|
LLOV News
Lake Lanier Olympic Venue
Calendar
Lanier Canoe & Kayak Club
-
July
7-11, 14-18 Summer Day Camp
-
July 18 Moonlight Paddle
-
July 19 Summer Sprints II/ Lanier Racing Series
#4
-
August 15 Moonlight Paddle
-
Sept. 9 Fifth Class Adult Learn to Kayak begins
-
Sept.13 Atlanta Dragon Boat Festival
-
Sept. 19 Moonlight Paddle
-
Sept. 20 Richardson Racing League Fun Race
-
Sept. 21 Splash and Dash. Lanier Racing Series #5
-
Sept. 23 Sixth Class Adult Learn to Kayak begins
-
Oct. 4 Richardson Racing League Fall Fungatta
Lake Lanier Rowing Club
Stories:
Adults learn to row at Olympic venue •
Night kayak voyage a rare
treat • Georgia
Games rows on Lanier July 12 •
House’s 2008
Olympic bid ends in Hungary •
LLRC crews win silver
Adults learn to row
at Olympic venue
By Jane Harrison
 Two
boatloads of rowers floated low in the water as gentle waves
undulated against the hulls. Few of the novice rowers spoke, as each
concentrated on tasks calmly assigned by Henry Kannapell from a
nearby motorboat.
“Celiah and Sheila, square,
catch, drive, release with nice light strokes … no pressure,”
Kannapell directed. While the two women tried to match the other’s
strokes, their six crew mates surfed their oars to steady the sleek,
narrow craft.
“It’s so much harder than I
thought,” uttered Celiah McKissick, of Flowery Branch. “If it was
easy, anyone could do it,” replied a smiling Kannapell, instructor
for the Lake Lanier Rowing Club’s Learn to Row class. He and his
wife, Cecily, and LLRC member John Martiniere guided about 12 rowing
neophytes during their first outing on the water last month.
With Henry Kannapell and veteran
rower Jack Quigley idling close in the motor boat, Cecily Kannapell
sat in the coxswain seat of an eight boat and coordinated the rhythm
of her students’ strokes. Martiniere choreographed the dance of the
oars in a second row boat. Several LLRC club members stroked along
with the newbies.
The faces of the students,
ranging in age from about 35 to 60, tightened in serious
concentration as they tried to coordinate movements they mastered on
stationary rowing machines, or ergometers, in the boathouse with the
new actions required to manipulate the oars in water.
A 10-mile-per-hour wind ruffling
the waters made it more difficult. “It’s kind of wavy tonight … it’s
going to be a little tough on them,” Henry Kannapell had predicted
as the crews carried their boats overhead to the dock. Prior to
getting their hands on real boats, the learners warmed up on
ergometers and followed Kannapell’s lead in stretching and core
exercises.
Gainesville resident Kim Waters,
40, said she has wanted to learn to row since Olympic rowers
competed at Lake Lanier in 1996. “It’s such a good workout,” she
said. She anticipates the Learn to Row series, which consists of 10
two-hour lessons, will prepare her for a LLRC time trial in August.
“I’m competitive by nature,” said Waters, adding she was excited
about her first trial on the water. “I can’t wait!”
LLRC initiated Learn to Row
lessons three years ago to encourage adults to try a sport that’s
relatively unfamiliar to most Southerners. The club has “graduated”
about 100 rowers, some of whom have joined the club and get to check
out row boats for recreation or compete in regattas. The club
usually offers LTR sessions for $100 from April to August. Students
who join the club can deduct the lesson cost from the membership
price. The session that began in June is the last one planned for
this year.
 Henry
Kannapell, lead instructor, got into rowing during the build up to
the Olympics. He and his wife moved to Gainesville from California
in 1993 and got caught up in the Olympic frenzy. An avid runner and
bicyclist, Kannapell was looking for a new sport. “I flipped in a
single boat my first time out,” he said. Undaunted, he eventually
“took to it” and now deems rowing the only sport in which he excels.
As a competitive master’s rower,
Kannapell has won gold and silver medals in national regattas.
Nicole Rock, 34, plans to put
her LTR skills to test in the July 12 Georgia Games regatta at the
Lanier Olympic venue. The Forsyth County resident enrolled in April
to “incorporate more outdoor time and exercise in my life at the
same time.” Learning to coordinate the large muscle movements of the
arms and legs and the finer feathering of the oars with the hands
and fingers was fairly challenging, she said.
“It’s a lot to remember, but I
felt comfortable the whole time. Even if you are going to make a
mistake, the (class) environment is non-threatening. If you totally
screw up, everything’s OK,” she said.
