by Dana Maglaris

by Rob Zondervan

I was able to make a trip up north this spring to catch up with Stew Stokes and accompany him during a practice.  Stew reported that both teams went into winter training knowing they needed to find some more speed and fitness.  Armed with Head of the Charles results fresh in their memory, where the men and women placed 21^st and 31^st  The men revived the Tour de Erg which helped to make miles on the erg a little more interesting.  Overall, the training went well and once the stream thawed the crews were able to test their improved strength.  Stew and assistant coach, Joe Richard, both were pleased that the teams were able to pick up technically right from where they left off in the fall.  respectively, Colby Crew went to work.

Throughout the spring, the men’s and women’s teams both suffered many close losses, but were able to achieve some victories over Bates, Bowdoin and The University of New Hampshire.  One of the most encouraging aspects of the team right now is the novice rowers.  They are a close-knit group with a diverse background of rowing experience.  Both Stew and Joe are excited to see them mature into strong Colby rowers. 

While the season officially ended after the team’s trip to ECACs, the last time Colby raced was actually at New Englands (ECACs was canceled due to weather conditions).  The crews were pleased to report that their races in Worcester were the best of the year, with punishing sprints and more decisive moves.  As all seasons must come to an end, the team is sad to lose their seniors who showed immense composure and great leadership through a tough year.  Prospects for next year look good with a large number of rowers returning who now have a great deal of racing experience.  We will also have a strong class of first year rowers thanks to Joe’s recruiting work .  Go Colby!

by Pete Morelli

At Colby, the rowing world as I saw it consisted of large groups of people focused on making a bunch of eights as fast as possible with the support of coaches, parents, the athletic department, and some Colby funding.  After graduation, my introduction to club rowing was less defined.  You must be more self-sufficient to figure out where and whom to row with.  Because clubs have members of varying ages and skills, you need to set your own goals.  You begin to realize the rowing world is much bigger than the one you knew in college.  Navigating this world is exciting, and through rowing you can have some pretty neat experiences. 

Last November, I was convinced by a couple of accomplished Boston scullers (Steve Tucker & Michelle Guerette) to attend the Silverskiff Endurance regatta in Torino, Italy.  This race is unique for a few reasons.  First, it requires flying to the site of the 2002 Winter Olympics to compete against over 400 scullers.  Second, overseas competitors are provided with a single scull for the race, and have only a few practices to familiarize themselves with the boat.  Finally, the 11 kilometer race snakes up the Po river and includes a 180-degree stake turn at the halfway point.

On my flight from Boston to Milan, I had a chance encounter with Colby's Dean of Admissions, Parker Beverage, which I decided was a good omen.  I took a brief walking tour in Milan followed by an easy train ride to Torino.  With quaint European charm and a reputation for fine chocolate and gelato, this city in Northern Italy immediately won me over.  The regatta arranged reasonable lodging for competitors at nearby hotels, and that afternoon I went for my first row in Italy on glassy water and under sunny skies. 
 
There was plenty of time to explore the city, most of it within walking distance from the hotel and river.  Although it was difficult finding dinner before 8pm, I learned that gelaterias are an excellent source of appetizers any time day or night.  I also noticed that fewer people spoke English than other large European cities, which was a welcome struggle for me – Americans have it too easy sometimes!
 
On Saturday, the day before the Silverskiff, I watched the Kinder Skiff regatta for kids aged 14 and under and was completely impressed by the skill level of these kids. It's no surprise Italians are nasty at sculling and rowing. Every day there are swarms of kids on the river, all in singles, and they're running drills, doing pieces, steering around each other, spinning, playing, and splashing with child-like enthusiasm as if they were on a bunch of big wheels.  They were more comfortable on the water than I was!  That afternoon, I borrowed one of the free city bikes at the regatta and explored the highest point in Torino, the Olympic village, and biked through town like a true Italian -  dodging traffic armed with a ching-ching bike bell and a brazen sense of agility. 

Sunday was race day. After weighing in for the lightweight event, I affixed my bow number, 244, to my boat.  With boats starting every 20 seconds, I had to wait an extra 80 minutes after the race began before I was called to the line.  The race itself was a blast, if not a bit crazy.  I was constantly steering, looking for ways to pass boats ahead of me, and trying to tell if spectators were cheering or if they were telling me to avoid a bridge.  After trading some paint during the stake turn, I was thankful the current would make the trip home faster than the race upstream.  Unfortunately this race was a painful reminder of what happens when you “fly and die”, except that the “die” portion of the race is several kilometers long... 

That night, the competitors that traveled from abroad were invited to a gorgeous hilltop villa for a dinner party hosted by the regatta committee.  Burning out a clutch on the cobblestone switchback roads to the villa was certainly worth the priceless views, gourmet food, and shared stories. 

