(Posted by Igor, on behalf of Jeff Forrester)

We left out of Manchester Saturday evening and flew to Philly and then caught a direct flight to Munich overnight. Aside from sitting in Manchester a bit longer than necessary (I was convinced the flight was at 4:50 but was actually at 5:50), it was smooth and problem free. We got here and checked in with Elpi of USRowing and grabbed a bit to eat before heading down to the course to assemble our boat. And by assemble, I mean just that.

International racing requires that eights be sectional and, consequently, ours is. So, we had to connect the stern to the bow but we also had to assemble the riggers and oars as well as wash the boat. Vespoli arranged for us to get a boat and it was in pretty good shape but very dirty from being trailered and having sat in the rain for a few days.


Logistics done, we took the boat for its inaugural row and to work the kinks out. Find out that large shoes are indeed large and actually too roomy for my size 13s, which was kinda funny to find out. Over the course of Monday's row, we really got the shell suited to us and it has been fine since.

Our first couple of rows were shaky as we were dealing with jet lag and, at least for me, truly realizing that I was a US national team member and I was at the World Championships. Once I wrapped my head around this (you think the gear would have solidified this, right?), I have been able to relax and truly enjoy this event. The course is beautiful with crystal clear water and an amazing grandstands. The facilities are a bit old, as it was built for the 1972 Olympics, but they are still practical and more than serve their purpose.

Tuesday morning was our first longer row and we definitely worked hard and rowed well. We were doing 8k of hard ss and it was screaming along. The Italian eight was out and we got to get a feeling for what it might feel like to walk through them during the course of the workout. That felt sweet! As a result of this hard work- and cuz we were still pretty jetlagged- Bruce gave us the afternoon off and we headed into Munich and saw some sights.

It is a pretty city with a lot architectural attractions and, of course, beer gardens. We all had a bit (one glass) to help relax and then headed back to the hotel.

This morning's row was absolutely AWESOME!! We all got off the water pumped and ready to go. Too bad we have to wait another 10 days, but we're all jazzed. We were doing 20 on/30off, building the rate and were hitting splits we'd not seen yet at those ratings. Very good stuff and exciting as hell. This afternoon's row was a bit shaky at first but got going really well for the latter part. That was reassuring to see we can get it back if things are going so well.

The course is starting to get crowded as well as more crews have shown up. The Aussies and Canadians showed up today and that is gonna really clutter up things since they have pretty large squads.

I guess that is all for now and I'll try to get more next time as far as how things are feeling. I do know this, every one of us is excited as hell and think we have a good shot at something special. Can't wait to see if this pans out. Hope this finds you well and I'll talk to you soon.