paultwo notes

Steiermark Productions has decided to retire OktoberfestLA. For the last 2 years, I was the photographer for the event. You can see the photos at Oktoberfestla.com/photos/.

View the farewell message at Oktoberfestla.com

Founded in 2006 by Paul Dietzel II, William Cheramie, Carolyn Day and others from the LSU Rowing Team, Tiger Boat Club Inc. is a 501(c)3 national non-profit amateur athletic organization that was established to act as a fiduciary sponsor for the LSU Rowing Club.

The History

Rowing has a long and distinguished history both overseas and within the United States, and is one of the fastest growing sports in our nation. Though not traditionally thought of as an activity prevalent in the South it is growing and becomin more visible. Even more surprising, Louisiana State University has a long association with crew dating back to 1900 when such distinguished alumnus as W.B. Chamberlain, W.E. Atkinson and B. Prescott were members of the Varsity Crew Team.

Bringing Back the Tradition

Although rowing disappeared at LSU for a while, it was re-introduced in the 1990s with varying success. The struggling club was hampered by a chronic shortage of funding, support and understanding. However, the LSU Rowing Club was officially re-founded in 2004 and has continued to grow despite setbacks delivered by a lack of university funding and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Not only is the club firmly established, it is now more than 40 members strong. In the last year alone, despite inferior equipment and difficult training conditions, both novice crews placed 3rd overall at the Lanier Sprints in Georgia, while the varisty men’s 8 came in 3rd at the Heart of Texas Regatta in Austin. Both novice crews and the varsity women were successful in defeating Tulane in our annual spring regatta. Even more significant, LSU Crew competed for the first time at SIRA (Southern INtercollegiate Rowing Association) Championship Regatta, with both Men’s crews advancing through the heats into the C semi-finals and then into the C finals.

Me hanging up/side/down? Ok, I admit that I used photoshop cs2 on this photo, I am gonna stick to just using my camera and not photoshop as when I use photoshop I make the photos look gothic…lol