Quick update on Team Matt

We ride on September 19th and there are 6 of us riding

With your help, we have exceeded our fundraising goal!!

Our jerseys have been ordered and fingers crossed that they arrive from Taiwan on time

The link below is the page that is shown on the jerseys in case anyone seeing us wants to know about Team Matt

My final outrigger regatta of the season was this past Saturday

The race was called the “Angel Island Regatta”

The longer races did go around Angel Island

Our boat launched from the cove below Cavello Point and went towards Sausalito, making a turn right in front of the Trident restaurant

Here’s the money shot!

My throat was horse after the race as I had to say the code word “hutt” as loud as I could every 30 seconds or so for 40 minutes

We got seriously jammed up around the turn pin at the half way mark

There was congestion at the race turn, we rammed into a boat in front of us, a boat behind us rammed us

The steerswoman Cyndee, our boat boss lady, said “keep paddling forward” while the boat we rammed into yelled to us “back paddle”

Serious confusion and congestion…..but it eventually cleared out

Cyndee is super competitive……so you could say we understand each other

Poor other people in our boat…..the couple behind me is probably both in their 70’s

With the wind, other boats, water…it was often hard to hear what Cyndee was calling out

I asked the couple behind me to repeat what Cyndee said when she called out team changes

One of the roles I assumed in seat 3 is to make sure the 2 team members in front of me can hear what’s being said by the boss lady

I learned later that the reason they didn’t repeat what she said is they could hardly catch their breath much less speak out audibly during the entire race

I mean isn’t it awesome they are doing this in thier 70’s!

We did the best we could….came in 2nd place–the first place boat beat us by a slim 1 minute 16 seconds (they were all 20 year olds!)

Although there was some skuddlebutt after the race ended…the boat we rammed or rammed us lodged a complaint, they did it when Cyndee was steering her 2nd crew later in the day

She had to go up and defend us and set the record straight about what happened at the race pin–we got our 2nd place back

I had to skoot out so I missed all that excitement–she called me later to explain what went down and to tell me she had my 2nd place “trophy” and would give it to me tonight at practice

Its a cute metal cup with the race logo on it and a carabeaner as a handle

Its sad the season is over for local racing, we will continue to practice, refine our skills over the fall, winter and spring until competition season starts again

I say local racing…..half of the active members of the team are flying out to Kona Hawaii Wednesday for the “worlds largest” outrigger regatta–its a big “thang” for sure

New folks come during the off-season to check this sport out, paddle with us, learn technique, decide for themselves if they want to be part of the crew, the Ohana family

With my regatta season now wrapped, my focus shifts to getting in shape for this ride on Sept 19th–preparing to be part of Team Matt

I am learning that it is immensely helpful for me to have a training goal, a date & event certain, to look forward to, to prepare for

I am also learning how helpful it is for me to have my 2 hour window in the mornings when I “hide out” in the water tower, my private gym, to do my yoga and strength training

With various things scheduled mid morning last week, I fell out of my usual 9-11 am water tower routine–I did what I could before I needed to take off each day and then completed my exercise later in the day

I prefer my mornings to start the way I want them to…yoga and weights….but I am proud of myself that I was able to keep all my workout components going even though I had to shift the timing last week

This week starts week 13 of my committment to “taking care of me” through religious exercising

Its working, I enjoy it and I am seeing the physical benefits

That’s helpful when the moments come, and they do more often than I like, when Matt does something that is drives me crazy

I guess the word here is “resiliency”–taking care of me makes me more resilient for those Uncle Lewy maddness moments

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