In a new blog series, Emily Puia will be taking us behind the scenes of the UCF rowing team.
It is mid-April and the prime time of our season, which means a lot of traveling and trailer loading.
As a rower, the two questions that I get asked the most are "Are your arms tired from all of the rowing you do" and "How do you get your boats to the races, do you borrow boats?"
To answer the first question: No. Rowing is a lower body sport, so our legs are the ones doing all the work. And for the second question: no we do not borrow boats (besides the recent fiasco that occurred, shoutout to Virginia for their amazing hospitality).
We have a wonderful boatman named Brad who drives our trailer filled with boats and equipment all across the country to wherever we are racing. Besides driving cross country every other week, Brad also helps the team with any repairs on the boats. He is also the owner of our beloved boathouse dog, Sam.
Yesterday, the team had our final row on Lake Pickett before our race in North Carolina this weekend. After having a great practice full of speed and some of the fastest numbers we've seen all year, we prepped our boats for travel. This includes wiping down the boats, taking the riggers off, strapping down the seats and zipping up the boats into their covers to go on the trailer.
If anyone outside of the rowing world came to a trailer loading, they would probably be overwhelmed. From the amount of people doing multiple tasks to the coxswains directing the boats onto the trailer, there is a lot happening, but for us, this is just a normal day in preparation for race day.
Now that Brad and the boats are off and on their way up to North Carolina, it is time to do what we do best. This is a big race for us - we will be racing multiple ranked teams and we are all eagerly waiting to give it our all and show everyone who UCF is.
Stay tuned for updates and results for this weekend full of racing!