VIRC rowers cruise through bad weather to personal bests

Sunny skies gave way to clouds and flat water that quickly shifted to pouring rain and gusts.

By Delany Steele For The Beachcomber • April 17, 2023 1:30 am
(Left to right) rowers Yvie Hu, Gwyn Ranney, Kina Ladbon-Reusch, and Pearl Henson hold coxswain Beau Sorensen (Courtesy Photo).
(Left to right) rowers Yvie Hu, Gwyn Ranney, Kina Ladbon-Reusch, and Pearl Henson hold coxswain Beau Sorensen (Courtesy Photo).

Youth athletes from the Vashon Island Rowing Club (VIRC) experienced the full spectrum of Pacific Northwest racing weather this past weekend.

After the first day of racing under a sunny sky with light winds, the rowers were greeted by clouds and flat water that quickly shifted to pouring rain and gusts for the second day.

“As a coach, it is exciting to see how your athletes respond to adverse and changing conditions,” said Ben Steele, head coach of VIRC. “This is the time of year that we start to see many of the rowers maturing as racers. We saw a lot of our boats set personal bests, race up an age category, and gain experience.”

In addition to meeting these goals, several boats medaled, including 3rd place finishes from the women’s U17 4x (Laurel Calhoun, Yvie Hu, Rowan White, and Selene Dalinis), U17 2x (Calhoun and Dalinis), U17 1x A (Dalinis), and U17 1x B (Calhoun), U19 4x B (White, Hu, Rose Ely, Gwyn Ranney, and coxswain Max Kline) and men’s U17 2x C (Tyler Davis and Karston Mannina).

Two boats finished 2nd, including the women’s Youth 2x B (Dalinis and Amanda Kyles) and the men’s U17 2x B (Quentin Cherry and Alexander Nelson). The novice women’s 4x+ (Hu, Ranney, Pearl Henson, Kina Ladbon-Reusch, and coxswain Beau Sorensen) sped across the line to a first place finish.

One of the challenges the team faced at this regatta was unexpected illness and absences, which meant several lineups changed at the last minute.

“We did lean on our friends at Commencement Bay Rowing Club to fill out our Novice women’s boat,” Steel said. “It was great to see Pearl and Kina again, since they actually started their rowing careers at VIRC’s summer camps.”

Gwyn Ranney, stroke seat of the Novice 4x+, summarized the weekend nicely.

“I’m very happy with how we all worked together and pushed ourselves,” she said.

With this latest racing experience wrapped up VIRC’s youth team has two weeks to hone their skills again before traveling north to race on Mill Bay in Canada at the Brentwood International Regatta.

Delany Steele is the Boathouse Director of the Vashon Island Rowing Club.