1st Erg Exercise Experience

I used an ergometer for exercise for the first time today at the local YMCA. It was a Model D from Concept2.Their website recommended doing several short rows the first time. I did four of 5 minutes each. It took most of the first one to the hang of how to use the thing. I started out being a pansy on the drive and didn't get much resistance until I used my arms. It wasn't until near the end of the first "set" that I realized I had to hit the start of the drive much harder in order to get any resistance for my legs. The last three went much better. As usual, I had to be careful about engaging the back too soon. Next time, I'll bring the FlipVideo to tap one of these sets to get a better handle on my technique. Since I'm still recovering from a 2 week long infection, the small number of short sets suited me just fine!

P.S. Everyone who uses the machine calls it an "erg." It's a made-up name meaning work meter or work machine. The common name reflects the love-hate relationship everyone seems to develop with using the thing for (winter) training.

Rowing Against the Current

I just finished Rowing Against The Current (On learning to scull at forty) by Barry Strauss. It is a short, enjoyable, fast read. I'm not sure how someone who's never rowed would like it. The author does a good job of describing a number of ephemeral aspects of being on the water, a bit of the sport becoming a sport in the late 1800's, rowing in ancient naval warfare, and some of the serious training he does. Plus midlife angst of former teenage non-athletes, not the career or marital kind of crisis. Recommended.

Next up, David Halberstam's The Amateurs.

Cold Weather Rowing #1

I've rowed a couple times now when the temperatures were in the 40's F. I had anticipated the dressing appropriately for rowing would be fairly similar to dressing for running. Differences noted so far:

1. My hands are warmer. Duh! They're being used as part of the exercise. Also ...
2. I'm moving faster in the boat than I was on the ground. "Longer" vectors hence greater variation in relative speed depending upon the orientation of the boat direction and the wind direction.
   
3. My torso feels colder since my sweating back is pointing forward, more often into the wind.

I'm labeling this post #1 because I expect additional observations from experience and learnings from others and other resources. I've noticed that the mantra for kayaking is "dress for the water temperature" but that doesn't seem to be the case for rowing. I'm thinking this might be because most folks row for a school, which have coaches in a power boat, or a club, which have rules for accompanying chase boats as the weather chills. Not quite sure where the single scullers stand.

My observation so far is, except for getting in/out at our access ramp, I'm only wet from my own sweating. However, one goof with an oar and I could be in the drink. Brrrrr. So far, I'm staying REAL CLOSE to the shore.

Being Thankful

Everything finally came together for a row today. Although I've been off all week, it's been rather cold and windy so far. At least, colder and windier than what has seemed manageable. Our days have been starting out below freezing and almost warming to 50. More on the temperatures in another post.

I may have mentioned it in an earlier post, but it bears repeating on Thanksgiving. 2008 has seen a drastically improved work-life balance. This broke the downwards trend over the previous 4-5 years. I'm grateful that Kathleen stuck to her guns on wanting to try sculling. After our dock was built, I was leaning towards less expensive kayaking but she was steadfast. We've really enjoyed doing something together and being out on the water. And the exercise component has me back into an active lifestyle. Stopping my 3-4-5-a-week running schedule was the first casualty of the work-like imbalance. Through the good fortune of lake access, a shell dealer, and the rowing club in Charlotte, we got off to a great start and are self-sufficient in the activity. Thank you, Lord!

Almost Funny Clothes

My youngest sister said that people ordering funny clothes for their hobby means they've gone off the deep end. Well, these aren't obviously specialty clothes (that'll have to wait until the warm weather again). Errrrrr - I guess I need to admit that the mitten-looking things qualify us:


JL Racing/Rowing does custom apparel for clubs and competitive teams. We picked up a pair of their cold weather deals for the Purist jackets and CoolMax tops (which are cut short in front and long in back). What with the rowing stroke having us bent over almost all the time, the specialty cut should make a big difference. Kathleen didn't have any leggings that weren't cotton and my running tights are rather garishly colored. We'll try rowing with baseball caps over the beanies since we both found the glare from the sun to be a killer.

The mitten-looking things are called "pogies" (po-gees, hard g). Byron and Nancy at CYC recommended them. They go over our hands AND the ends of each of our oars. Direct hand contact on the oars is, apparently, critical, so true rowers don't wear gloves. Kathleen's been wearing golf gloves to prevent blistering. We'll see how this plays out for her.

UPDATE: Dec 23. Finally uploaded the picture of our cold weather rowing duds.

Moss Lake Water Temperatures

I asked around about winter water temperatures for Moss Lake. I was pointed to Newt Henson at the Water Treatment plant. Here's what he sent me for temperatures read from 5 ft or 15 ft depths where their intakes are located:

              Avg          Low           High
11/07          59           54            66
12/07          52           50            54
01/08          46           45            54
02/08          46           45            46
03/08          52           46            54
04/08          59           54            61
05/08          66           61            72
06/08          79           72            81
07/08          82           79            84
08/08          84           81            86
09/08          79           72            82
10/08          68           61            72

He said the coldest they've measured was 39 degrees.

(Much bigger) Lake Norman temperatures are here. Looks like it's warmer there.

Getting Chilly!

This is the first weekend without some kind of watersport exercise. Yesterday's forecast was rain and wind. Didn't get the former, had the latter, and temperatures around 70 degrees. Today, clear skies, but still 15 mph wind, and temps in the 50's. Windchill in the upper 40's. I decided to skip it today.

Last weekend's rowing single got me to thinking about the water temperatures. The air temperature was in the mid- to upper-50's and very little breeze. Nonetheless the coldness of the water, up to my knees, at the boat ramp was enough to make me wonder what it would be like around my chest and head. Actually, I didn't think about it until I was out in open water in the middle of the lake.

The Catawba Yacht Club has a T(air) + T(water) < 100F rule. The Three Rivers Rowing Association (Pittsburgh) has a nice safety matrix here but they only mention water temperature. We haven't gotten around to getting any special cold weather clothing. JL Rowing has a special but they assume you're launching from a dry dock not a wet ramp. I don't think they have any waterproof stuff. I hope we're not done for the season.

Fall Head Races

Autumn is the season for head races in the rowing world. As in,

• Head of the Charles


• Head of the Hooch


• Head of the South

And we've missed them. Not to race in them, but to be spectators for the event and meet up with folks from CYC. The last, and closest (Augusta GA), was this past weekend but not planning to skip cantoring at our Saturday vigil Masses and visiting relatives laid waste to the hope.

