Henley 2010 - Men’s Sweep Practice

Below are some random photos taken of Potomac Boat Club’s Men’s Sweep practice, on Thursday, June 3, 2010.  This year, the men return to the UK, to compete in the Henley Royal Regatta (June 30 - July 4).

We hope to have more information on the lineup and race schedule soon.  Stay tuned.

The Race for Steve Vermillion

Steve Vermillion’s brother, Ryan, sent the following update earlier this week through the Potomac Boat Club Yahoo Group.  We wanted to be sure to share it with all of Steve’s teammates, friends and supporters out there, so we reprinted it below.

We’re thinking of you, Steve.  Hurry back.

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I wanted to bring you up to date on Stephen and ask for your special thoughts and prayers tomorrow. As many of you know Stephen has been battling leukemia for over 18 months. That is a long time, for someone to stay strong, upbeat, thankful and appreciative for everyday he has while battling a disease that ultimately wants to kill him.

Stephen has been a real warrior, trooper, stud or whatever adjective you want to use during this period of time. Think of what you have been through the last 18 months, we have had 2 Christmas’s, 2 New Years Eve’s, 2 St. Patty’s Days, we have all had our birthdays and some of us have had 2 birthdays since Stephen’s diagnosis. We have had births, deaths, times to smile and times to cry, good times and bad times. We wake up and complain about the rain, the snow, our jobs, our class work but we wake up and move on with our day. Stephen wakes up with leukemia every single day. He has to go through another day of chemotherapy, blood transfusions, bone marrow biopsies, spinal taps, platelets, IV antibiotic drips,  CT scans, radiation, skin biopsies and coughing down more pills than 10 people should take.

At times he is his old self, talking, laughing, teasing but other times he is tired, quiet, reserved, in pain, dizzy, nauseated, cold, hot, irritated but he pushes forward not knowing where this journey will take him. He has been declared cancer free, he has been told he beat it, he has received a bone marrow transplant that was supposed to be the answer. He has been told he is strong and not the normal patient, that is body is in great shape and the chemo has not had any detrimental effects on his organs but … he still has leukemia. He has done everything the doctors have asked him to do. He told me one time he would give his left leg if that would cure him, he is willing to do anything to continue to be a husband, father, son, brother, cousin, and friend.

Tomorrow Stephen will be receiving his second bone marrow transplant at Johns Hopkins University Hospital. This time he will be receiving his bone marrow from his 13 year old daughter Sarah. Can you think of a better gift you can give a parent, life. We would all want to give our parents the gift of life, they gave it to us and how great would it be that we could give it back, well Sarah will be doing just that tomorrow morning. Sarah will give her father the gift of life through her bone marrow. Tomorrow morning think of and pray for Stephen and Sarah, that their day will go well and that ultimately this bone marrow transplant will cure Stephen. I know that is what Sarah wants and she believes she is going to save her Dad. We all have busy days, we are pulled in many different directions, demands on our time are always there. When you think you are having a bad day think of what Stephen and Jennifer have gone through the last 18 months.

Tomorrow morning  think of and pray for Stephen, give him the strength he needs to continue the fight. The Doctors are amazed at Stephens physical condition, his ability to tolerate chemo, his mental fortitude they can’t understand it and they don’t have an answer. There is someone who has the answers, our mother. She knows where Stephens strength comes from, it comes from your continued prayers and thoughts. There are thousands of people praying for Stephen, please keep it going, it is working. One day Stephen will finally be able to say he is cancer free.

Thank you for all you have done and will continue to do for Stephen, Jennifer, Sarah and Joe.

I know I have missed family and friends with this email, please forward it on to any of Stephens friends that I have missed, the more people praying the better.

God Bless you all,
Ryan

Ryan P. Vermillion
Head Trainer
Carolina Panthers
Charlotte, NC

2009 - 2010 Annual Report, The Potomac Star

Potomac Boat Club, Publications Committee
Chair: Penelope Wrenn Walz
Subject: Annual Report

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I. First, thank YOU!

