Raffle Donations

We've manage to extort, I mean, we've received three most excellent prizes for the raffle this year:

Concept2 has again donated a pair of sculls (made to order to your most exacting specs). A $460 value (you have to pay for shipping -- unless you want me to pick them up and hold on to them for you -- I won't use them --trust me!) This marks the third year in a row that Concept2 has donated a pair of sculls. Merci!

Thanks to Paul Gross (a true gentleman and a sculler), Designer Gold of Hanover, New Hampster has donated a beautiful gold oar pendant and chain. Retail value of $450. A great gift for you or the sculling widow/er in your life.

And thanks to Ed McNeely (perhaps you have read his excellent articles about training in Rowing News?) , StrenthPro has donated a 2.5 lb. container of Lemonade flavor SPE-3 Sports Power Energy Pre-Workout Boost and a 2 lb. container of Lemonade flavor SPR-3 Sports Power Recovery Nutritional Supplement. A $115.00 value.

Check out our Sponsors section to learn more about these three great donors.

So bring lots of moolah and buy lots of tickets -- only $1.00 each (recommended minimum purchase of 10 tickets or you will be ridiculed and compared to your friend who just bought 20 tickets) for a chance to win these great sculling prizes. All proceeds will support the Black Fly Boathouse (and/or my Texas Hold 'Em stake money fund).

Black Fly Scullers Community Boathouse

"We figure you're either crazy or you really love rowing."

With typical taciturnity, the real life counterparts to Reg and Chet Campbell (see Fly 4 and Fly 5 Director's Notes) have taken pity on my sorry soul and offered the Black Fly Scullers an opportunity to buy a parcel of land on the river which sits approximately 2.5 miles (or 4000 meters) from the starting line. Which means it's about 1.5 miles ( or 2000 meters) from the finish line. In keeping with local custom all negotiations are conducted in utter secrecy in the dairy barn. We've trampled through the woods and marked out a 100' x 80' site for the boathouse and a site for a septic system. We are marking out an access road, parking lot(s), an area to sling shells on Regatta day, and a surface-to-air missile-defense system to ward off nuclear Black Fly attacks.

Upon conclusion of the closing ceremonies of the Seventh Inaugural Black Fly Regatta I will personally guide any interested persons through the trilium and fiddleheads on a quick 20-30 minute walking/blackfly-swatting tour of the site. After which I will shake you down for moolah or leave you stranded in the woods where, if the black flies don't eat you alive you will be knocked unconscious by trees felled by the horde of indigneous hyperactive beavers. Please be sure to sign a waiver before the tour.

Sam 'n Ella's Scullers's Breakfast

Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus. But isn' it a bit early to be thinking about Christmas?

Once again the good folks at Pete & Gerry's have knuckled under and will underwrite the Third Annual Scullers's Breakfast. The menu will be the same: Pancakes with Vermont Maple Syrup, Pete & Gerry's scrambled eggs, MacKenzies Maple Cured bacon, orange juice, and fresh fruit. For our Canadian friends we will try to cook crepes. Over an open fire. As part of our "Go Green" initiative the Black Fly Scullers want to remind everyone that eating undercooked eggs and meat saves time and energy. So reduce our carbon footprint! Indications are that the chefs from New England Culinary Institute will be on hand to serve you again this year.

The breakfast is free to all scullers. Spectators and guests are welcome to eat at their own risk. We suggest a donation of $5.

T-shirts

The only reason I host the regatta is to give me an excuse to make t-shirts. As part of our "Go Green" initiative the Black Fly Scullers ordered bales of organic-free-trade-micro-loan hemp and bamboo to make our own renewable resource t-shirts. Sadly, during the overseas transport the hemp caught fire and the bamboo was eaten by voracious Pandas who evidently got the muchies from inhaling the hemp fumes. So we will go with our own blend: 80% petroleum-based, 10% coal dust, and 10% nuclear fissionable material. Dry clean only. But hey, they will glow in the dark! Cost $20 -- what a bargain!!!

My t-shirt supplier from Beijing is very busy with some sporting event happening in August. So, to appease my t-shirt supplier and to insure timely delivery, I will place one order on June 16 and another order on June 30 ( the Monday after the regatta). If you order a t-shirt before June 16, I will guarantee your t-shirt will be at the venue. If you register after that day I will add it to the t-shirts ordered on the day of the regatta, place the order on June 30 and your t-shirt will arrive in time for the Summer Olympic opening ceremonies (because by then every able-bodied t-shirt maker in the world will be "volunteering" in Beijing).

Head count

If you're like me you suffer from hypoactive organizational disorder with extreme laxity. See, DSM-MCMLIX. (I can recommend several highly-quailfied psychiatrists and clerics.) So please, please, please, try to get your entry form and moolah to me by June 20th. That will give my dislexic but cheerful staff time to segregate you into the proper swarms, assign bow numbers, and otherwise mishandle everything. More importantly, I need the time to figure out how much food, water and gatorade to buy so I can have drinks at the finish line and food when you get back. Anyone who ignores the deadline will eat leftovers from last year.

Lodging

The Comfort Inn in St. Johnsbury is offering a discount to Black Fly Scullers stranded overnight in the Northeast Kingdom. The rate is $109 per night which is a $20-$30 discount. Call 802-748-1500 for reservations.Tell them you are participating in the Black Fly Regatta. The Comfort Inn is conveniently located off Exit 20 on Interstate 91 and is approximately 20 minutes from the launch site.

Thanks to Paul Gross (a true gentleman and a sculler), Designer Gold of Hanover, New Hampster has donated a beautiful gold oar pendant and chain. Retail value of $450. A great gift for you or the sculling widow/er in your life.

See you on the starting line.