We went sculling together instead. Kathleen hasn't rowed with me for several weekends. The flatwater kayaking has been taking up a couple Sundays and I was on my own other times. In spite of her broken finger, she did okay. But the water at the access ramp, where we get in & out, is getting COLDER.

A Week Off & Another Human-powered Watersport

I've got a week off here. We're gonna forget about the financial crisis and "who's on first" acquiring my employer. We're going to row, do some leaf peeping, and sort out a whole bunch of things that have been up in the air ...

Like the dock accoutrements for our shell and kayaks. Yes, I'm sure all those die-hard rowers would be screaming "argh" if their throats weren't constricted. Well, perhaps I exaggerate; but I did find a rowing site that banned paddlers so there's some antipathy by some in the community.

I'm actually a little confused by the term "paddler." It seems to be used by whitewater kayakers, flatwater kayakers, and canoers to describe themselves. I see the commonality between canoeing and flatwater kayaking, but not the whitewater variant. Yes, the "boat" construction and paddles are the same, but the intent of the sport is completely different. Because whitewater is so popular in our area, it's a bit annoying to need to add the "flatwater" adjective. Quietwater is another variant I've seen.

While the two sports are quite different from each other, for our purposes, they're complementary. I commented on this earlier, after we had a very pleasant kayaking experience at Sunset Beach. Also here, at the end of our CYC rowing sessions, I thought about kayaks as a video taking platform to help us study our rowing technique.

The last two straws were

1. Continued agonizing over logistics for our floating dock add-on and multi-part sling and storage mechanisms for the shell.
2. Kathleen's interest in going out on the lake in a kayak, on her own, for a workout. (A kayak, at around 40 lbs and 12 feet long, would be more manageable than an 80 lb, 24 foot long shell.)

We decided to go the US National Whitewater Center on Sunday to take their guided river tour. It was nice trip up the Catawba River and into Longs Creek. One of the guides, Mike, took pictures here. They start at #434 and go through #459 (click the little arrow buttons above the pictures to go back and forth). We are in the two blue kayaks. Kathleen is wearing her sweatshirt over her rather bulky life preserver. The trip helped narrow the field for our potential purchase. Kathleen's boat was 9 ft; mine was 10 ft. We found them harder to keep straight than the 12 footers at Sunset Beach.

After good rows on Saturday and today and paddling on Sunday, tomorrow we are heading to Hickory to the Outdoor Supply Company to look at gear. We may make an impetuous purchase and do our best to contribute to stimulating the economy. We already dropped over $400 replacing the worn out tires on our truck.

Your Other Right!

Kathleen, being raised a (Long Island) "bay girl," is always giving me grief about my directions while rowing. I'm in the bow seat, so it's my job to look back, decide which way we should be going, and give directions for how to get there. Her job is to set the stroke rate, be steady with it, and do whatever I tell her for direction.

I tell her when we need "power on the left/right" to do a gradual turn or slight course adjustment. Since we have a wider-than-racing shell, we can do "all on the left/right" where we keep the opposite blade flat on the water and pull only on one side. (I have a suspicion we'd tip ourselves over if we did this with a bonafide [REALLY narrow] racing shell.) This allows us to do a pretty sharp turn. Finally, if we're at a stand still, we can do a corkscrew turn in place with her pulling with one hand while I push with the opposite.

Since we are facing towards the back, we have to pull on the side opposite from where I want us to go. The grief comes from my mixing this up and saying "right" when I want to go towards the right. I should be saying "left." In the open water, it's no harm no foul because I realize my goof fairly quickly and we have plenty of room. In the tight confines of our cove, or when we're fast approaching a quiet fisherman, it's a different story.

On the return leg of our trip last Sunday, we're taking a long run straight with the wind in our faces - blowing at the stern of the boat. We're looking to make time back home to finish off the lawn work for liming, fertilizing, and seeding. This stretch involves threading our way between a really small island, a big one, and two points of land. Did I remember to re-iterate that we are facing AWAY from where we're going?

One other tidbit ... I'm about as limber as a decent piece of lumber. One day, in high school gym class, the coach is doing his usual job of humiliating the geek wearing glasses. We're doing some kind of stretching exercises and he keeps calling four eyes an old man because I can't stretch worth a damn. I haven't improved much and, now verging on old fartdom, it's quite a challenge to turn around 90 degrees on the swayback, get a good view of what we're about to run into, and keep up with the stroke.

Back to the story ... we're humping it on the way back with a strong wind and I'm trying to thread us between islands on the port side and land on the starboard. I'm twisting one way to get a look on one side then the other for the other side. I call out "power on the right" and we ever so slowly start trending in the direction I want. After awhile, I comment "shooie, why is it taking so long to turn right?" "Argh!!!!" is her response because she's been pulling with her right while I've been pulling with my left.

Maybe you had to be there. ;-)

Wind & Tacking with a Shell

With the long Columbus Day weekend, we rowed three times. The first two were very windy -gusts coming out of the north or northeast respectively. Monday, with only a slight breeze, was amazing in comparison.

On previous windy days, we'd already picked up the trick of rowing closer to the shore where the wind is coming from. The houses, trees, etc. help to break the wind and calm the water. On the far shore, the wind has the most room to run, pick up to full speed, and kick up the highest waves.

Our traditional starting run goes straight south from our home cove. So, we're doing pretty well with the wind in our faces. Since we row faster than the wind-blown waves are driven, we're moving into waves quite easily. Everything is hunky-dory. We just need to keep our oars higher out of the water (hands lower) on the recovery.

When we turn to go east at the south side of the water, wham-o! - full cross wind and waves bouncing us around. It doesn't take long to realize the difference. After a bit of struggling, I realize that we'd probably be better off zig-zagging across the stretch. I think sailboats "tack" into the wind to move forward. So, we tack "across" the wind to minize the turbulence. It's definitely bouncy on the zig, but it's much more manageable as long as we stay steady and even in our strokes. The zag is easier than the zig, but no picnic. Saturday was a short row since the cooler weather had us starting late and our need to get the lawn mowed before going to church.

On Sunday, I didn't pick up on the easterly component of the northeast wind. We chose to go up a twisty scenic cove. It wasn't until too late that I realized our path's orientation had us rowing straight into the wind for one of the longest stretches - where I thought we'd be protected by trees. Oh well. It was somewhat compensated once we turned around and headed home - by a big assist from mother nature.

On the way back, we had a funny "I'm gonna smack you!" moment. See the next post.

Dock Conundrum

I've been looking at three options lately for a floating dock arrangement with our dock.

