Mother Nature has disrupted the crew team’s season for the second time this year, as heavy flooding forced the 100- student club sport to practice on land in the week leading up to its first race. The team, which was late getting onto the water due to heavy snow, will not be able to practice on the water again until March 20, the day of the race.

Head coach Kirk Shipley moved quickly March 13, having  the varsity teams move all boats stored in the boathouse onto a trailer, Shipley then drove the trailer to Whitman. The main fear is that the flooding could reach as high as the lower bays of Thompson Boat Center, where the team keeps their boats.

“Once the river is over seven feet, it’s kind of questionable whether you can row ,” Shipley said. “Once it’s over eight, you can’t. We knew it was going up last Thursday, March 11. Then on Saturday, March 13 we pulled the boats out of the lower levels of the boathouse and anywhere where the maximum height of the river would have gone. We also took all of the ramps out and tied the docks up to the boathouse.”

The team has its first race, the Chadwick’s Cup, on March 20, against Woodrow Wilson and Washington and Lee high schools on the Potomac. The team hoped to return to the water by March 18, but the docks will not be put in until the day of the race. Time on the water is vital for the team’s race preparation, but Shipley hopes that intense land workouts will keep the rowers a step ahead of the competition.

“Normally I would be worried about this,” Shipley said, “but I have faith in our fitness on the guys and the girls teams, and hopefully Wilson and Washington and Lee are not up to where we are, not having rowed in the fall.”

Senior Ben Hughes acknowledge that the high water is a setback but are confident in the team’s ability.

“Since none of the teams are able to practice until the day of the race, it will come down to who is the most experienced and technically skilled crew. It will be whoever makes the least mistakes,” Hughes said.