This morning’s Masters Team (that means the OLD team!) rowing for Solano Rowing Club in the Skipper Whipper competition on the Napa River in Vallejo. We were so lucky to avoid all the rain while we rowed today, because it’s been raining hard almost all day and all last night. I don’t think I was the youngest person on the Masters Team this year, darn it!
Shea took this footage of the team rowing in both directions and then returning to Vallejo Yacht Club during our Skipper Whipper Race this morning. You can see me looking at him from the boat a few times. This was my fourth time in this race on the Napa River. It looks like the video cuts off right before a seal popped its head up several times on our way back. We were so lucky to avoid all the rain for our race and to be able to row among such majestic ships that are currently moored on Mare Island while the piers are being rebuilt in San Francisco. These ships are museums unto themselves.
Much colder than usual row this morning, despite some sun. We saw a seal pop up its head and stare us many times, but of course, that’s when we were rowing for our lives against the wind and extreme current today. It was still fun and a good workout, but no one was taking our extra layers of clothes, which usually happens after we start an intense row. We still got in about 770 strokes for the hour, and Tori got us back in despite the very low tide and other conditions. One of these pictures is courtesy of Chris! I also stuck around the Skills row for the second hour, but didn’t take any pictures of that, and we stayed in the marina.
I’ll have to wear my newly thrifted Greek Fisherman’s cap when I row. I didn’t know why I liked it when I saw it, but I really like it (even though it was made in Tarzana, California).
On Facebook marketplace I found two fabulous sculptures from a woman in Clayton. I had never been to Clayton and didn’t realize how gorgeous that area was at the foot of Mount Diablo. I had to stop the car and take pictures.
View of Mount Diablo from downtown Clayton, California
In any event, she had two pieces that were really calling out to me on two subjects that I love so much – dogs and rowing, so when I had a chance to pop by after running errands in the East Bay, I was glad they were still available for me to swing by and pick up on my way back to Vallejo.
BEST SEAL FOOTAGE EVER! This is probably a mating couple, but we couldn’t determine if there are more than two. I believe there may have only been two, based on the magnified footage. In any event, it’s glorious to get two video clips of the seals just this past month, when I’ve been rowing for over four years, and they’ve never been swimming near us while we were resting before. It was always while we were in the middle of rallying that they would be seen in the past. The last footage I took a few weeks ago was only one seal, so this was really wonderful to capture more than one and have them even closer to the marina than we were at the time.
The water was like a lake today, so much less choppy than yesterday. We ventured over close to the C&H Sugar Factory.
