Hanging up the oars for the last time: a regatta retirement

At approximately 7:15 Wednesday night, the men's championship crew for the 2016 Royal St. John's Regatta — Outer Cove, to be presumptuous prior to the start of the actual event — will sidle up to the Winner's Dock at the boathouse on Quidi Vidi Lake and pandemonium will erupt.

As the seven champions are enveloped in hugs and high fives, kisses and cuddles from family and friends en route to being awarded the men's championship trophy, the other, not-so-fortunate teams will be consoled by their loved ones, as they too leave a racing shell for the final time in 2016.

Amid the chaos and cheering, amid the throngs of media — both of them — chasing after a word or two with the winners, one man will lead his team into action, in the shadows of victory.

One final regatta

Tom Power, just like he did when he was in similar boats, will go about his business quietly, and remove the racing shells from the waters of Quidi Vidi Lake for the last time. Not only of 2016, but forever.

Yes, Power, now 72 and 54 years removed from his first Regatta, is retiring.

Power has been working at the boathouse for 19 years, and is known to this current generation of oarsmen and women as the lead hand in getting the boats on the water, making sure oar locks are working and rudders are in great condition.

But there's not time for nostalgia, at least not yet.

"It's going to be a little different," Power said in a quiet moment on the dock earlier this week, "but I'm too busy to even think about that."

That, in a nutshell, is Tom Power.

Forever humble

One of the nicest individuals you'll ever meet, Power's an unassuming presence, deflecting the attention away from himself as he approached his final day, and giving credit to "the team" around him. He's always been that way. Ask Jimmy Byrne, or Blair Squires, or any of the crew who worked with him — not for him — at the boathouse.

But Power was that way when he was on the pond, too, when he and six others did the unthinkable 35 years ago this week, and that was break the 9:13!

Starting in 1977, Smith Stockley — led by the unwavering belief of coxswain Skipper Jimmy Ring — set a new mark for racing on Quidi Vidi, breaking an 80-year-old record in the process. Some old-time regatta watchers could be heard wondering if the 9:13 was ever rowed, or if the length of the pond changed.

But Skipper believed it had been done, and could be done again.

And Power was one of the men chosen to prove it, although he's not necessarily one of the men people remember.

Skipper's two sons were part of that crew: Brothers Randy and Paul had the cachet of the Ring name. John Barrington would develop that same reputation, through this and other teams, and eventually with his sons.

But Power was the quiet one; a team member everybody could count on to give his all, and leave nothing behind. And like the others, he believed in what Skipper preached.

"Skipper did something for rowing almost every day of the year," Power said, reflecting on those arduous days, those four or five years of hard work to reach that one goal.

"Whether it was sing a song or repair an oar, or do something with the whaler we rowed in down in Quidi Vidi Gut, he did something every day. He always said the 9:13 could be broken, and we proved him right."

That they did. But it was a tough four-year journey, from rowing in Quidi Vidi gut in a whaling boat, loaded down with 3,000 pounds of sand aboard; running Signal Hill, lifting weights, and doing whatever possible to get that record.

"Black calm"

And what a glorious day it was. After winning their morning race with a 9:15 time — "and we had a little glitch on the turning of the buoy," Power noted — the crew prepared for race number two, the first one of the afternoon.

As Power recalled, there was a strange confluence of events. The wind had gotten stronger midday, as usual, when the team headed for a dressing room in the boathouse. Upon leaving the building, Power noticed a strange shift in weather.

Fans there that day, and Yours Truly was fortunate to be pondside among them, watched as the clouds rolled in and the wind died. The pond became, as they called it, "black calm" and perfect for rowing.

Pushed by Star of the Sea, Stockley (actually rowing under the sponsorship of St. John's Boys and Girls Club in this race — a trivia winner for sure if you knew that!) executed a perfect race, and bested the 80-year record.

We always worked hard and we rowed for time a lot, unlike crews today.- Tom Power

"We were always positive," said Power, who hails from O'Donnels in St. Mary's Bay and had always enjoyed rowing as a youngster.

"We always worked hard and we rowed for time a lot, unlike crews today; they rarely row for time. We might have rowed for time seven or eight times a summer."

"It seemed like every time we rowed for time, we were really pleased with what we were doing and we were getting better. We knew then that hard work was paying off."

And 1981 was the payout. After eight decades, and countless attempts by a myriad of great teams, the magical 9:13 was broken, and Power was a huge part of it.

Record made, and record broken

But Power was also a keen student of the sport, and he knew their record wouldn't last anywhere close to 80 years.

"We basically broke that record on fitness and conditioning," he said, simply.

"Afterwards people came down from [the Henley Regatta in] St. Catherine's, and they put off clinics here. I could see then that our style of rowing — even though we broke the 9:13 and might have thought at the time we were the perfect rowers — but we could have been better in our style, and if we knew at that time how we should be rowing today.

And he was right. The following year, Outer Cove rowed 9:03.48. Then the race was on, break nine minutes. Today, the record is 8:51.32. 22 seconds better than 9:13!

Power and his mates were awarded the prestigious Lord Warden Medals, which he is proud to say is displayed nicely at home, thanks to a display case courtesy his daughter and her husband. The Adidas blue track suit the team had?

"Gone to the moths."

And that's just the way it is for Tom Power. He was a big part of history, but so understated. His team is in the Regatta Hall of Fame, of course, but individually, he isn't.

Wednesday night, after 19 years working pondside, 54 years since his initial Regatta in 1962, and 35 years since his last real competitive race, Power walks away quietly, but with class, dignity and respect.