Austria U23: Calm before the storm

Panorama from the Grandstands

Maddie, Jason, and I have been in Austria for four days now. Most of it has been spent either rowing, preparing our boats/other equipment for rowing, or relaxing in the hotel. On Sunday night, when Maddie was still using my boat (see blog post), she noticed that my SpeedCoach wasn't working. When it was my turn to use the boat, it seemed to work just fine for me, so I didn't think much of it. The next morning though, the NK just would not turn on. Not to worry though, when I got back to the hotel, I asked the front desk where to get lithium batteries, and they directed me to a camera shop about 10 minutes away. Before this, just in case, I wrote down a couple of key German phrases that could help me:

"Sie sprechen Englisch" -> "Do you speak English?"

"Kann ich kaufen Lithium-Batterien?" -> "Can I buy lithium batteries?"

Luckily, I didn't have to flex my German muscles too much as everyone in the shop spoke perfect English.

Practices have been going well for both Maddie and I. We both did a workout with boats from Vesper Boat Club in Philadelphia. Maddie worked with the LW2x and I was with the M2-. The pieces were fun, especially because we got to mix it up with boats unfamiliar to us. The only downside was the recent arrival of most of the European rowing federations meant a ton of boat traffic.

Tonight is the opening ceremonies, and racing starts tomorrow. I start racing Wednesday afternoon (heat sheets) and Maddie starts racing Thursday.

More updates to come!