1. A kit at Little River Marine to build something that lashes to our posts.
2. EZ Dock
3. AccuDock

A local boat company deals with EZ Dock but Kathleen didn't like the callback that we got after our inquiry. Bad customer service - ixnay that one.

Kim Holt, at AccuDock, has been great. He's used to working with kayakers and rowers. And he has sliding attachment assemblies that stabilize floating docks. He's been great to work with my kooky idea for an arrangement of a 30"x6' piece that would hinge at the end of another 30"x8' piece. We'd normally have the 6' piece on top of the 8' piece. When we get ready to go out, we flip the 6' piece to stick out from the end of our dock. We can then get on/off this section, with oars on one side sticking over the float, like rowers normally do.

After talking through more of this with Kathleen, we have a conundrum. My focus had been getting in/out of the shell on the water. But almost anything we do to make that easier, makes it harder to get the shell in/out of the water. Kathleen has limited ability to get her side of the boat up to her shoulder or over her head. I can address this with sling lifts and spanners, but it's still convoluted and will recall construction. And times a-wasting!

Quieter Release

Kathleen made it out with me this morning. It was a late start - she was still hurting from two days of bowel spasms and I was rather tired from two hard rows on my own. Although we were late to the water, 10:30am, there were very few people out. The breeze was light and water pretty calm.

As we are chugging along, almost retracing my route from yesterday, I noticed Kathleen had the secret of the quieter release: she was coming out of the water almost vertically whereas I had been feathering (rotating the oar handle) to "flip" the blade out of the water. I tried just dropping my hands before doing anything else and it made a big difference. Thus completing the evolution towards understanding the bicycle chain analogy of Kevin from the CYC Learn-to-Row weekend. Up, at the catch, then down, at the finish/release, with the hands at each end of the overall stroke cycle. Duh!

Another Solo & Meeting Melanie

Another day on my own today. Same routine as yesterday (just row and concentrate on back position during the drive, early rolling to the catch position, adn trying to be quieter on the release) but a different route. I decided to go up a cove, near Kathleen's parents, that we had not visited yet.

On the way out, someone was waving at me from the shore and was trying to take pictures. I came back around closer and went across again to provide another opportunity. After turning and coming close to shore, we chatted. Melanie has a Moss Lake focused web site providing a forum for local information exchange: mosslake-nc.com. She is a big enthusiast and advocate for activities on the lake. Sounds like a potential ally if we try to arrange some kind of regatta. I told her about our getting started, how much we enjoyed rowing on the lake, and little bit about sculling. She might write about it on her site. I'll ask if I can post any of the photos she took here.

The row turned out to be quite long. In spite of having the maxim -"on an out-and-back trip, turnaround before you get tired," I kept at heading up that cove. It was worth it. I found a section where the water was glass calm and most of the lots were wooded - the most peaceful spot all morning. My timing was perfect; after I turning around and heading out of the cove, a power boat went tearing right up where I'd left.

Quiet on the Catch, Noisy on the Release

Today, I ended up on the lake by myself. At the last minute, Kathleen wasn't able to go, so I had to re-rig the shell for a single. As before, I hugged the shore to minimize the distance should I flip out. All went well - maybe next time, I won't worry about this anymore.

I just rowed as continuously as I could and worked on standard stuff. With early rolling to a "square" blade, I go into the water very quietly on the catch. The release, however, is a different story. I saw an email on the Yahoo rowingmasters group that reinforced that good technique, at any speed, means a quiet row. I'm definitely going to need some pointers on the release. The only way I'm quiet bringing my blades out of the water is when I'm coasting back into the cove and applying almost no pressure on the stroke.

Note to self - blog posts need more pictures!

Second note to self - gotta watch the grammar and thought flow more carefully. I shudder to think what my English Teacher baby sister and Technical Editor mother think of my sentence construction and writing style. ;-)

Shoe Installation

I installed my new shoes last Saturday. Here's a picture of Kathleen's pair (which went on after our Labor Day row). To expose the innards, the insoles are out, the tongues are pulled forward, and the velcro "lace" flaps are pulled over.

To take advantage of the original footpads, Don sent a single bolt setup: a rather wide, round, flat head with a washer and a nyloc nut. To tighten the thing down, I had to use a lock wrench on the head. I decided to keep the heel cups in place to help guide the heels and to avoid complicated change outs should Carl or anyone else row with us.

On my first trip out, the shoe twisted on me right away. I was going to have to bear down on the ratchet wrench when we got back. The second trip was better (which had me really torquing it when putting Kathleen's in). The shoes are definitely more comfortable than the single velcro strap. I didn't have to think about "catching myself" with my feet at the finish. (I bet this is confusing. Remember that we're pushing off the footpads but don't want our feet to leave the pads. We curl our toes up to keep them from slipping out from under the strap.) Kathleen has been getting some blisters on one heel, so she'll really like these. I do notice that they do their job of fixing the foot - it's rather awkward now to lean forward on a break to get my water bottle. I also needed to bring a hand towel with me to dry off after getting in the boat from our access ramp. Putting socks on dirty wet feet is hard and yucky. More incentive to get the dock arrangements worked out and installed!

Dizzying Flotsam

After 6 inches of rain from Hurricane Fay over a couple days, it was an interesting row on Friday morning. The lake was indeed up as high as we'd seen it - not over anyone's dock, but up to the sideboards. I was wondering if we'd see a muddy current through the lake but there was none. However, lots of branches and bark had accumulated from run off and been blown together by the wind. Without boat traffic, it was just hanging around out there. It was amazing - as we would row through it, the rushing past would almost make me dizzy! I'm focusing on Kathleen in front of me, most of the time, and the water going past is rather nondescript just having a general sense of movement. But the flotsam really sets off the peripheral vision sensors, so it's like my whole field of view (except Kathleen) is rushing away. I'm so used to driving forward, this backwards motion is very different and was rather unsettling. "Cewl!"

The flotsam didn't last long. Saturday was noticably "cleaner." Sunday was all clear except for an errant log. Fortunately, it was a long way from us.

New (Little) Shoes

We got bonafide rowing shoes to replace the original velcro footstraps and heel cups...

Ain't they cute? End to end like this, they are probably about as long as some of the shoes in the big shells at CYC. The only way we could mitigate that problem was by wearing cheapo water shoes to widen our feet enough to make their velcro shoe ties hold us in. I'll be drilling holes in our footpads to bolt these in. Pictures forthcoming this weekend.

