Rowing Coach Journeys West in Cross-Country Trip

Try this one: You're packing a 2-ton 2002 Ford pickup truck with a crew cab and an 8-foot bed. It's attached to a 39-foot trailer, which holds the boats from every ACC rowing program, Ohio State and several boat manufacturers, all of which extend another 10 feet off the back.

From the front of the truck to the back of the last boat, it's 75 feet long and 15,000 pounds.

Are we there yet?

Not a chance.

North Carolina rowing coach Joel Furtek is in the midst of a 6,000-mile, cross-country trek that began two weeks ago and won't end until Sunday night. By the time he gets back into Chapel Hill, Furtek will have driven the massive rig to San Diego and back, to New Jersey and back again.

For a rowing coach, he sure does a lot on land.

On the morning of April 1, Furtek loaded the boats from UNC, Duke and Virginia onto his trailer and set off. The Tar Heel Express stopped at Clemson, where Furtek piled on the Tigers' boats, and continued westward.

Furtek did roughly 38 hours of driving in a 55-hour period before he finally arrived Wednesday in San Diego, site of the San Diego Crew Classic. He greeted the UNC rowers at the airport the next night.

"He was a little tired, but he was ready to go with the rest of us," said junior Lauren Yoder. "I wish that we could have the best of both worlds -- that he could take our boats, but at the same time we miss having the coaching time."

Every year many East Coast teams head to San Diego for the Classic.

"We want to go," Furtek said. "But you have to beg, steal or borrow boats out on the West Coast, so we bring our own."

For the help, the other programs pay Furtek a small fee, which UNC uses to fund the students' travel expenses to and from San Diego and which the other coaches are more than willing to pay.

"I wouldn't do it," said UVa. coach Kevin Sauer of the drive. "It's not worth it to me to drive out there -- takes too much time.

"(But) every year somebody steps up to the plate. And you can piggyback on the trailer. Joel said he was going to do it, so I said 'Cool.'"

Sauer is confident with Furtek, a former UVa. assistant, at the wheel.

"He's meticulous and careful, and I trust my boats with him more than anybody else," Sauer said.

To get their boats to Chapel Hill, UVa. and Ohio State sent them off with Duke after the ACC/Big 10 Dual in Ann Arbor, Mich., on March 30, and Duke hauled them back to Chapel Hill.

It wasn't Furtek's first cross-country trip, by a long shot. This was his ninth time to San Diego -- his fifth with UNC -- and his 13th cross-country trip.

The veteran traveler brings along a global positioning system, CB radio, weather radio, cell phone, camcorder and plenty of other gadgets and devices.

Furtek said he usually has a co-driver with him on the trip, but this year the closest thing he's got is Paul Simon. Simon's "Negotiations and Love Songs" and Furtek's other mix CDs will help him through the tough spots.

Furtek's perennial tough spot is Texas, which, aside from the big cities, he describes as "a whole lot of nothin'."

But this year, Texas wasn't his biggest problem. In the Crew Classic's Sunday final, the second varsity eight finished 11th in a field of 21 teams, while the varsity eight finished 12th in a field of 21 teams.

The rowers flew home on Sunday night in time for Monday classes. Furtek, meanwhile, loaded the "Express" even heavier than before, with boats from West Coast manufacturers and Monday morning began plodding back east.

On Wednesday, he dropped off Clemson's boats and arrived in Chapel Hill around 8 p.m., just in time to sleep before Thursday's 5 a.m. practice. He then hit the road again bound for Camden, N.J., 12 hours later.

He spent Thursday night in Charlottesville, Va., after dropping off Sauer's boats and hopes to arrive in Camden by around noon today.

To stay alert during his long stretches at the wheel, Furtek has patented some curious strategies. There's caffeine, of course, but Furtek also likes to sing along with his music or do leg lifts, holding his left foot off the floor as long as possible.

He'll need all the help he can get. After UNC competes in the Knecht Cup and the Villanova Invitational, two weekend regattas in Camden, Furtek will finish the journey and hopes to have his load parked in Chapel Hill by 9 p.m. Sunday night.

Interestingly enough, in the event of a crash, neither Furtek nor UNC would be liable for any damages to other boats.

"But in a handshake and personal sense, I look out for every boat on the trailer," he said. "I'm going to do everything I can to get the boats there safely."

Fortunately, 12 days into his two-week road swing, Furtek's biggest surprise has been a little frustration.

"On the way back, I was disappointed about the team's performance," he said. "But by half way through the trip, I was fired up to get back to practice. Having 48 hours alone with my thoughts allowed me to sort through the emotion and work to a solution without anybody knowing about it."

Of course, it's not that easy.

"Don't let me kid you at all -- it's hard as heck," he said. "But the rewards are there. You get to see America. I figured out the rest of my life. You can never come back from San Diego and say that you don't have a plan. The rewards outweigh the tedium."

The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu.