We recently attended the Head of the Hooch in Chattanooga, TN, which is the second largest rowing regatta in America. It was huge! I’ve never seen so many oars or boats in one place before. You may remember my Girls in the Boat newsletter from July where our family participated in National Learn to Row Day. Kim had already been rowing for a year at that point, and after trying it out, Abby and I were hooked. Within a week, Abby joined the Hillsborough High School Rowing Club, and I got into a Learn to Scull class with Tampa Athletic Club. We’re just waiting for Maddy to join up, and we will be a full-blown rowing family.

So two weeks ago, we were at Head of the Hooch, where Kim and Abby were both participating in two races each. This is no small feat as each race is 5000 meters. And as if that isn’t enough, to get to the starting line, you have to row the entire racecourse in reverse! So you’re really rowing 10,000 meters per race. Kim’s were fortunately spaced out by 6 or 7 hours. Abby’s turnaround between her two races was just about 15 minutes! Challenges notwithstanding, Kim and Abby had successful races. No medals this time around, but they got to experience rowing on a big stage.

And when I say big stage, I really mean it. We were completely dumbstruck when we saw how large the event was. The regatta is on the Tennessee River, and the riverside was just packed with boat trailers, boat trees, and tents for athletes. There were over 2000 entries into the two-day regatta and over 80 different events. Probably the most striking visual is Oar Hill. When it is your turn to get on the water and head towards the start line, you and your crew get what is referred to as “Hands On” the boat. In the case of this regatta this meant hefting your boat on your shoulders and joining a quarter of a mile line to get to the launch dock. But to row, you need oars, too, and so you must recruit a few helpers to retrieve your oars on Oar Hill, which, as its name suggests, is an absolute mountain of oars. It was well oar-ganized (you see what I did there), with each club having their own spot, but every time I went to retrieve oars, the scale of it just hit me again. As you can see in the picture, oars as far as the eye can see.

I think one of our biggest discoveries from both the regatta and rowing in general is how much fun it is to have an activity with such a high level of competition as an adult. For many of us, our stories of hobbies and extracurriculars end up being primarily from high school or college. The good ole days, before careers, families, and a variety of adult responsibilities take over. It has been exciting to discover something that you can be a part of from high school to, well, until you can’t row anymore! There were definitely some 70- and 80-year-olds entered into a few of the races. Life goals!

While there will never be a giant gardening regatta, gardening is also one of those life-long pursuits that you can start and participate in at any age. You may never see an oar hill, but I’m sure you have an “old-garden-pot” hill hiding somewhere in your backyard! And while gardening doesn’t provide the aerobic workout that rowing does, it is definitely good for your mind and body. As we approach the holiday season, getting out in our gardens can help us deal with the hustle and bustle that inevitably sneaks in. At Kerby’s we’re going to help you with that this holiday season with Return to Wonder. We’ll have an assortment of holiday fun at the Nursery, including a snow machine, Christmas Scavenger Hunt, live Christmas music, ugly sweaters, Christmas caroling, Christmas trivia, and of course, beautiful plants. Next week’s Spotlight section will provide the schedule of events – we can’t wait!