You can't tell from this shot, but the shoes have thinnish soles with holes in them for bolting into various "foot stretchers." Bike shoes are built to stay on the feet and click off the pedal. Rowing shoes are built to stay on the stretchers in the boat and have your feet come loose. We will be putting a lace on that joins the velcro shoe straps - in distress, I think you grab these and pull. I probably should get clarity on this! ;-)

I'm taking Friday off again this week to make a 4-day weekend this time. Rain from Fay should be done and forecast looks good for lots o' rowin'!

Nice Long Row

The water was the calmest this morning, the last of our three rows this weekend. There was a nice breeze and minimal chop. Yesterday's wind was stiffer but we managed to do drills going back and forth across our primary route. I took our old digital camera out to get pictures. Unfortunately, the batteries pooped out in no time so I didn't get many shots. Here's the best one of the bucolic view from our shell:


With it being Sunday (slowest start for water skiers), we decided to follow the longest out-and-back route that we have - going to the dam and public access ramp. Our goal was to keep it steady and even and row as long as we could before taking a break.

With our new seating arrangement, Kathleen in the stern and me in the bow, we made good time and weren't nearly as tired as when we did this before more than a month ago. We even added on an additional leg towards the end. I think this kind of row is a good idea to do at least every other weekend. We'll start tracking our times and see how we improve. We do need to work on eliminating the "S's" in our route. Not that I would accuse my rowing partner, but it doesn't seem like a good idea to be looking to the left or right most of the time. And she accuses me of being the sightseer!

All in all, a very successful set of row for Kathleen to get back into the swing of things after having missed several weeks in a row and not able to make many of the Saturday's at CYC.

Rigging Adjustments and a Friday Row

Taking a PTO day to spend time with Kathleen. We are hoping to row three times this weekend. After last Sunday's row, I moved washers on her oarlocks. They came with five thick hard plastic washers underneath the oarlock. On her right side (port side of the shell), I moved four of them above the oarlock. I moved two on her left side. Hopefully, this will help her keep her hands lower on the drive. For me, I just moved two on my right side from below to above. I also ordered two pairs of shoes from H2Row last night. Don's prices look very reasonable and he says we'll just need to remove the heel pads and drill a single hole in each footpad to bolt in the shoes.

The weather was cooler and breezier than usual this morning. Very pleasant, but we'd rather be getting rain from Hurricane Fay. Kathleen did feel better with the adjustments. The wind did make the water choppy in the main open areas. We decided to stay in the head cove of the lake. Overall, it was a nice leisurely row as we got back into our rhythm.

Kathleen did like the washer changes. For me, for the first time in months, I banged my left thumb with my right oar handle several times. Oooouuuuch.

Equipment Enhancements

I'm hoping to find some improved equipment for our shell: Foot stretchers with proper shoes to replace our current footpads with velcro straps and find narrower diameter oar handles for Kathleen.

It's looking like the oars we have aren't adjustable. We may have to buy a new pair instead of just replacement oar handles. Bummer.

Still investigating shoe options.

Final Novice Session at CYC

Today was the last special session for the adult novices at CYC. I can't say enough about how wonderful this has turned out for us (well, with the exception of the times that Kathleen wasn't able to go) and thank all of the CYC members who helped.

We hit the Learn-to-Row weekend with enough experience to absorb more of what we were told then if we had never seen an instructional tape or been in a shell before. We got good tips and corrections for what we were doing wrong. The additional Saturday sessions gave us more time and more feedback from other experienced rowers. We also got to experience sweep rowing. All in all, a really good exposure to the fun of the sport and the comradarie of the devotees. Exhibit #1 for this working out for us is the sheer frequency of our getting out on the water. I mean, geez, look at all these posts!

Next week, they re-start their youth rowing program for the fall. For us, it's decision time for joining as non-member rowers. We've decided to wait on signing up. We want to get back into a routine of rowing together and figuring out how to improve our setup at home - including dock arrangements and getting video of ourselves. We also want to go to one of the nearby "Head" races in the fall to get a feeling for these events. This desire is Exhibit #2.

Tidbits from June (bow seat) and Barry (3 seat) while Rick (2 seat) and I (stroke seat) filled out the quad:

1. Oar height in the water during the drive - avoid digging by relying on the natural floating depth of the oar. I'm having a hard time with this one. I found that my overall stroke went to hell if I let up too much on the handle - literally struggling to get ahold of the handle again.
   
2. Catch as part of the recovery - this made total sense. Reinforcing that the oar needs to be vertical and back in the water before starting the drive. This sounds obvious but any number of things can keep it from happening.
   
3. As Jay had been coaching, rolling the oar during the recovery to get to the catch position before the end. I found that if I held the handle in a particular way, as I'm reaching for the catch, the handle would almost auto-roll into the proper position. I wasn't consciously trying this during our "power" runs so I'm not sure if my grip would still work when putting oomph into the drive. It may be close because it felt very similar to Jay's description of rolling the handle with thumb and forefinger rather than the knuckle-up or wrist-down approach to feathering.
   

And for Exhibit #3, proving my sister's comment, I'm going to be looking at specialty clothing for us. Kathleen teases me because, at some point during a strenuous row, I'm sweating so much it looks like I'm peeing in my shorts. We'll at least be getting fancy stretch rowing shorts that have padding on the butt. I'll be looking at tank tops too. And hoping to find bright funny-looking colors. We'll see if we keep wearing the life vests.

First Time Single

I was on my own for the trip to CYC on Saturday. Kathleen hadn't recovered from her chlorinated water overexposure last Monday. With only three newbies, we went out in a quad where I took the stroke seat, then Rick, then Tony, and June, the experienced rower, in the bow seat. Wind made the main channel rather choppy and we turned up the channel for the first time. We went with a really slow stroke rate - concentrating on rolling oars into the catch position early, keeping shoulders relaxed, and doing the "chicken wings" with our arms at the finish. The last was news to me. I've been keeping my elbows down as much as I could.

Today, Kathleen wasn't better. I rigged the shell as a single and went out by myself for the first time. I did much better than I thought I would. Accusations of wobbliness by my partners had me a little worried. It actually seemed easier to stay upright and stable in the single than the double - maybe that's my imagination. Other differences - the boat was easier to start, since it was short a person, easier to turn, since the single seat is more centered, but a lot harder to keep going, since there was no additional help. Everything else regarding technique mistakes was exacerbated.

