The Lancer fall crew team is getting ready to start their second season as a club. Last year, Row America Manchester came and asked if Londonderry was interested in starting a crew program. Under the direction of Brenda Balanger and Susan Matheson, the Lancer crew team was created.

This year, after some slight panic with Row America dropping the funding for the supplies this season, the crew team pulled together and have gotten the necessary items they need.

“We scrambled these past three months to get everything,” senior Xander LaPlante said. “We needed dock space, boats, oars, coaches’ boats, and money to pay the coaches. But now we have more boats than we know what to do with and have recovered pretty well.”

The crew team consists of about 40 members and practices on Lake Massabesic in Manchester. However, due to the recent drought, the water depth has been lower than usual and the team has not yet been able to get out on the water.

Once the season starts, the team will be practicing four times a week, preparing for their regattas. The regattas are the boat races that the team competes in against other high schools.

“Concord, Pinkerton and Central are the big schools we compete against,” LaPlante said. “But we also race against smaller private school like Derryfield.”

The regattas are much different than most sporting events. As opposed to an hour to two hours, these competitions take all day, as the team will spend hours on the lake.

“We get there early, around 6 am and they last all day into the afternoon,” senior Negeib Usmani said. “ At first, we set up the boats, tents, food and drinks. Then we prepare for our races, where they are split into different heats and races. There are either eight person boats, four person boats, two person boats, or singles.”

The regattas aren’t just all about racing. Because of the long time spent together, it provides a great opportunity for the team to spend time together.

“The regattas are awesome,” Usmani said. “It’s a lot of team bonding and the racing is always fun. It feels good to beat your best times and just as a group, we all just have fun with each other. I’d consider the team like a really tight knit community.”

As both the fall crew team and spring crew team look to continue their growth here, Usmani says that anyone who has considered doing crew should try it out.

“Crew is a great exercise,” Usmani said. “But the environment that you’re in is also incredible. The people, the regattas and even the practices are super fun. I highly suggest that kids should at least try it out.”