Mar-18-1978
Some stories told to Rob Wettach’79
From Paul Shafer. President 1978
Here’s a couple of tid-bits for your time line.
Spring Training 1975. Crew travels to Washington DC and the Potamac for spring training. Much rain and wind force team to train by playing buck-buck and eating raw oysters.
Spring Training 1976- Team stays in South Bend and horrible cold, windy
weather prevent the team from getting much water time. Running was more fun in DC.
Spring Training 1977- ND Crew rents RV’s and travels to Orlando for spring training. Sun, warmth, and a trip to Disney World highlight a tremendous week of practice.
Spring Training 1978 – If it ain’t broke, why fix it? Crew returns to sunny Florida in rented RV’s. We practice in Jacksonville and Shafer sinks launch while serving as “acting coach”. We travelled to Miami Beach to compete against Dartmouth, the London Boat Club, the Cuba National Team, and Holy Cross. We reveal just how “little” 5 days’ practice on the water provides. Despite rowing out of sight behind the leaders on the Intercoastal waterway, a bow ball battle between the Irish and the Holy Cross Crusaders at the finish line thrilled the crowd! Low point: all three RV’s were damaged – – ouch.
Spring 77- a trip to Nebraska provided an early season test and a humbling defeat for all boats except the lightweight mens’ eight. A Coach Bus was the right travel mode home though, as eight window oars propelled us along the highway.
Spring 78- Heading West again, we challenged Bob Jaugstetter’s (former Olymic coxswain) crew at Witchita State followed the next day by the U of Kansas. It’s nice that we have such a generous alumni network…. Stay away from reservoir rowing!