I only finished somewhere around 55^th place, which isn't great, but certainly gives me a better starting spot when I return for the 2008 regatta.  I hope some of you can join me there someday! 

by Katie O'Neill

You all thought that Colby rowing started in the 1980s right? Then became a varsity program in 1993-1994? Me too. Turns out, we were all mistaken. Check out the passage from Ernest Marriner's, The History of Colby College below.

"What many Colby graduates do not know is that boat racing was a Colby sport of the 1870's. It is first mentioned in the "Oracle" of 1874, which lists a boat crew for each class, and two rival groups, the Colby Boat Club and the University Boat Club. There is doubt whether any of the clubs owned a regulation rowing shell, such as Harvard crews then used on the Charles River. The Colby craft were probably very simple boats, and there is evidence that the number of men in a crew did not exceed four. The scene of activity was the Messalonskee Stream, and there it continued, at least in some form of boating, into the 1880's. No Colby boathouse was ever built on the Kennebec."

Colby rowing has a longer linneage than we previously thought. Coach Stokes promised to dig further into the history after the season is over. We'll hold him to it!

by Dana Maglaris

Overall, the team is numbered by a majority of freshman and sophomores. The senior class has shrunk to the small but powerful trio of Rachel Daley, Jesse Kaler, and Sasha Bartels. All three have been working together as team leaders. They are followed by another group of three juniors, with a couple others studying abroad this semester. Despite this, Rachel has optimistically written in, “We have a committed, fun and exciting team. I am really impressed by the progress of the sophomores this year. Every week they become more responsible for themselves and better leaders on the team. The most exciting one by far, is our group of freshmen. They are intense, fun, and have so much potential. They, like the sophomores, are always improving and are constantly figuring out how to push themselves more. I am really proud of everyone this year.” She also says that the women are looking forward to the spring season and are enjoying being on the team, a good feeling since there had been some tough moments in the fall. 

The women’s team has also been an accomplished bunch coming off of winter training. It culminated the day before leaving for spring break, where the team took a 2k test. Rachel says, “It was really great to finally have a quantitative measurement of our strength, and heartening to know that we are on the right track as far as the spring season goes. One of our goals for the season was to average under eight minutes as a team, and we did that by a good margin! We have the fastest first and second eights on the erg Colby Crew has ever had!” 

As for spring break, the team had a bit of a scenery change from previous years. Instead of trekking as far south as Georgia, where Lake Lanier took a hit from the droughts last fall, the team went to Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina. The team liked the nice town and found the university welcoming. The main problem was the weather, which came in pretty windy on the lake. But a good deal of progress was made over the week. One of the objectives for spring break was to work on technique, especially with such a large number of freshmen. Stew was been helping the women focus on length, trying to force a couple extra inches out of each stroke. One of the exciting and fulfilling parts of spring break according to Rachel was doing pieces against the Clemson University’s Women’s team, a division I program.  

by Dana Maglaris

The men’s team is bouncing back this spring. Having lost two seniors and one junior this past fall, they are feeding off energetic momentum of the freshmen, the majority of the team. In speaking with Sam Fabens, men’s co-captain, he explains that the crew is compiled of 9 freshmen and 9 sophomores, juniors and seniors combined, making two complete eights. They have two women’s coxswains, Michelle Easton and Dana Vancisin. Dana hales from Colby Women’s Crew, but is ailing from a torn ACL, landing hear a ride in the men’s boat.   

Winter training brought with it a chance to grow together as a team. The freshmen really stepped it up, being enthusiastic, and now with two of them in the first boat. The training itself did not involve many additional workouts, which Sam believes has contributed to the lower rate of burnout. Additionally, the team was able to get faster in ways it wanted to get faster. A number of personal goals were met, including junior Spencer Crim going 6:18 on his 2k.  

As for spring break, the team enjoyed the facilities of Clemson University, this year’s training site for the week. They ate lunch and dinner in the cafeteria, but stayed in a hotel ten minutes away. As for the rowing, the majority of the freshmen trained together in an eight, while the others had a number of practices broken into fours. This way the crew got to do a handful of competitive pieces against each other. Rowing in fours also helped the men hone their technique, one of the goals of spring break. Sam explained that since the team is physically small {averaging 6 ft, 185 lbs}, the best way to move the boats is to improve technique.  

In addition to beating themselves up on the water, the men’s experience in South Carolina was not without its laughs and good times. The annual skits played out with their usual fanfare and ragging on teammates. The epic bus ride almost went off without a hitch, although a flat tire held the moving party up by about an hour and a half. On the boat-trailer side of the trip, one team member’s single was tied down a little too far forward on the trailer. Its bow was crunched off from a sharp right turn made by the team truck.  Oops. 