We have many people to thank for the success of the Potomac Star (the Star) this year, including Reilly Dampeer, Nick Davies, Camilla Durfee, Eric Edmonds, Marc Edmonds, Jim Edmonds, John Forrest, Marc Gwadz, Jim Hatch, Nick Holland, Jean Hopkins, Greg LeSage, Owen Lewis, Matt Madigan, Elizabeth Mygatt, Bob Price, Ed Ryan, Dick Schwartzbard, Chuck Selden, Julia (and Margot!) Shumway, Tom Stork, Cal Sutliff, Susan Trice, Steve Vermillion, but, most of all, YOU (now you can’t say we left you out).

II. About

A. Background

The Potomac Star is Potomac Boat Club’s online rowing news and information resource. It was launched in March 2009, as a replacement for The Blade, the semi-annual club newsletter previously published in hard copy format and distributed via regular mail to club members. The Potomac Star is produced by a volunteer staff with input invited from the club at large.

Please send your comments or suggestions for new content to Penelope at editor@potomacstar.com. Penelope may not respond right away, but she’ll try really hard to get back to you in a few days. If she doesn’t, please feel free to send her a very sweet and understanding reminder to respond.

B. Content

o Pages

§ Home

§ About

§ Club Rowing

§ Racing Programs

§ PBC Calendar

o Columns

§ PBC News

§ The Race Report

§ Special Reports and Polls

o General content and other features

§ Club information

§ News, articles, surveys, comments

§ Content sharing through AddtoAny

§ Google calendar

§ Youtube video feed

§ Password protected areas for member only information

§ Photo galleries fed by Flickr

§ Links to other PBC communication areas, including Potomacboatclub.org, PBC Yahoo Group, PBC  Member Bulletin Board

§ Word Press publishing platform

§ Google Analytics and Google Apps

III. Newish on the Star!

A. USRowing News – Now you can access all the latest USRowing news via Twitter from the right sidebar of the Star

B. Twitter at pbc_potomacstar

o Reach includes members, other clubs and a few vendors

o Emergency information

o Notices and reminders

o Links to new posts on Potomacstar.com

C. Facebook moderated by the Star’s Abner Burnside

o Reach includes members, former members, remotely located members, mobile members

o Emergency or urgent information

o Notices and reminders

o Links to new posts on Potomacstar.com

o General commentary

IV. Interesting stuff … about you

A. A note on your privacy

Thanks to Google analytics, we get to see a certain amount of visitor information, like what browser and operating system you’re using, what city you’re visiting from, the keyword search you used to find the Star, and other information that we hope to use to understand what you’re really interested in and the things we might do in the future to make the Star better. Don’t worry, though … we don’t know exactly who you are, and even if we did, we wouldn’t tell anyone!

B. Visitors from all over!

Due to our small target user base (i.e., friends and members of Potomac Boat Club), and to avoid some of the administrative headaches that come with a heavily trafficked site, we haven’t made a huge effort to optimize the Star for search. In general, we use a subscribe-to RSS feed, the Yahoo group, Twitter, and Facebook to let people know when there is something new on the Star. We do on occasion optimize a particular post, like the post announcing open registration for the 2009 Head of the Potomac, or a particular page, like our Racing Programs page.

Interestingly, despite our somewhat intentionally low profile, last year, we found the Star was growing regular readership from all over the country … and even the world! Was it crack journalism? (Doubt it.) Prolific use of eco-friendly manure? (Could be.) The addition of our Men’s Sweep Gallery, which continues to be huge in the Netherlands, Brazil and Croatia? (Most likely.)

Well, whatever the reason, welkom, bem-vindo, and dobro došli! The following is a list of the Star’s top ten countries/locations (by number of visitors):

1. United States; top ten states are the following:

i. Virginia

ii. Maryland

iii. California

iv. DC

v. Massachusetts

vi. New York

vii. New Jersey

viii. Washington

ix. Texas

x. Illinois

2. United Kingdom

3. Canada

4. Australia

5. Germany

6. Italy

7. New Zealand

8. France

9. The Netherlands

10. Ireland

C. You lookin’ at me?

Google analytics prove to us that, like the rest of the world, many of us at PBC like to Google ourselves … and a few of you even have a number of friends/fans/cyber-stalkers who like to Google for you!