Rock and other students said
they were put at ease by the instructors and camaraderie of their
classmates. “The instructors are wonderful,” said McKissick, who
felt no apprehension about her first try on the water.
“The instructors are pretty
proficient at what they do,” said Gary Sickinger, of Alpharetta. The
high cost of gas got the 56-year-old boater out of his motor boat
and into a boat powered by humans. He likes the company, too. “It’s
a good group of people,” he said.
Sheila Gillroy, of Cumming,
graduated from LTR last summer and was back to help new rowers get
oriented. Folks in the rowing club are “friendly and willing to
help,” she said, and the instructors are “really good.”
She said the rowing experience
is incomparable. She described the “swoosh of the oars,” commune
with nature, and rhythmic “clicking” of a crew working together as
an amazing combination.
April Smith, 53, of Gainesville,
was born near Lake Ontario, and is coming back to her aquatic roots
through LTR. “I used to row in Canada when I was 15 or 16,” she
said. In the aftermath of her husband’s death three years ago, she
sees rowing as an outlet for exercise and socializing. “Now I’m
ready for fun,” she said.
Martiniere said LLRC strives to
help students feel “comfortable from a social standpoint,” just as
it works to develop rowing skills.
Out on the lake, as first-time
boaters coped with constant rocking of the waves and an occasional
wake from a motor boat, they worked harder at honing rowing skills
than engaging in small talk. “We’re careful about keeping the boat
stable the first night, Cecily Kannapell said. The thin 60-feet-long
eight boats “feel unstable,” even though they’re not, she said.
As he watched over the crews in
the ripply waters, Henry Kannapell remarked about how smoothly they
adjusted. “It’s easy to get overwhelmed when the wind is rough, but
they are soldiering their way through … they’re as good as I’ve seen
anyone do in these conditions. Some combinations just click.”
Night kayak voyage a rare
treat
By Jane Harrison
 The
night of the summer solstice, the shortest night of the year, about
20 people gathered on the boathouse dock at the Lake Lanier Olympic
Venue. I was among the 13 who joined hosts from the Lanier Canoe &
Kayak Club for the monthly moonlight paddle. The club offers the
after-dark summer retreat to give lake goers a calmer, quieter
experience on the lake than is possible during daylight.
After guide Kevin Seitz and LCKC
members helped night voyagers into life jackets and one- and
two-person recreational kayaks, the group softly paddled as the sun
set over the western waters across from the boathouse. Only a few
streaks of orange and yellow spanned the horizon on a cool, overcast
evening. The lake appeared to be settling down for the night, with
gentle ripples offering little resistance to the sturdy plastic
boats. The water was warm; I know that because my paddle kept
dripping it into my lap with nearly every stroke. It was a mere
discomfort, somewhat abated by the tranquil respite.
Seitz led the parade of kayaks,
most outfitted with flashlights mounted behind their cockpits, under
Clarks Bridge to the 1996 Olympic flatwater course. There, resting
in uncontested stillness, night kayakers looked up at the red and
white Olympic finish tower rising from the shore. The tower, which
denoted the finish line coveted by exhausted adrenaline-driven
Olympians a dozen years ago, appeared a benign beacon to our relaxed
group of casual boaters.
As darkness deepened, the kayak
journey departed from the deep waters of the Olympic course and
floated up an easy channel toward “Gilligan’s Island,” so named by
children in LCKC day camps. Here, in the shadows of the shores, we
saw many wooded docks, sprawled naked on dry banks of the
drought-stricken lake. Ringlets formed on water where an occasional
fish jumped without fear of a hook. A courteously-piloted large boat
silently drifted opposite our entourage of flashlights and plastic
hulls.
From behind me in our two-seat
kayak, Seitz attempted to advise a mother-daughter duo how to steer
their boat straight. The slight aggravation expressed between the
20-something-aged girl and her mother as they attempted to share a
boat reminded me of what it’s like when my daughter and I try to
ride in a car together. (She thinks I’m an incompetent slow poke; I
think she’s going to kill us.) Finally, the daughter exchanged
kayaks with another paddler. As she set out on her own, the night
air calmed a bit more.
Darkness on the water illumined
other relationships. A middle-aged couple drifted often without
paddling as they spoke quietly. Giggles and splashes erupted from
teenagers’ boats. A mother coaxed two little girls to “keep going,
we’re almost there.”
Alas, we reached Gilligan’s
Island, a red banked hunk with no human inhabitants. We turned back
down the channel and pointed our kayaks toward Clarks Bridge and the
boathouse. As we passed under the bridge, we observed strands of
rope hanging down to motor boats tied off by anglers awaiting their
catch.