I just went back and forth from our home cove along one shore. I didn't want to go far from docks in case I did flip out of the boat. Because it was harder rowing, the shorter stretches worked just fine. And it was a real blast. Now, I know the meaning of "no man's land" for oar handles. If the oar handle gets past my chest, the shell tips real fast! Fortunately, I was barely moving and stayed dry. I wish I'd made notes after finishing because I can't remember all the particulars that were jumping out at me on my own compared to having two or four in the shell. I'll have to elaborate further after my next solo outing. Hopefully, Kathleen won't be missing many outings so it may be awhile.

I'm thinking this may be our best opportunity to get visual feedback on our rowing: one of us in a kayak, with a video camera, and the other in the re-rigged single. We can borrow a kayak - just need to buy the Flip Video! One can row themselves tuckered going back and forth past the kayak, then switch crafts.

Lots to Think About

With Kathleen prepping for a qualifying test and lifeguarding classes, I invited Carl out for a second time. In looking back at old posts, I realized that I hadn't covered his first visit several weeks ago. Carl is my boss and rowed in a men's 8+ in college at Rutgers. After hearing that we'd bought a shell, he was eager to come out and row again. Since he works out a lot more than I do, I figured I'd have about 5 minutes on the water before his collegiate training would reactivate, then he'd kick my ass in the boat. I'd pray for blisters to slow him down so I'd survive to the end. It almost turned out like that. Since he had sculled hardly at all, the alien in his left hand was a hindrance for him. Even with that, the two of us moved the boat noticeably faster than Kathleen and I had been able to. When I mentioned this to Kathleen, it proved to be a powerful motivator for her - she's ultra-competitive in the right circumstances. As alluded to two posts ago, Carl and I did several different drills - power 10's, long pauses on the recovery to work on balance - all helpful.

This time, I'd had more experience in the bow seat and had already been working on readying the oar for the catch before getting to the catch position in the drive. I wanted to continue that, really focus on staying in synch with him in the stroke seat, and reduce my wobbling. Compared to our last row together, we took more and longer breaks and talked more about what we were doing. This was really helpful because I didn't get so tired even though I was putting more umph into the power 10's. I discovered a bunch of things ...

• My wobbling tends to be the worst at the release - I still haven't figured out why
• My knee splaying occurs more often than when I'm gasping for air. Bummer! I've developed a bad habit already.
• Our catching cleanly together is really hard to do but when we get a run of them together, it is really sweet! Quiet, smooth, fast.
• A contributor to my difficulty staying in synch with the person in front of me goes back to the ole legs-back-arms routine. Carl's seat motion would literally stop/pause at the finish but move smoothly from forwards to backwards at the catch. Because I wasn't doing the former, I was finding myself needing to at the latter - which always felt funny. I think I'm still not quite coordinating my legs-back movement properly - leaning back during the drive rather than waiting until the finish to do the pivot. Watching his seat rather than his back helped a lot.
• When we really got some speed going, the water flow past the side of the shell was amazing. I couldn't see our stern or generated wake (such as it is in a non-power boat) but what I could see on the side was mesmerizing itself.
  

When I asked about proper breathing, he didn't remember it coming up in his training days. We guessing exhaling on the drive was correct. Funny thing - when we finished the following set, he confessed to having gotten messed up trying to think about it during the set - and made a golf parallel. The point is smooth, even, consistent technique in the swing. The worst thing to do is focus on one thing in the swing because then others would get messed up. A friend of his used to win money in his foursomes all the time by "innocently" asking about details of the other 's technique. The power of suggestion was enough to throw their game off. Rowing seems very similar - a lot of little things that can be focused on at any time. It's a lot to keep together. As they say - easy to learn, hard to perfect.

More Education at CYC

We drove into Charlotte today and rowed in a quad. We were going to set up with Kathleen in the stroke seat, like we've started doing at home, but she didn't want the pressure of the spot with others in the boat. We switched - she went to 3 seat, Sally 2 seat, and Jay was in the bow seat. Jay is the co-captain for the rowing group. I thought having Jay in the 1 seat was optimal for giving us direction and feedback: we could hear him easily and he could see (almost) everything we were doing. As it turned out, Kathleen regretted the decision. More later. I discovered later that the ladies in our novice group strongly preferred all-female boats.

These additional "novice Saturday's" have been helping out. Different CYC rowers offer something from their experience - tips on this or that. For example, Jay had us put the oars in the catch (upright) position and let the oars find their own height in the water - as a means to get a feel for handle position during the drive. I noticed their rigging resulted in the left oar sitting noticeably higher than the right. I think our shell's setup is much more even - have to verify tomorrow. He ran us through different drills and I ended up working harder than on other Saturdays. Power 20's have a way of tiring you out. I should have confessed at the time, but I was really grateful when Sally wanted to stop to dry her sweaty hands after one stretch. I was really sucking wind. In fact, I noticed my knees were splaying out in the catch position. When I kept them together, I couldn't inhale worth a darn. I need to look at proper breathing technique; or lose that 15+ pounds I've been carrying for a while.

Jay's dry sense of humor worked well for his coaching. Kathleen said it didn't bother her at all that her name was called out more times than anyone else's. Now, back to the seat position regret and the all-female boat comment... True to form, with my being in the stroke seat, my reach on the catch really caused her challenges - just like it did in our own boat. With her shorter legs, arms, and, therefore, oar angle, she was always trying to avoid my oars. It prevented her from focusing on other aspects of her technique - hence, the coaching. The ladies' preference for the all-female boat made sense on two counts - we men tend to strong arm our stroke and make it harder to get the technique right, and, being taller, were making it hard on the short ladies. I'm average height, and short for rowers, but I'm still tall for Kathleen and Sally. (Wes - be aware when you are matched up with your wife; you want to be behind her.)

The drive angle difference resulted in Kathleen and I clacking oars several times. As novices, we tend to stop rowing when our oars collide ... and not call out "weigh enough." On the other hand, when we here "in 2, weigh enough", we just stop every thing. Both behaviors are annoying to experienced rowers like Jay. To his credit, he did a good job not expressing it. We'll learn eventually.

Last bit for an overly long post ... One of the experienced guys said he really enjoyed reading the blog. He thought it would help others trying to row to read about our discoveries & frustrations. My heart warmed because, other than telling family members what we were doing, this was exactly my goal. Shame on me for not catching his name.

Seat Swapping

With Kathleen's family in town, I took Friday off (mostly) and we were able to row three mornings this weekend. We skipped our Saturday at the Catawba Yacht Club and rowed on our own lake, avoiding the additional travel time to Charlotte. The temperatures were lower than the rest of the month, so we caught a break.