Below is a list of the top keyword searches that led folks to the Star. We’ve excluded the names of individuals to protect your privacy!

1. potomacstar.com

2. potomac star

3. potomac boat club

4. national team rowing

5. rowing club dc

6. scull Washington

7. rowing camp junior

8. row crew virginia

9. masters national championships

10. crew dc club

D. Top Posts of 2009

We’ve published 72 posts since the Star’s launch at the beginning of 2009. The following is a list of the top five posts of the year:

1. Our first PBC Profile: Guess who? (April 20, 2009)

2. Board to establish fund in Challinor’s memory (July 12, 2009)

3. Safety lesson learned the hard way (January 5, 2010)

4. Register for the 29th Annual Charlie Butt Scullers’ Head of the Potomac (August 21, 2009)

5. Let’s GO, Margot!!! (August 12, 2009)

V. Keep it coming!

The Potomac Star’s regular staff is a staff of one, one who realizes that she chairs a committee of zero other members (yet regularly uses plural pronouns when referencing staff), that further, she invented a staff member born approximately 165 years ago to find friends on Facebook, and that even right now, she is writing in the third person. Kind of pathetic, isn’t it? Yeah. We think so, too. But this is why you are so important to the Star’s future success! Please keep sending us your story ideas, photos, comments, and other suggestions for content! This is your Potomac Star, PBC! Thanks for letting us be part of it!

We have a date! PBC Annual Meeting, April 7th

On Wednesday, April 7, Potomac Boat Club will hold its 144th Annual Meeting.  If you’re like us, you’re probably asking yourself … 144th?  How did 144 annual meetings happen in a span of 140 years? But if you’re normal, and without a lot of time on your hands, you’re probably just wondering whether or not you really have to be there. The answer?  Yes.  You do.

Here is the schedule of important events:

• 6:30 - 7:30 PM - Social Hour (a.k.a. Happy Hour … you know, with food and drinks and stuff)

• 7:30 – 9:30 PM - Elections (senior members vote on three Board seats and Officers), Committee Reports and Other Business

Okay, the truth is, you don’t have to be there … but you should be. We make much better decisions when you’re around.

See you soon!

Club Stockholders, Crack Oarsmen, and PBC Heavyweight Wrestling

Happy 140th Anniversary, Potomac Boat Club!

Thanks to the Library of Congress’ Chronicling of America tool, we were able to put together a few archived mentions of Potomac Boat Club dating back to 1882, just for you!

From club stockholders to champion wrestlers, the pages linked below are chock-full of interesting, if not weird, bits of PBC history from the turn of the last century.

We listed the headlines “newest” to oldest. When you find a story you would like to read, click on the link and zoom in!

 

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Regatta Ends (The Washington Times, August 14, 1910)

Best Entrants in National Regatta Are Rowing in Today’s Events on the Potomac (The Washington Times, August 13, 1910)

A.A.U. Championships Regatta on Potomac, Has Attracted the Greatest Gatehring of Oarsmen Ever Held In America (Palestine Daily Herald, Texas, August 12, 1910)

Crack Oarsmen from All Over The Country Are Arriving for the National Regatta, First Out-of-Town Arrivals for National Regatta on Potomac (The Washington Times, August 10, 1910)

Regatta Entries Are Now All In, Sixty-three Crews to Take Part in Big Event, Ottawa Rowing Club Coming (The Washington Herald, August 8, 1910)

All Is Set for the Big Regatta (The Washington Herald, August 7, 1910)

Potomac Boat Club in the Society Page (The Washington Herald, July 17, 1910)

National Rowing Regatta to Be Great Event (The World of Sports, July 17, 1910)

Potomacs Sign Middies’ Coach, Dick Glendon Succeeds Pat Dempsey at Local Club (The Washington Herald, June 30, 1910)

Great Regatta May Come South, Potomac Boat Club Will Make Effort to Land National Amateur Rowing Event (Richmond Times Dispatch, March 6, 1910)

