A few highlights (competition & general) from Saturday, Long Beach DB Festival:
Very, very proud of all boats performance today - everyone came packing heat!
Especially those that paddled in heats w/ sideways starts (@ least a handful). Composure, pride, and ability to mentally overcome obstacles shone through as you handled business. Props to the officials for rectifying the microphone / speaker inaudibility issues.
WOMEN overcame a side-wise start to power through to an aggressive, pull-like-men 2nd place finish - earning a Bye in the afternoon Women's heats and qualifying directly to the Women's "A" division finals - a great victory in itself! Strong competition awaits early Sun morning - exciting!
MEN were also stellar in qualifying for the Open Division "A" Finals (i.e., likely the fastest crews all weekend) after a solid early AM heat. Our Dudes closed off the day w/ a great run in the Finals Sat afternoon - & although we likely finished off the medal stand - the heat was exciting, close, and the men put in a great feeling set. Nothing but pride. Opportunities to race against great competition is what we want & cherish.
MASTERS also had a bit of an adventure as despite being in initially great position @ the start line, we had to reposition and the race ended up getting called while we were sideways. Masters put in a good set regardless & will be no doubt coming for blood in Sunday's finals.
WHITE - Awesome efforts in both Sat heats to qualify for Division III AA (2nd highest of 5 subdivisions of Div III)! Crew looks great, & we're ultra happy to have Ripples Pat (now in Seattle) & Kurt (now in Arizona) paddle w/ us!
BLUE - Positioned nicely in Division IIC - looking forward to an awesome effort in the Finals against teams like Tianjin University, Lightwave, and other strong competitors.
RED - Handled business, qualified once again for the top Mixed Division, IA - great accomplishment! Can't wait for this race against San Diego 1 & 2, SF DW 2, Galileo, & LB brethren LARD Black & Aero.
Other awesome highlights:
RFX - gawd how we love you. Thank you soooo much for the ultra-handy & ultra-cute White Boards. We love the personalization & its really such a thoughtful gift. THANK YOU!
Great potluck spread! THANK YOU EVERYONE for bringing so much delicious food!!!
Thank you Potluck organizers (Marina, Kat, Susie, Denise, others!).
Animale Phil brought a great banner for the crew to sign for our recovering team mate Tom Loesniritazita! Be sure to sign it if you haven't already!
Other Long Beach crews look great, representing home turf in a grand fashion.
Ceez kissed Phil. Video to come later.
Champions come back stronger Day 2. Lets do this.
