Coach Jason, Lenny, and I are leaving for Austria for the Under 23 World Rowing Championships in about two weeks, and preparations are well underway! Our fearless coaches have been managing most of the many details that have to be covered: getting flights, securing boats to row overseas, and getting oars to Austria. Lucky for us, we’ve got insider connections at Concept2, so we were able to paint our oars with the USA red, white, and blue before they are shipped overseas. Often, oar painting is done after picking up the oars at the race course, and ends up being another thing to do in the craziness of traveling, adjusting, and getting ready to race. But after a few (several) hours of work, we’re already done with the job!

Instead of going for the more traditional painting technique, we decided to use vinyl stickers. I figured it would be easy, but turns out it’s quite a process. It took several tries before we mastered the technique for getting the vinyl in place on the correct lines without bubbles or folds. Lenny and I only yelled at each other a few times (“it’s not straight!!”), but our friendship lasted the test. And in the end, we produced two sets of shiny USA sculling blades. One step closer to Austria!