LUNA-TICS TEAM ROOM: Year-round "Looney" fun.

[Kona2]

Wow! We've got new voices (Lilia!) and new faces (thanks for posting photo Tony!)

Row to Beijing: We've contributed 124,829 challenge meters! We blew by Dorney Lake, Windsor, England - and I wondered whether that was a good thing or not, so I looked up what Dorney Lake is known for....something for everyone on our team! Including Canoe Man or is it Jungle Boy at this point?



About Dorney Lake (from website):
Rowing and Canoeing
Dorney Lake is now in the pantheon of world rowing and flat-water canoeing venues, having been selected to host those events in the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

It has also hosted the first of three multi-national regattas for the Rowing World Cup 2005 and the Coupe de la Jeunesse 2005. In 2006 the World Rowing Championships have been held at Dorney Lake with great success. This annual event is the second most important in the rowing calendar after the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Season meters as of 72/365 = 9,599,600 m!

Total meters on the day = 85,422 m

Oars in the water = 30 percent

MILESTONES:

Dan....Half Marathon...on his birthday no less!

ONE Million Meter Watch:

Chris with (8,344 m) to go!

And thanks to today's rowers for propelling us further into space!

Dan 21,097 m
Chris 12,000 m
Pat 10,596 m
Barbara 10,024 m
Tony 7,777 m
Steven 7,133 m
Andrea 5,237 m
Jan 5,000 m
Peter G 4,000 m (teetering on the edge of that half million!)
Sorin 2,020 m (2030,2024, and now 2020....there's a pattern here)
Lilia 538 m (moon that likes books!)

Well done, everyone!

[nl07695]

For the moment my work is done in Mexico. I will be flying back to the Netherlands today. Leaving my wife behind. I count on all your support to keep her going... For about 5 weeks she will be rowing without my support and supervision.

Tuesday I'll pickup my regular rowing in the Netherlands. After three weeks of Taco's Burrito's and more yummi Mexican stuff I need my one hour of rowing again per day...

[Kristine Strasburger]

Welcome to the team, Lilia. Never fear about posting low meters. Rowing is all about having fun and getting great exercise. We have friendly fun urging each other on to greater and greater distances here, but just as important, there is a lot of support to not overdo it, and be smart about your training. You have a great start with a personal coach to help you get your form correct.

I bet posting on this forum will be a fun way for the two of you to keep in touch while apart. And maybe you will end up rowing more these next 5 weeks just to pass the time in the evenings.

[just27]

I'm Lilia Luna ... I'm very excited about joining this team! Luna

Hi, Booklover ... I was trying to load an image from your gusanito.com site, but I think that the translation mode is shutting me down. (Too bad, cute cows.) Is Peter's avatar a motor cyclist, an astronaut, or a smog outfit? Very edgy.

No way, Barbara and I have the same birth day/month! How cool is that?
Chris

[nl07695]

Hi Chris, about my avatar:

Some say that he lives in a tree, and that his sweat can be used to clean precious metals... all we know is, he's called the Stig.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stig

[Kona2]

Another meter millionaire!

Congratulations Chris! 1,000,000 m on the year (plus some)!!

And, in fine style, she completed her 1,000,000 meters with a half marathon that included a NEW personal best! Well done!

[Kona2]

Row to Beijing: 132,451 challenge meters contributed by the team!

Season meters as of 73/365 = 9,675,818 m

Total meters on the day = 76,218 m

Oars in the water = 19 percent

MILESTONES:

1 MM - Chris
Half Marathon - Personal Best - Chris
500K - Peter G

And thanks to today's rowers:

Chris 26,348 m
Barbara 10,014 m
Steven 10,000 m
Tim 8,248 m
Tony 7,778 m
Pat 7,330 m
Peter G 6,500 m

[just27]

... about my avatar ... all we know is, he's called the Stig. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stig

"In Series 10 The Stig ... had to deal with such tasks as riding a bus, using an Oyster Card and having to answer a mobile phone, but instead just stared at the ringing device."

Dang, that Stig's a useful guy ... wish I'd seen that episode before trying to figure out the Oyster Card last year!

Chris

[lunabibliofila]

Never fear about posting low meters. Rowing is all about having fun and getting great exercise...

I bet posting on this forum will be a fun way for the two of you to keep in touch while apart.

Thank you for the support! And indeed, it has become something special for both of us to be part of this team.


Saludos !

Lilia

[DuluthMoose]

I'm back.... and I'm trying to unpack, clean-up, and catch up on things today including the last week and a half of Luna-Tic chatter. Life is certainly rowing on here. I'll give a little Quetico trip report and post some pictures in the next few days (after those in the film camera get developed)

Congratulations to those who have reached milestones; and a friendly welcome to those who have newly joined the 2009 Luna-Tics.

One thing of interest in my neck of the woods. I missed the Duluth regatta yesterday (as a spectator), but I thought I'd post this write-up from the Duluth News-Tribune on what happened.


