If Boats Could Talk: Launch 2

Adapted from an interview with Launch 2, by Kourtney de Haas, Austin Rowing Club

KdH: Through conversation with Launch 2 we will come to know what it’s like to be one of the workhorses of Austin Rowing Club. We’ve spent many hours working together, old friend. What is the lifestyle of a wakeless launch?

Launch 2: [Spoken with a distinct Boston accent] We’re hard workers, through and through. You got your safety boat, coach boat and work boat all in one package. Oh, and I know most boats are called “she” but we’re all boys here in the wakeless world. Nothin’ against the ladies, though.

Marita drives Launch 2 with referee Lesley by the finish line crew at the 2007 Texas Rowing Championships

KdH: Truly. What is it about your design that makes you so special?

Launch 2: We’re cats–I mean, catamarans–which means we got two hulls for displacing our mass. Being wakeless means casting as little wake as possible. By reducing the wake on our lake it makes the water for rowers just swell. Hah, see what I did there? I may be working class but I still got the brains.

KdH: Sweet pun. So by the sound of your accent, I guess you’re from New England?

Launch 2: Born and raised in Chelsea, just outside of Boston. I was fab’d at the Still Water factory and brought here in 2004. I count thirteen other Still Water launches on this lake–we got six total at ARC–and they’re great company, and it’s been good times all around. You gonna tell ‘em my nickname, pal?

KdH: As you wish! Launch 2 is the designated regatta course installation launch–so he gets the dirty work of laying and removing 10,000 meters of steel wire rope twice a year, plus the grunt work of barging docks and other heavy materials around the lake. When working on race courses, Launch 2 is affectionately known as Mule.

Launch 2: It’s a badge of honor, and I relish the work. Hey, I heard a rumor about a big lady from Boston movin’ down here. What do you know, chum?

KdH: It’s true, a sister Still Water boat–a rowing barge–is making its way down to Texas this summer. She’s going to be living with you guys on the water and helping teach new rowers the way to rowing bliss. I believe her name is OneCommand.

Launch 2: Holy cats, with a name like that, she sounds like a handful. Ah well, we could use the company of a lady out here, and I can’t wait to meet her.

KdH: Given all you’ve seen while coaching and working for ARC, what is the best advice you can give our readers regarding their pursuits in rowing and life?

Launch 2: That’s easy. You don’t get a nickname like Mule working yourself to death. That helps nobody, and you always gotta look out for number one. Instead, you got to learn to work efficiently. Watch out for the big highs and lows life throws you, and go for consistency. Don’t be afraid to get dirty… and go Red Sox!

Rowing Lexicography: Way Enough!

By Kourtney de Haas, Equipment Director, Austin Rowing Club

The term “way enough” simply means to stop–stop rowing, stop walking, stop moving–stop whatever you are doing.  Veteran rowers whose lives are steeped in the sport will often apply the term in non-rowing contexts–in the movement of furniture (with the help of rowing friends) or when helping some other rower parallel park a car.  Delicate equipment and respect for body integrity have imparted a special meaning to this term, and uttering “way enough” should never be taken lightly, as it should always trigger an unquestioning cessation of whatever activity the target audience is engaged in.

History Lesson: Town Lake Rowing Center

By Kourtney de Haas, Equipment Director, Austin Rowing Club

It was just last week that I noticed an unfamiliar person standing in the bay doors of the boathouse, intently taking photos.  He was tall and lean and I thought we might have a new rower prospect on our hands, so I greeted him and asked how I could help him.  The response I got was unexpected but ultimately not surprising.

“I’m writing a bid for the contract to demolish this boathouse.”

This is the reality of 2010: the limestone and cedar boathouse we have loved for 23 years, known officially as Town Lake Rowing Center and owned by the City of Austin, will be torn down this winter to make way for a new boathouse as part of the Waller Creek Tunnel Project.

Almost all media portrayals of Austin Rowing Club’s relationship to Town Lake Rowing Center have ignored ARC’s fundamental role in the conception and construction of the existing boathouse.  Using material from publications of the era plus interviews of current and former members, I will reveal the basic history of how Town Lake Rowing Center came into existence.

The Norine Jaloway

ARC member Virginia Hoffman sends in this fascinating bit of ARC history:

Attached is a photo of the wooden double named after one of the Austin Rowing Club’s founders – Norine Jaloway. It long plied the waters of Town Lake before finding a retirement home in the TGIF in the Radisson Hotel overlooking Congress Bridge.

Norine became a member of the club in 1982 when the only boat available to row was a wooden Pocock eight that was in dire need of repair before it could be put on water. She spent her first months of membership in a warehouse learning boatmanship prior to learning how to row. Norine was a key figure in the early days of Austin Rowing Club, establishing good report with City officials and getting many grass roots volunteer programs off the ground. She served several terms as ARC President, Vice President and also in other officer roles in the more than a decade of dedication to both the club and growing the program for the City.