Wrestling Bouts Draw Slim Crowd, Mueller Champion of the Heavyweight Title (The Washington Times, February 25, 1909)

National Regatta May Be Held Here, Potomac Club to Make Strong Bid for Big Event, Prominent Men to Take up the Plans (The Washington Times, December 24, 1908)

Seventeenth Regatta on the Potomac, Prussians Who Competed in Olympics Games Row With Americans (The San Francisco Call, September 8, 1908)

Potomac Juniors Win Their Event, Washington Eight Beats Baltimore and Middle States Regatta (The Washington Times, September 7, 1908)

German Contenders In Two Sculling Events (The Washington Times, September 6, 1908)

Editorial Comment on High School Rowing (The Washington Herald, May 10, 1908)

Gossip of the Oarsmen (The Washington Herald, March 4, 1907)

Oarsmen on their Mettle for the Big Rowing Event (The Washington Times, September 2, 1906)

Don’t Want Jamestown For National Regatta (The Washington Times, December 16, 1906)

Labor Day Regatta Has Record Entry, List Opened Last Night Contains Names of Many Crack Oarsmen (August 30, 1906)

Finest Regatta Ever Pulled Off On The Potomac, Forty-five Clubs Represented (The Washington Times, September 7, 1905)

Washington Oarsmen Making Great Plans for Next Year (The Richmond Times Dispatch, September 11, 1905)

Potomac Boat Club Makes Firm Denial, Says Statements by ex-Member Concerning Organization and Its Methods are Untrue - An Explanation and Some History (The Washington Times, August 20, 1905)

Rough Water Interfered With National Regatta, Oarsmen Unable to Do Their Best Work Because of Choppy Condition of Course. McGowan of Potomacs Was Fouled. (The Washington Times, August 12, 1905)

Have Regatta on James River, Virginia Boat Club Perparing for Interesting Event This Summer, Engages Capable Coach, Dr. Joseph A. Reilly of Georgetown Will Train Local Crew (Richmond Times - Dispatch, May 7, 1905)

Washington Should Aid Its Coming Regatta, More Money Required to Accommodates Crew at Coming Potomac Regatta (The Washington Times, August 7, 1904)

Titus Defeated by Vesley in the Senior Single Race (The Washington Times, September 8, 1903)

Noted Oarsmen Row For Prizes, Middle State Regatta Is Witnessed by Large Crowd, Medals and Silken Badges Are Distributed Among the Victors (The San Francisco Call, September 8, 1903)

Visiting Oarsmen Arrive on Scene (The Washington Times, September 6, 1903)

Pat Dempsey To Coach Potomac Boat Crews, Services of a Veteran Trainer Necessary, Local Crews Working Hard (The Washington Times, August 31, 1903)

Frank Greer Wrests Sculling Championships from C.S. Titus (The Saint Paul Globe, August 16, 1903)

Championship Regatta of National Oarsmen, Preliminary Races Are Successfully Rowed Off at Lake Quinsigamond (The Saint Paul Globe, August 15, 1903)

Potomacs Again Win Double Sculls (The Washington Times, August 13, 1903)

Plans Perfected for Potomac’s Regatta, Races Tomorrow Evening to Terminate With Dance (The Washington Times, July 17, 1903)

A Day on the Water with Georgetown’s Aspiring Crews (The Washington Times, May 17, 1903)

Announcement of Performance to Benefit the Potomac Boat Club Building Fund (The Washington Times, April 26, 1903)

Potomac Regatta A Brilliant Success, Races Witnessed by Thousands of War Veterans (The Evening Times, October 6, 1902)

Labor Day Regatta Officials Named, (The Washington Times, September 2, 1902)

Entries for the Annual Regatta of National Amateur Oarsmen’s Association (The New York Tribune, July 11, 1900)

Harlem Regatta, Arrangements for the Meeting of Amateur Oarsmen Completed (The Saint Paul Globe, July 10, 1900)

Potomac River Regatta Is Successfully Pulled, Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia (Richmond Dispatch, August 2, 1896)

From the Capital (The Salt Lake Daily Herald, May 27, 1888)

The Potomacs Win the Cup (The New York Sun, September 6, 1887)

The Passaic Regatta, Interesting Contests Between Crews from Many Cities (The New York Sun, June 12, 1887)

Miscellaneous (The Salt Lake Daily Herald, October 8, 1882)

USRowing Spring Speed Order Continues Today

Check out how Potomac Boat Club’s Margot Shumway did yesterday at the USRowing Spring Speed Order by reading the full article on Team USA’s homepage.

