Head of the Charles - Orange Alums uniquely prepared for conditions

As Dave Reischman would say, "it was Syracuse weather!"

That's the meteorological report from this year's Head of the Charles, aka the three-mile-long party with a boat race running thru it. Saturday dawned cold - not chilly, not brisk, not bracing - but damn cold - and I would know as my race was the first of the day. Tom Darling let me use his rack space at Cambridge Boat Club - and although it was just a tiny bit too high for me (as most rack spaces are), launching from CBC was a whole lot better than the 'public' launch site - Thanks Tom!

The Orange were well represented in at the Charles; Tom took a year off (tough for a guy who finished second last year), but his Club-Mate Tracy Smith raced, as did Jen Sacheck, Bill Purdy, el Presidente Jason Premo, Joey Peter, Chip Gibson, and probably a few other alums I don't know about. The ones who raced on Saturday were blessed by the weather gods - after the first race it warmed up considerably, and it was actually pretty nice for most of the day.

Sunday was the Polar Opposite (notice the double meaning???), with conditions ranging (in descending order) from miserable to horrible to just like Long Branch in March. Cold, windy, with snow at times, the conditions forced Jen to change launching sites to avoid swamping before the start, but she powered thru in her single, chattering teeth, sleet-encrusted racing shirt and all.

Prez Premo had better luck racing in the 40+4+ with several other SU alumns - John Dancks, Daavid Schnall, and Eric Summers, passing three crews and holding off another crew for the last thousand after an inspirational, if brief, speech ("Push them back!") from the Prez.

Bill Purdy was also racing in the senior master's 4+, and won...for something like the sixth time. The competition is getting closer, but I suspect Bill and his buds are just toying with them.

Future Prez, tech guru, and all-around fine human being Tracy Smith jumped in a quad to race the Director's Cup. Trace et al powered down the course in fine fashion, coming in a very close second to a crew that was probably cutting arches/had a motor/pulled a Rosie Ruiz - how else could they beat Tracy??

Chip Gibson raced in the Alumni 8 event for Belmont Hill, which managed to squeeze in one whole practice before the race. Paddling up to the start line Chip saw Bojan Mandaric, former SU Grad Assistant extraordinaire and Northeastern alum (looks like Bojan et al won the event) and a bunch of other guys he'd seen on the start line in his college days. Chip is pushing for an SU alumni boat for next year (he is hereby in charge of said alumni 8, you can reach him at cgibsonjrATdelandgibsoninsDOTcom, please send erg scores and monetary bribes).

Racing in the Grand Master's Single (unlike chess, all you have to do to qualify is survive into your fifties to qualify...), I had the chance to say hello to the guy starting right behind me - some schlub named Tiff Wood. After the greetings, I suggested he hang back so I could let him go by after the BU Bridge. Tiff, who is a very nice guy, obliged. Outside of some pretty creative steering and a little difficulty getting warm enough to race hard, the race went well, the result about where I wanted (in the top half), and it convinced me that its time to get back into racing.

Full results are here.