Promise delivered...
My crew for the corporate challenge (I can say 'my' since I'm actually the captain ^_^) has a lot of potential this year. I've mentioned it before... we have an incredible stern four, with a pretty decent bow four.
So yeah, for the past couple weeks, we've been having trouble with a power imbalance. Starboard side has been wooping Port, which has had us pingponging back and forth across False Creek. Row row row. Let it run! Turn the boat. Row row row. Let it run! Turn the boat. etc. At the end of last Thursday, people were pretty frustrated and it showed. I was beginning to worry that we were going to fall appart and lose that awesomeness that had us rowing all eight right from the first practice...
So tonight we moved two people around and fixed the imbalance. While things still aren't perfect, the change in the boat was drastic. Drastic enough that we did a bunch of power pieces, practiced starts, and then raced another boat. We raced against a defender crew (people who've all rowed before)... actually, it was the crew that won second place last year as a defender... we started well, had some trouble, recovered and rowed very well, and then lost it again at the finish. They rowed well the whole way. :( We kicked their asses! :-D
So yeah, I think that its going to come together. Tonight I finally saw the crew begin to deliver on its potential. If we can fix our rhythm issues, I think we're pretty much guaranteed to be in the medal race, if not a favorite for first. w00t!