Informal racing continues today, April 11, in double sculls and fours. The top 12 finishers in the singles will be placed into double sculls combinations, and the men’s pairs will be placed into fours. Rowers will race twice, with lineup switches taking place between the two rows.  Today’s races just got underway at 7:30 a.m.

You can find all the results from the previous days and track today’s finishes at Powerhouse Timing.

Great job, Margot!

PBC Sculling Ladder Returns for ‘09!!!

PBC senior member and newly re-elected member of the Board, Ed Ryan, gives us the run-down on Sculling Ladder ‘09.

Attention all PBC Scullers!

Join us for this time-honored tradition of rowing, the PBC Sculling Ladder! It’s a way to have some fun, generate some friendly competition, and establish an informal pecking order of speed among the scullers in the Club. All PBC scullers are welcome!!!

Here’s how it works:

The Ladder.   You’ll see the Ladder hanging on the bulletin board across from the logbook.  The top rungs are now occupied by the top places from the ‘08 Ladder, as best as I can remember.  If you want to join, just take one of the blank depressors and place your name and age on it, together with any other embellishments you prefer. Place your depressor on the first open spot on the Ladder - - it’s that simple.  While last year we divided the Ladder between Girls and Boys, that distinction evaporated midway through the year and we’ll now have a single coed ladder and let the handicap chart work its magic.

The Equipment.  You, your single (or Club single), and oars.

The Challenge (or How to Move up the Ladder).  Any sculler can challenge another sculler within five rungs above his or her name on the Ladder.  A challenge must be accepted and rowed within two weeks at a mutually convenient time.  I’d like to see early Saturday mornings become the preferred time.  An extra incentive to encourage Saturday a.m.’s. — if raced at that time, the losing rower can immediately challenge the winner and the second race will take place as soon as both rowers can paddle back to the start.   Nice workout too.

The Handicaps.   A sheet of handicaps is posted right next to the Ladder.  It’s been scientifically calculated and essentially is a hybrid between the USRowing handicaps and what I’ll call the Gwadz handicaps.  Use your age as of the end of this year. There’s a lot of literature out there on the aging process and athletic performance, virtually all of it very depressing, and the handicaps are intended to adjust for that, as well as to make the racing as competitive as possible for PBC rowers.  The handicaps make this a great opportunity for everyone, from open through the most senior masters, to get out and scrimmage a bit on the river.    Last year we found that races were extremely competitive, and we’d like to see even more Open Scullers participate.

The Races. The race will be a 1000m race.  Standing start.  Challenger gets choice of lane.  The course - and this generated far too much controversy last year – is generally from the top of the Sisters to Key Bridge, but more precisely it is this:  the start is an (imaginary) line drawn perpendicularly from the first large sycamore tree immediately below the creek that empties on the Virginia side across from the top of Sisters – drawn to the sycamore tree immediately opposite on the DC side; the finish is an (imaginary) line drawn from the upstream edges of the Key Bridge abutments between the second and third arches (Virginia side).  If I can get my hands on a launch, I will tie a ribbon around the trunk of the upstream tree so you’ll know which one.  If you want to make it simple, just think of the top set of rocks at the Sisters to Key Bridge, and just do it.  The handicap adjustment is given at the start (i.e., the handicap differential is calculated, the boat receiving the handicap will start first and the other boat will then count off the differential and then start). This is all on the honor system. If there is a current, and you’re giving time, remember to keep backing lightly while counting down the handicap.
View Larger Map

The Spoils.  If the challenging sculler wins, the positions of the two rowers on the Ladder get reversed and the challenger takes the challengee’s spot (and visa versa), even if this means skipping a few rungs on the way up and down. If the challenging sculler loses, he or she must, at the sole discretion of the challengee, (a) wash the challengee’s boat, or (b) provide the challengee with uninterrupted drink service at the next PBC Happy Hour on the House, and address the challengee throughout such event as my liege.