It was about 9:30 and quite dark
by then. Seitz urged boaters without lights to stick close to those
who had them. The crew of moonlighters was the largest that had come
since the event’s premiere last summer. There had not been enough
lights to go around.
As boaters sidled toward the
dock, some mourned that the most anticipated night visitor had
eluded us. Clouds concealed the face we sought. The full moon stayed
hidden.
As we went our separate ways
from the dock, some tarried for snacks at the boathouse; others
drove into town for pizza. Teenagers goofed off in the shallows. I
went home to put on dry clothes.
Moonlight Paddling Trips
• When: Departure at 8 p.m. July
18, August 15, September 19. Arrive early for instructions.
• Where: Lanier Olympic Venue boathouse, 3105 Clarks Bridge Road,
Gainesville
• Cost: $15
• What to wear: Quick drying shorts and shirt, flip flops or water
shoes
• More info: (770) 287-7888,
www.lckc.org
Georgia Games rows on
Lanier July 12
By Jane Harrison
This year’s Georgia Games on
Lake Lanier will celebrate the spirit of the Olympics less than a
month before the international Olympics in Beijing. About 200
amateur rowers are expected to compete in the state’s mini-Olympic
rowing championship July 12 at the Lanier Olympic Venue. Racing
begins at 8 a.m.
The event generally attracts
collegiate and club crews from around the Southeast. Rowers will
race on the 1,000 meter Olympic course in front of the grandstands
and tower. Lake Lanier Rowing Club member Ann Marie Hynes reported
that the club hopes to have six lanes open for competition. But the
number of accessible lanes “is dependent on the water level,” she
said. Shallow water might force some lane closure.
Members of the Lake Lanier
Rowing Club will be competing and helping out at the event. Some
recent graduates of the club’s Learn to Row program are planning to
race. The Georgia Games Foundation has provided its own regatta
director.
This will be the 18th running of
the rowing competition, which began on Lake Lanier prior to the 1996
Olympics.
The Georgia Games give amateur
athletes an opportunity to compete in a sports festival patterned
after the Olympics. All ages and skill levels in a variety of
sports, from softball to bowling to rowing, participate in amateur
sports championships.
Registration for the rowing
championship continues through July 5. For more information, see
www.georgiagames.org.
House’s 2008
Olympic bid ends in Hungary
By Jane Harrison
 Less
than a second and a half kept Gainesville kayaker Morgan House from
his 2008 Olympic dream. When the 21-year-old strained past the
finish buoy at World Cup 1 in Hungary, his American teammate Rami
Zur had reached it 1.356 second before him.
The June 8 showdown for the K1
Men’s 500 meter Olympic slot went right down to the wire for the two
Americans. Zur, who had slightly outpaced House in the qualifying
and semi-final heats, finished ahead of him in the B Final to win
the Olympic bid. Zur was clocked at 1:47.112. House finished in
1:48.468. It was the second 2008 Olympic berth won by the two-time
Olympic paddler Zur, who once competed for his native Israel. He
also qualified in the 2008 Men’s K1 1000 meter event.
House remained in Europe for
World Cup 2 in Duisburg, Germany and planned to return to
California, where he has trained for three years. In an email, he
said he will come back to Gainesville around July 1 and expected to
talk with a reporter about his Olympic venture. He has said
previously that he would train for the 2012 London Olympics.
After seeing his 2008 Olympic
goal disappear at World Cup 1, House showed his strength against
Olympic-bound competitors in World Cup 2. He defeated Zur in the
Men’s K1 500 semi-final (Zur finished dead last, more than 10
seconds behind) and went on to take third place overall in the
finals, just .452 second behind the winner, Adam von Koeverden of
Canada.
Four local athletes who first
watched Olympic paddlers during the 1996 Olympic flatwater races on
Lake Lanier got close to their Olympic dreams. Along with House,
Lanier Canoe & Kayak Club Olympic Legacy paddlers Tim Hornsby, Katie
Hagler and Emily Mickle had hopes of competing in Beijing. While the
others saw theirs fade in the Continental Qualifier in Montreal in
May, House hung on to his a bit longer.
LLRC crews win silver
The Lake Lanier Rowing Club
scored second place in the Southeast Regional Rowing Championships
at Langley Pond in Aiken, S.C. June 21-22. Twenty two teams from
around the Southeast competed. The Atlanta Rowing Club won the
event.
The regatta is scored on overall
points achieved. “Almost every (LLRC) member that competed came home
with a medal,” said club member Ann Marie Hynes. “We had 35
participants in sculling and sweep events. It was hot, but very
exciting.”
|
