GO TIME!!!

Here we go! The Opening Ceremonies start in less than an hour! We had some of the rowers attend including the spares but no members of the heavyweight men's team. We are all going to be watching a CBC feed in our common room. Ever heard of a Slingbox? That is what we are using.
It was super hazy today down at the course with about 700m visibility. It was as hazy as I have seen it since arriving on Aug 4. The course officials opened the "warm-up" area for 2 hours today so crews could take a look at it and better judge their timing for the warm-up. We took full advantage of this as usually we never get to go on the warm-up course before a regatta. It's just nice to know the exact timing and turns out I had it down to a science. As we paddled down near the end of the warm-up area I noticed quite a bit of weed on the surface of the water. Turned out that there we divers under the water cutting all the weed down low and then they had groups of people raking it in and pulling it ashore. I have noticed these "weed pickers" along the shore on other days as well. It seems that they like do things in large groups so as to be more productive, a novel idea :)
Everything down at the course is well laid out. The boathouse is very nice with large bays to store the boats. We share out bay with Belarus. They only have a four and a quad so it is mostly just us Canadians. (Women's Eight, Quad, Lwt Four, Men's Eight) In the upstairs portion of the boathouse we have 2 room set aside for just Canada. We use one as a lounging area and the other as a treatment room. We also got a router setup in there for wireless internet access. There are fridges upstairs with all the Coke products plus water for us to take as we please. In front of each storage bay there are coolers full of water so there is never a shortage of liquids.
Speaking of internet access, I have had no trouble surfing any pages that I want to. I have never been blocked from any normal browsing that I do.

I feel like this venue is a better setup than Athens was 4 years ago. Especially for the spectators in the Family & Friends stands. In Athens, the video screen was on the same side at the F&F stands so they could not see the live coverage. This year they have the large screen on the same side facing across the course but they also have a screen at the end of the F&F stands so they will all get a great look at the racing live.
This is the first time that we have ever had another venue near to us. Right beside us is white water kayaking. We have a Canadian contender in this event named David Ford. I'm hoping that I can check it out as I think it is the second week...time will tell.

Well, the Opening is about to begin so I am going to go and check out the CBC feed.

Enjoy the Opening Ceremonies if you are watching it live at work when you should be working!!!