Have Fun.  Row Fast.

-Ed Ryan

Strength in numbers

It was standing room only in the ballroom a few hours ago as Potomac Boat Club’s 143rd Annual Meeting got underway.  The teams were especially well represented, and the senior members amongst us were ready to talk Board seats.  In the end, there were three nominations for three available seats, which certainly made it all nice and simple.  Bob Price was reelected to the Board, and will serve another term as club president.  Ed Ryan was also reelected, and will take over as secretary.  Jean Hopkins is the new Board member-elect.

As for the rest of the evening, most attendees actually stayed after the Board member seats were decided to listen to the committee reports - a testament to the efforts of Susan Trice and Camilla Durfee of the Social Committee.  Those of us who came straight from work without dinner (or lunch for that matter) would like to say a special thanks to them for organizing another lovely event with lots of food and drink.  Thanks, Susan and Camilla!

We will post a more thorough run-down of the meeting later this week, but in the meantime, congratulations to Bob, Ed and Jean!  And great job to everyone who braved rain, traffic and a lack of sleep to be involved in the process.  We’re a stronger club for it today.

Please feel free to post your comments below on how you thought the meeting went!

Psst. It’s time for the Annual Meeting.

REMINDER!

The PBC Annual Meeting is tonight, Wednesday, April 1st, and rumor has it that all your friends will be there.  Yes, it falls on April Fool’s Day, but we’re not kidding.  It’s going to be an evening of serious business … well, after the mingling part, that is.

Social hour begins at 6:30 pm.  The meeting kicks off at 7:30 pm.  In addition to other club business, you’ll hear reports from the committees on the many accomplishments from last year, and get a preview of the year to come.

“We’re anticipating a fairly sizable crowd at the meeting on Wednesday,” said Bob Price, PBC president.

The Semi-Annual Meeting held in the fall drew more attendees than expected.  Typically, the Annual Meeting is the biggest of the year.

“We’ve seen a steady rise in the number of members who want to participate on the committees and help out around the club,” said Price.  “We’re about to mark our 140th year, so an increase in member activity and participation at this point probably means that we have many great years ahead of us.”

One easy way to participate off the water is to show up at the meeting … and vote!

Senior members will get the opportunity to fill three Board seats at the beginning of the meeting.  Bob Price and Ed Ryan are up for re-election.  Long-time member of the Board Judie Blanchard has decided not to seek another term, leaving her seat up for grabs.

And yes, you do have to be at the meeting to have your vote counted, but remember, your one little vote could make a big difference in this election!

Convinced?  Great! See you in the ballroom!

It’s Happy Hour … on the House!

Mae Joyce Gay, co-chair of Potomac Boat Club’s Informal Social Committee (ISC), reminds you that there are fewer than three days left to clear your calendar for the next Happy Hour on the House!

Happy Hour on the House is a new club-sponsored event that takes place on the last Friday of every month.  Last month, PBC folks showed up in droves at the inaugural happy hour to swap rowing stories, mingle, and drink Yuengling … on tap! The evening was such a huge success, Happy Hour on the House is already being compared to the legendary PBC Oyster Roasts of the early 1900s.  Really!  Um … minus the human pyramids?  Okay, no.

The next Happy Hour on the House is on Friday, March 27 from 6:00 - 9:00ish pm, so don’t miss this once-every-30-day-chance at happiness!  After all, it may be your last opportunity of the season to snuggle up to fellow PBC’ers up in the Members Lounge/Club Room/Board Room.  Once the warmer weather gets here, we’ll be doing these things out on the deck, and insisting on all kinds of personal space.

ISC Co-Chair Johnny Forrest taps the keg promptly at 6:00 pm.  Members, friends and family are welcomed to attend!  And, again, it’s all on the House!

Please drink responsibly.

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