At Byron and Nancy's suggestion, today, we swapped our seats - Kathleen took stroke and I took bow. We were both surprised at the difference. As soon as we got out on open water, it felt like we were going much faster with our normal effort. After some observation, it looks like, for whatever reason, Kathleen's swing is more even across the perpendicular. (I'm sure there's a proper rowing term for this.) Previously, her oars in the catch position were much closer to the 90 degree angle from the shell than they were in the release position. In the bow seat, those two angles are more equal and so the power of her drive is much more efficient. Also, the bow seat is closer to the center than the stroke seat. With me in the bow, our weight might be more evenly distributed than before. We might be riding more level in the water.

In any case, it was a positive change. We spent the day doing 10+10 drills back and forth across one of our longest stretches: one where we drove much harder on the second 10 while keeping the stroke rate even (thanks Carl for this one), and the other where we slowed the return of the second 10 to lower the stroke rate and lengthen the amount of gliding.

Kathleen also noticed the difference in the view from the stroke seat. It's much "nicer." Not that I mind looking at my sweetie's backside, but it is not the same as having an unencumbered view of the water and where we're heading away from.

Kathleen's hands were kinda tore up by this third day in a row. We didn't go far from our home cove although we actually stayed on the water longer this last time. With the additional effort from the drills, we got tired faster and our technique would deteriorate even more so than for normal rowing. All in all, a great day on the water, a great weekend of rowing, and a great week with visiting family.

Swept 8, Sculled Double

The rowing folks at CYC are offering continued opportunities/lessons on Saturday mornings through August. We decided to go for the coaching tips and to get to know a new group of friends. Yesterday, six of the original 16 were there. Two other couples couldn't make it this time. So we went out in an 8 with two college-aged rowers and the cox'n filling out the boat. It was good to have the experienced rowers in the 4 and 8 seats since they set a slow steady pace for the bow and stern sets respectively. Everything went much smoother and felt good. Kathleen forgot to ask for tips about her grip. Because we've been doing this more and have better technique, the other newbies are getting more attention from the coaches. See below for my thing.

We were on our lake by 9am yesterday morning. It was a bit breezy but we had the water almost to ourselves. We stayed steady in pace and worked on our individual quirks. We went on the long haul and incorporated both of us contributing on bigger turns. We had been tending to make right angles - stopping and rotating in place. With both of us involved, we're both staying almost on pace - good for the overall workout.

For Kathleen, the slower pace helped her focus on better leg work on the drive. I continued to work on making my return slower than my drive. I need to find out about something else: My butt cheeks are killin' me by the time we finish. Is this a sign of bad technique or not? Nothing feels better than, at the end, getting out of the shell and standin' up!

Throwing Lips and Another Double

Today, a storm front threat washed out plans to row with a friend who competed in a college 8. Dang thing was aiming right at us when we wanted to hit the water, so we canceled. Ding-dang thing tracked from the southwest to the northeast and went to the north of us. Kathleen and I waited until we knew of the miss, then went out. Unfortunately, it was 11am and didn't take long for the powerboats to start up. To avoid fighting wakes on a long run back, we didn't go too far out. As it was, the 40ft yacht was out making wakes for the owner's kids in jet skis. Kathleen has been timid about the wakes - as if we'd be washed to South Carolina or something. She's improving. I keep telling her that we won't be tipped as long as we have our oars out. She says the reassurances are helping - kinda. They do look scary coming right off the boats, but they mellow into rockers by the time they hit us. I find them fun to ride.

Instead, we worked on bits of our technique again. I tried remaining pitched forward, using wrists at the finish, to develop a feel for a straight back angled properly on the drive. I'm not there yet, but, as indicated in the previous post, I've decreased my lean to a sway. Kathleen was asking me to slow down on the return too. This didn't seem so hard before, but it does now. I pause on the finish/recovery, rush on the return, then go back strong on the drive. I know I'm not doing the right thing because my oar blades are frequently not quiet. Water is coming over the blades because I'm driving faster than the shell is moving. And I'm sure I'm "throwing a lip" with the release. (I love that expression) Gotta keep working on all that. For Kathleen's part, she's struggling with keeping her wrists flat, grip relaxed, and has the blisters to show for it.

One good outcome of going out so late, we encountered the other double on the lake. Kathleen had met Kelly earlier at the YMCA so we knew someone else sculled. Today was the first time out for her and Sonja this year. We could only talk so much in the middle of the open water. It will be nice to have another local pair to connect with.

High Dock Low Dock

We haven't figured out how to use our high dock with our double yet. We're still donkeying the shell back and forth to the neighborhood access ramp. Here's a photo from last year with our niece Kelsey fishing off the neighboring dock:

And here's a photo of the low dock at the Catawba Yacht Club:

I've seen videos showing how to get in/out of a single from a high dock. It's not clear to me at all how the second person in a double would get in. Our dock is 4ft wide and the slip space is 10ft wide. Not enough clearance for our shell with 8ft oars on each side. Still cogitating though.

Lower SPM, Better Technique

This morning, we went out with the idea of practicing a number of the corrections learned from our weekend with people who actually know how to do this stuff. For me: don't lean back so far on the finish (it's called "swayback" not "leanback" for a reason), don't lean back too early, keep the hands more level on the drive. For Kathleen: wrists flat on the pull, back straight and pivot at the hip.

We started with using arms only, then arms-back only, then arms-back-halfslide, then finally arms-back-fullslide. I'm not getting how this helps yet. The first two parts feel more awkward than isolating/focusing. I'm hoping the utility will become apparent as we continue to develop.

Unlike our last time out, before the weekend, we very intentionally kept the strokes per minute (spm) lower, to concentrate, and steadier and for longer periods of time, to be more consistent. Made a big difference. With really good conditions and no one on the water, we did the longest run we can make with the fewest turns. Here's my first attempt at personalizing a Google map:

View Larger Map
Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to get it zoomed in the right amount. An exercise for the reader. Also, the comments on the markers and line don't show up unless you click to view the larger map.

This time we went as far as we could "down" the lake; all the way to the earthen dam. The line indicates that it's 3.25 miles. Out and back would be 6.5 miles or just over 10K. Woo-hoo! We did it today in 1 hr 50 minutes. We had to stop a couple times. Kathleen is still having blister challenges and had to put on the wieght-lifter gloves and re-arrange bandages. But overall, we did achieve longer stretches without pausing and overall felt much improved. We expect to reduce this time significantly by the end of the season. ;-)

Out again tomorrow. Then Sunday .... my boss comes out to join me! As a former collegiate sweeps rower, he's psyched to get out on the water again.

