SRB Rowing Invitational Regatta

Hi upper boat rowing parents,

You may have noticed that the greeting was changed from "upper school and middle school kids rowing up" to simply "upper boat". Referencing middle school confused a few people. From now on, "upper boat" refers to every rower rowing on an upper boat no matter what grade they are in.

Location & Parking:

Home matches are on the Ortega River behind St. Peters Episcopal Church at 5042 Timuquana Rd, Jacksonville, FL 32210. The address is located on our schedule on our rowing website. You can click on the address on the website and it will pull up the directions.

There are two parking lots. One is right next to the church and it is $10 to park. Across the street it is $10 up front and $5 in the back. The money goes towards the church's youth group. If you leave, they will give you a pass to come back for free. There is a drop off in case you want to drop off your rower and come back later. Please DO NOT park in the drop off area or behind it. That is strictly for the boats and trailers.

Once you get to the site, walk towards the water, the property to the right is where we setup. The property is owned by the Ira family. They are an ESJ alumni family with strong rowing ties. They have offered to let us use their property for regattas as long as we limit the number of people to ESJ families and guests only. There are a few rules. Please pick up all trash and don't leave any food behind. Please stay away from the house and off the long dock. There are two docks. The long dock is old and we don't want anyone to get hurt. No dogs allowed. If you want to bring your dog you have to stay in the main area of the regatta with the other teams.

Schedule:

ESJ is participating in 12 of the 30+ races. Please ask your child which boats they are in. Trust me, they know. No matter what time your child races, all of the kids need to arrive at 7am. Please feed them something light before they come. We will have oatmeal and bagels for them, but it won't be ready right away. Our last race is 12:10. We will start breaking down the site after the last race starts. All of the kids are expected to stay until the coach releases them after the last race.

There won't be a pasta night Friday due to the ESJ Bash, so please make sure your rower eats plenty of protein and carbs Friday night.

What to bring:

Bring your own coolers, chairs, binoculars, mosquito repellent, cameras, hats, sunscreen and a big voice for yelling. Kids will need sunscreen, hats, mosquito repellent, change of clothes, a towel, two pairs of socks, and a water bottle. They should wear their uniform to the regatta. Please put your name on everything. I promise you that they won't put their wet unisuits in their bag. They usually toss on the boat trailer to dry. If they don't have a name, there is no guarantee you will get your suit back.

Note. We won't have our dock this regatta. The kids will be getting into the water to get in the boat. They can bring flip flops or crocs to get across the rocks. They need dry socks to carry into the boat to row in.

Food & drink:

Your kids will have plenty to eat. We have bagels, oatmeal, and fruit for the morning and sub sandwiches for the afternoon. There is plenty of other food to snack on. We will have gluten free rolls for subs available on request.

There will be coffee and bagels for the parents at the hospitality tent. The food tent is strictly for the rowers. There are plenty of restaurants in the area and you can bring a cooler.

Volunteers:

We are still in need of a few volunteers. We can't do this without you. Please sign up on the signup genius.

Boathouse Orders:

There was a delay with the Boathouse order, so to insure that everyone would get their order in time, Boathouse is overnighting all of the orders to the ESJ boathouse. They come in tomorrow. I could really use a few people's help sorting and bagging. If you can help, please email or text me. I'm thinking 2:30-3. Also, when you get your order, please have your child try on their unisuits. If you have an issue with size, please visit the ESJ rowing group on Facebook. I will put a post up for everyone to communicate with each other. If you don't have Facebook and you have an issue, please let me know.

Kim Sievert

Rowing Parent Coordinator

(904)631-6335