As for the spring season, Sam described the excitement felt on the team. The freshmen boost the morale of the group, as they are embracing their learning curve and growing in strength and overall experience. There is a lot that is unknown for this season, Sam explains. The team is physically small, but it has a lot to work towards and carries with it good momentum.

by Katie O'Neill

I had a chance to catch up with Coach Stew Stokes recently and find out what the team has been up to…  

As most of you remember, or rather can’t forget, the spring season in Maine begins on the twisting, log and ice filled, narrow Messalonskee stream.  I’m happy to report that this year the team was able to get out earlier than usual and experience a couple bonus weeks of stream rowing. Coach Stokes said getting in a couple weeks of good rowing before heading to spring break was very beneficial for the team.     

Colby rowers got a chance to try a new course during their spring break training trip in Clemson, South Carolina.  Clemson is a town of 17,000 that is completely linked in every way to Clemson University, a school with a population of about 17,000.  Coach Stokes was impressed with the brand new 1.5 million dollar boathouse - just for their women's team - and 6 lane buoyed race course on campus.  Very nice facilities.   

Despite a few windy afternoons, the team had good water and was able to accomplish 75-80% of their spring break training goals. In order to fulfill NCAA pre-season obligations, the women’s team scrimmaged the Clemson varsity crews - 20 full scholarship athletes and a V8 full of women averaging 5'10", 162lbs. and 7:10 on the erg.  Coach Stokes said it wasn’t until getting down to the 3V that you would find erg scores in the 7:40's.  The Colby men also raced the Clemson men in a 30spm rate capped 2000 piece.  The crews began the race at 6AM sharp and it was literally pitch black (sunrise 7:15 AM).  In the end, the men finished about ¾ of a length behind the Clemson crew.  After the racing Coach Stokes remarked that, "We were mostly glad we didn't damage any equipment!”  Finally, what spring break trip wouldn’t be complete without a solid, tour de force of… eating.  We’re happy to report that the Colby rowers were well fed in the Clemson dining halls.   

While the first couple of races of the season haven’t produced the ideal results, the squad is still young with 5 freshmen in the women's V8 and only 2 men returning from last year’s V8. While the team certainly isn’t lowering expectations, Coach Stokes expects this spring to be a continual learning process for everyone.  The coaches are working on introducing and building the skills, both on and off the water, that the team needs to be successful in the future.  Coach Stokes said, "The good thing is they are working hard and the older kids are providing good leadership to everyone and so our learning curve remains steep and attitudes good." 

by Rob Zondervan

What's better than spending Sunday afternoon relaxing on the couch and eating chips? How about dominating some Bates alumni by 15 seconds! Way to go Colby, we're slightly less unfit than the Bates alums!

In all seriousness, the CBB alumni race was a great time. The boats were mixed and Colby's all star lineup included, from stern to bow, Rob Zondervan ‘07, Pete Morelli ‘02, Nick Gambino ’03, Matt Wallach ’07, Megan Loosigian ’05, Mariah Hudnut ’07, Katie Jones ’05, Justine Scott ‘07 coxed by Chelsea Alsofrom ’10. The day started with an early commute up from Boston or NH, complete with the prerequisite Dunkin' Donuts stops. No one got a speeding ticket so the day was already going well.

Upon arrival at the Bates course, the Colby alums eyeballed their adversaries and decided they could, and would, be taken. Confident in their eventual victory, they headed off to the Colby food tent to get sustenance for the grueling 15 minute 2k that awaited. Actually all boats raced a1500 because the current was so strong, varsity times were still way over the average for a 2k.

Weighed down, (or fueled by) their visit to the food tent and pysched up from cheering for the Colby crews, they laid hands on to the Satori (that’s right, it still floats) and managed to launch with no major incidents (ie no one fell off the dock or pulled a muscle).

Muscle memory treated the brave alums well and they arrived at the starting line appearing as though they might make it back to the finish unscathed. They came off the line at a blazing 38, took a lead on Bates and then just kept on gaining open water. Encouraged by their coxswain that the food tent once again awaited, they sprinted it out at a (hand) blistering 34 beating Bates by 15 seconds.

Afterwards, the two teams shook hands (or rather said, “I would shake your hand but the blisters hurt too bad”) and everyone agreed it was a great time.

Unfortunately only one of Bate’s two alleged lineups showed up, they must have heard of our extensive training for this race and therefore scratched. Bates was kind enough to make shirts that commemorated the epic battle, I think in part due to a habit of giving us shirts.

Looking forward to next year!