CYC Learn To Row Weekend

The Catawba Yacht Club's rowing group put on a very nice "Learn to Row" weekend. They had sessions Friday night, Saturday morning, Saturday night, and Sunday morning. We stayed overnight in Charlotte to avoid excessive driving. We had a wonderful time. The weather cooperated - sorta. Our fellow learners were a fun group. The coaches and assistants were good and complemented each other well.

We spent way more time on the water than off it. Kathleen had been concerned about that. However, as Nancy, one of the coaches, said ... you can't do much on land, you gotta row. I had already known that I lean back too much on my return, but I realized I may be leaning back before I even start the drive. We're going to add a drill into the start of our outings. The US Rowing safety video corrected what Kathleen thought we should do if we capsize in cold water - we stay with the shell!

The fellow participants and the coaches were great. We were divided into four groups of 4 - two groups of women, two groups of men with my group having one woman. The coaches rotated the groups through two (sculling) quads and one (sweeping) 8 with a cox'n. All spouses were in separate groups so Kathleen and I spent the most time with three other people. I thought the goal of building a team camaraderie was a really good idea and this did so effectively. We had a really wonderful time with the members of our team. We really hope to hook up with them either at our place or some followup activities at CYC. Here are some pictures:

From the left: Tony, Coach Kevin, Tracey, Coach Bev
From the left: Tracey, Marshall, Jacqueline, Rick, Coach Chris, Heather
From the left (& background) Cox'n Ian, Aaron, Wes, Sally, TBD, Sarah, Mark. (& foreground) Annie, TBD, Lisa
Kathleen is even more psyched to get involved in Masters competition now. We used "real" racing shells not recreational boats. I've realized that rec shells only come in singles and doubles. Rowing clubs seem to buy the fours and eights. They had two of our shell but they were gathering dust. Now that Kathleen has seen racing shells - much longer, rather slimmer, and lighter (being carbon composites), I'm guessing she will be wanting to upgrade before long.

I was really glad we had started rowing ourselves beforehand. The coaches were providing a lot of solid information and I think we followed about half of it. For the others who hadn't had any exposure, I can't imagine they picked up more than a quarter. Also, while I understand the logistics of coaching three larger shells, I think it was harder to pick up aspects of balance and technique because others were just as likely to throw you off as you were. When Kathleen and I started in our double, I think we gained capability and confidence faster than the participants did.

Finally, I'm really glad for the experience in the 8 doing sweep rowing. It is rather different from sculling. Kathleen thinks she could really get into a competitive 8. Up until the very last session, they always had a men's group and a women's group in the 8. In the last session, it was 7 men plus 1 women. One of the guys had a Flip Video camcorder and asked one of the sweep coaches to record us. The short video (you may have to get an updated version of the Flash player) is on YouTube. The view is from the stern end. I'm in the 5 seat - 5th from the bow of the boat, 4th rower up from the cox'n.

All in all, a wonderful weekend. I just wish I'd had Monday off so that Kathleen and I could row together. We'd have had our learnings fresh in mind and been able to practice together.

Another Glassy Day

"I've seen a lot of different walking partners, but this is a new one for me." - neighbor's comment as we cross paths while I'm donkeying the shell apres row

With an extra PTO day taken, we got another row in. It was another glassy day, but warmer than yesterday since there were no clouds this morning. Plenty comfortable on the water though - sweaty comfortable, not cool comfortable. This time we took a right turn and headed towards the remainder of the lake which includes the public access ramp, dam, and Kings Mountain water intake. We didn't go all they way but turned back a tich early. We had been rowing pretty hard for long stretches. Kathleen didn't want to have such a long way to get back home. She was right. We'll get there as a technique and stamina continue to improve.

We're looking forward to the Learn To Row weekend coming up. Kathleen's having a hard time with sore hands and blisters. She tried weightlifting gloves today. It kinda helped with the palms but not on the last two joints on her fingers. Hopefully, the instructors will see what she should be doing differently.

With our row this morning, Kathleen missed a church thing she's just joined. One of our neighbors, who has a lakefront house, is in it too. She saw us yesterday and said we "were a blur!" That made us feel great.

Back in the Saddle (errr, Seat), Waves, and Repairs

Alarm went off at 7am this morning. While we're getting into summertime highs, the humidity hasn't quite locked in yet to make the overnight lows in the upper 70's (or worse). This morning started at 65 and continued with high clouds the whole time we were out. We were on the water by 9:15am.

The conditions were wonderful: air temp and clouds already described ... even better, no wind, glass calm water, and only a few fisherman out. We went back to the cove by Kathleen's parents but by a more roundabout way through more open water. Rowing on this kind of calm water is amazingly easier than on chop. We were cruisin'. We even did most of it without our version of a count. (silence, silence, "3", "4", "5", "catch") Kathleen just tried to match my rhythm. Not having rowed in almost 3 weeks, we took it easy.

Not counting worked pretty well. We did find ourselves out of synch a bit more often. Kathleen's stroke is shorter than mine. I don't notice anything if I start driving earlier than she does - but I bet she does. If she catches early, I'm still recovering (sliding forward with my seat) and her early catch drives me "forward" faster. (It actually sends me towards the stern faster.) After we talked about it, she adjusted and we were back to it. We need to figure out how to give her more angle at her catch - it seems to shallow to me. We'll work on the foot rest adjustments tomorrow.

One really nifty result of the incredibly calm water: we were frequently surprised by waves when no boats were passing us. I can only figure that whatever wakes were created were traveling far and reflecting off the shores. Their wavelengths seemed to be longer. I'll have to check around.

One bummer thing happened on our return leg. I noticed that my left heel kept moving. The foot pads on this recreational boat are nothing to write home about. I'm hoping we can replace them with tie-in's before long. It may be sooner rather than later. Each foot pad has a bolt at the heel and at the ball of the foot which goes through the pad and the tube that then bolts into runners on the shell. The lower bolt had sheared off. After disassembly, it's just an 8-32 flat head 2" machine screw. Lowe's longest stainless steel screws in this thread were 1.5" so I've got a cheapo zinc screw in place now. I hope it holds. I'll have to keep an eye out for rusting.

