with the National Team (pretty cool). Just tell them to meet us at the trailer; look for the flag or the National Team guys.
Thanks to Dave Hanaman, who substituted for a withdrawal, we were able to add youth and strength to our masters boat of myself, Peter Conrad and Brian Faughnan. Barbara Faughnan came forward to cox us. Despite some confusion getting the boat off the trailer (we had to go through the bushes) and our misplaced oars (we thought we had lost our cox’n for a while), we launched and were at the start on time. Off the start we held off the faster boats until the Canoe Club. The enthusiastic Laker cheers from the shore near the trailer were inspiring.
The race, as always, seems long and can be boring once past the 2000-meter finish line. Although we were passed by a couple of fast boats we used the opportunity to challenge ourselves with mini races within the race. Good spirit and sportsmanship was evident at the finish with all the rowers being supportive of each other. After all, we all understood what it takes to accomplish this feat.
Thank heavens again for the good weather as we had to wait for 45 minutes to cross the race course and return to the dock.
— Tom Heebink
From the Women’s Master 8+
O.K., Potomac clocked us by 37 seconds, but they were in their 30s. And when the regatta organizers, Schuylkill Navy, decided to break the masters event up into decades, CLRA won the 40s division, beating next place Wilmington by 20 seconds. Amy [Lyttle]’s strategy was flawless, pushing us at just the right time and place for more power and higher rating. I could see the boats behind us (we passed two college crews and kept pushing Naragansett back) just fade off into the distance on our sprint. It was a great win — not just for the nine of us in the boat, but also for Carnegie Lake.
— Margery Mark
That win was sweet! I knew we were moving and our sprint was so powerful — everyone wanting the same thing, a key ingredient in placing or winning. I was totally satisfied with the effort our boat put forth — first place was icing on the cake.
— Loretta McCarthy
While we were waiting to launch I heard a gen-X guy saunter past muttering to his pals, "Oh, Carnegie Lake ... they’re fabulous."
— Jan Stone
From the Men’s Open 8+
Waiting to go off, we were teasing the Capital boat, with [former Laker] Rich Fitzgerald in the bow seat — we made them aware of his nickname. He hung his head as there was a chirping chorus of "Skippy, Skippy, Skippy" from the rest of the Capital boat (whom we beat by nine seconds, although they pressed us all the way along). We had a strong row and Amy [Lyttle] steered a far superior course to theirs. We passed one boat. We were very pleased with our showing in this event — eleventh out of 33 boats.
— Steve Rounds
Despite his treatment at the hands of his friends and former crew-mates, Rich Fitzgerald shared the following a few days after the regatta:
"A compliment to pass on to the men and to the coaches, too: One of the Capital men said today, ‘Those weren’t the same Carnegie Lake people we raced against in the summer, were they?’"
From the Women’s Open 4+
So, we drive down to the Schuylkill River to row in the Women’s Open 4, and we get there and we’re ready to launch, and we’re watchin’ and we’re waitin’ for the other Laker women’s four (whose boat we need) to return to the dock, but they’re held up by all the traffic. Then we think, well, we can take the men’s four, but they aren’t back yet either. Then Nichole [Wolfgang] has a brilliant idea. She says maybe we can take Nereid’s four. Ahh, the rowing gods might let us row after all. We haul it over to their trailer. The first thing I lay eyes on is this old wooden four that looks about as sturdy as a flamingo in a strong wind. We think we’re foiled again. But then they say, here, take this one. Oh, thank God, I think, we may once again have a chance. Then we yell at all the boats in our way, we get right up to the dock, launch as quickly as Lakerly possible and we are off. We race up to the start because our event has already started and bow number 20 has gone by. We are number 14. We spin, we build and we are already exhausted, but we stay with it. It actually turns out to be best race the boat has ever had (never mind it was the only race all four of us ever had together). We finish and head home. And you know what? I think we still beat those other fours home!
— Ann Rogers Vartuli
Thanks to Margery Mark for pulling together these race recollections.