Rowing: A shore thing
Jon Nowacki Duluth News Tribune
Published Sunday, July 13, 2008
Officials for the 50th annual Duluth International Regatta checked the conditions Saturday morning on Park Point and found Superior Bay too rough for rowing with winds gusting to more than 30 mph.

Lake Superior wasn’t much better.

Rather than cancel the event, officials took the competition to land, thanks to about 10 rowing machines that were set up just outside the Duluth Rowing Club’s boathouse. More than 200 rowers from Minnesota, Wisconsin and Canada took part, and the competition was friendly but still fierce, with spectators and rowers huddled around the machines wildly cheering the competitors on.

“Of course we were disappointed, but we understand that officials did what they had to do for safety reasons,” said masters competitor Charlie Stockwell of St. Paul. “When you see whitecaps, that’s not good, and that water is really cold.”

Rowers competed in 27 events for men, women and juniors, and trophies were awarded to the top finishers. The DRC boathouse was going to serve as the finish line for the 2,000-meter course. Instead, electronic monitors on the rowing machines kept track of distance. A rower on a four-person team, for instance, would row on the machine for 500 meters and then switch off to a teammate.

Of course, it’s not an exact science. The electronic monitors on the machines didn’t account for weight, meaning a bigger rower, with more brute strength, has an advantage on a machine. Machines also don’t account for the skill and technique needed in rowing, including keeping a boat straight.

Coach Bonnie Fuller-Kask said the DRC got the idea for using rowing machines from a regatta two years ago in Kenora, Ontario.

“I’ve been involved with this event for 20 years, and we’ve never had to cancel before, so that shows you how rare it is,” Fuller-Kask said. “All these competitors know this happens occasionally and there isn’t really much you can do about it. They have all been very understanding.”

The past two years the event took place on Lake Superior because of choppy waters in the bay. This year, however, the wind made both sides of the world’s largest freshwater sandbar unsuitable for rowing. The wind blew from the northeast on Friday, making the big lake rough, and then shifted, coming in from the southwest on Saturday, causing whitecaps to roll across the bay. Officials checked Lake Superior, but the water still hadn’t settled from Friday.

Even the Duluth Rowing Club’s training “barge,” a catamaran-like vessel parked near the boathouse, was swamped and would need to be pumped out.

“The wind is just too strong and the waves too big,” Fuller-Kask said. “It’s hard to row against that. The boats on the outside get blown out.”

Ben Ellison, a 2008 Duluth East graduate, said it has been a rough season for rowing in Duluth. Ellison is the younger brother of Zach Ellison, who will compete in the under-23 World Championships Thursday through Sunday in Brandenburg, Germany.

Ben Ellison teamed with Jonathan Halquist to win the junior men’s double and partnered with Halquist, Scott Grindy and Joshua Schuder to win the junior men’s quad.

“When we started out the season [in June] it was like two or three straight weeks of bad water,” Ben Ellison said. “It wasn’t as bad as this, but it was bad enough where we would go out and row and then have to come back after one time down the course because the waves would pick up again. We’re behind, so we’ve just got to work harder and pick up our training.”

Stockwell probably isn’t quite as a competitive as Ellison. The 48-year-old said he “only likes to complete against guys with gray hair.” Saturday’s makeshift event was fine by him.

“Even though we didn’t get on the water, this event still gave us the opportunity to meet people from other rowing clubs, people we’ve gotten to know over the years, people from Duluth, St. Croix [Rowing Club], Canada and Minneapolis,” Stockwell said. “It’s like a fraternity. Events like this give people a sense of community.”

JON NOWACKI covers local sports for the News Tribune. He can be reached weeknights at (218) 723-5305 or by e-mail at jnowacki@duluthnews.com.



....Sure hope they can salvage the training barge - some fond memories there.... Darryl

[andreacs]

MILESTONES:

1 MM - Chris
Half Marathon - Personal Best - Chris
500K - Peter G

Congratulations Chris for the 1M!
And congratulations for the 0.5M to Peter G!

Welcome back Darryl!

I will be off the boat until mid next week, and will try to get back on track (or whatever it is called in rowing ) afterwards...
My plan was to keep an 5k/day rate, but am falling behind...

Happy rowing!

Andrea

[Toothdoc]

[quote="DuluthMoose"]I'm back....


Darryl,

Glad your back! Boat Club article was very entertaining. Now we are expecting a serial chronology of your exploits along the likeness of Zane Grey or Izaak Walton.

Dan

[Kona2]

Now I have to go look up what an oyster card is.....

What is Oyster?

Oyster card swiped on card reader Oyster is London's ticketing and revenue system. At its heart is the Oyster card, a 'smartcard' which makes buying and using tickets easier.

An Oyster card can store up to £90 of cash which can be used to pay as you go, plus your Travelcard or Bus Pass.

It can be used on the Tube, trams, buses, DLR, London Overground and some National Rail services in London.

Very cool! I could have used this a couple years ago!

[Toothdoc]

Now I have to go look up what an oyster card is.....

I thought I was the only one. Didn't want to sound like a dufus.

dan

[big maq]

Hi all,
It looks like my meters for the 10th and the 11th of July got combined somehow. Welcome Lilia

Mitch