ICW, Kayaking, & Rowing

While at Sunset Beach, NC (where we had a wonderful time with my family), we got a chance to take a wee kayak tour of the Intracoastal Waterway (a very short section) and a nearby salt marsh just past high tide. Quick thoughts regarding suitability for rowing:

• ICW, at least where we were, has way too many whacko recreational boaters kicking up wakes. Many were totally ignoring explicit "no wake" signs.
• It was actually quite crowded with boaters and jet skiers. Not the peaceful scene I imagined from the swing bridge. I guess the bridge really does keep boat traffic at bay. Har-har-har.
• The channels in the salt marshes, even at high tide, tend to be rather narrow. Not so good for rowing.

Kayaking in the salt marshes was really nice though. As near as I can tell, we were here. The trip did a lot to resolve my primary complaint about Sunset Beach - no ecotours on the marsh. The group was just us (brother-in-law Albert, niece Kelsey, Kathleen, and myself). Jim, the guide, seemed like an experienced kayaker and was learning the locale. He had a good attitude and was a good instructor. The singles were from a company in Greensboro. They were very enjoyable for puttering through the salt marshes. For this touring-type scenario, kayaking fits a very different niche than rowing:

1. minimize energy expenditure vs. maximize oomph to get velocity
2. narrow "wingspan" for narrow places vs. long reach with oars
3. highly maneuverable vs long strokes for straight-aways
4. seeing where you're going vs. looking at where you've been
   
5. oh, and it goes without saying that white-water kayaking is even more different.
   

Net-net = no desire to take the shell to the coast, unless we try to hook up with the rowing club in Wilmington. However, renting kayaks for the week is going to be on our list for the next time.

Sunset Beach here we come

We didn't get our stuff together to try to bring the shell to the beach. I think it would have been really fun to row the Inner Coastal Waterway. Not sure how the squeeters would be.

I hope to rig something with the Dakota for tripping. But, at this point, we're in budget crunch mode after I upped the retirement savings contributions. I've also gotta figure out how to get the shell suspended in the garage first. For the trip, it's shoehorned in diagonally on the same old sawhorses. Good thing the Mini is short!

Homeowner's Assoc Saturday

Our homeowner's association picnic was Saturday at noon. We wanted to make it so we needed to get an earlier start than previous weekends. The threat of rain and rather warm temperatures were additional incentives. We were on the water by 10am.

After twisting through our cove successfully, we headed out on a fairly calm, fairly empty lake. We ended up deciding to make a variety of straight runs triangulating the open area by our cove. This included passing the dreaded Snake Island. I didn't see any though - what a disappointment. I won't be happy until we have one heading towards us on the water. That'll give some incentive to the pulls!

I'd like to figure out how to do a Google Maps mashup that will chart some of these treks. It might be quite fun. I wonder if we could get distances rowed from it?

We finished up after 90 minutes or so. The sock over the oar handle has been helping Kathleen a lot. I did this one sans baseball cap. Not something to repeat on hot days. The cap is a good substitute for a headband. We returned to a small group setting up for the meeting and picnic. Walter razzed us as usual, while we executed our 360 and exited at the ramp. He's a hoot.

The homeowner's meeting and picnic was fine but I was really wiped. Got home and didn't feel up to much of anything. I made it to church for cantoring but that was all she wrote. Sunday was a complete no energy, do nothing day. We were both disappointed about not going out again.

As it turns out, I started feeling funny in the throat on Monday and ended up working from home the rest of the week. I blame one of my colleagues who had 2 weeks of bronchitis. I ended up with a progressive-through-the-day non-productive cough and got Augmentin and a narcotic cough syrup for my trouble. The former not without insistence of the wife. Another weekend lost afterwards. Now, we find ourselves heading off to Sunset Beach with only have rowed once this month. Bummer. Not sure if we'll get back out on our lake this month. We are signed up for a "Learn to Row" weekend with the Catawba Yacht Club . That will be real rowing as well as sculling in 4's on Lake Wylie. We are really looking forward to it!

Legitimacy & Sightseeing

We decided to do two things today:

1. Use our own common area access ramp
2. Go around the lake to where Kathleen's parents live

We've become confident in our abilities to make an attempt at using our neighborhood's access ramp. We'd asked to use the one next to us because ours was very narrow and curvy and their's, being at the top of the cove, wasn't as gunky. When the boat was delivered, the pollen was so thick on the water we were coated with it getting out. And then there's Kathleen and snakes. It's a lot easier getting the boat to the access ramp because it's almost all downhill.

We push off and make it to the open water without any problem. Woo-hoo! The wind was kicking up fairly heavy chop. On the way out, we stayed close to the shore, went out past the condos, and all the way around to the cove where her parents have lake view property. She was thrilled to see their house and even happier when she saw her parents on their front porch. Even though the cove isn't very wide here, because their place is up on the hill across the street, they're small to us and I'm sure we're small to them. We kept going to the end of their cove before doing a U-ee. We saw them again on the way back. This was probably our best run of the day. The water was calmer here and we were rowing into the wind. That meant the water was being pushed away from us - with the even strokes we were pulling, it felt like we were flyin'.

Her parent's live a mile from us as the crow flies. On the water, it turns out to be about 3K meters. With the out and back, I think we rowed about 3.75 miles. This time Kathleen worked on keeping her elbows down. I was trying to keep my hands down on the drive so that the hatchet would go too deep in the water. Unfortunately, I sometimes misjudged, went too low, and had the hatchet skim over the water instead. Oops!

With the rather choppy water, and various passing boats, we didn't push it like yesterday. We headed back into our cove and navigated the twists pretty well. Just to get to the end and realize ... dang! we had to do a corkscrew turn. I'm last in the shell when we leave and first out when we return. With Kathleen's knee, we minimize the uncertainty when she gets in and out. At the other access ramp, we had to worry about the dock on one side, a short concrete wall on the other, and wind & waves (if any) pushing us as we tried to back in. Here, we've got less along the shore, but also less space to do the U-ee. I'm sure we look funny as I try to maneuver us around. One of the neighbors is giving us good-natured grief as I'm finishing off the job. Whatever! Now, we're legimate - we should be okay going in and out of here.

Oh, I forgot to mention ... I'm trying to get the shell into the water by myself now. Put the bow in, bring the dolly up close to the water, lift the stern and bring it around without banging any grapple rock on the shore - just in case Kathleen can't make it any time. This goes well, I get the oars in the oarlocks and everything. Everything is peachy until we get going in the open water. Kathleen ain't happy. Something doesn't feel right. Then she notices that one oarlock is facing the wrong direction. I goofed! First time since our first outing on our own. We aren't using the proper boat terminology all of the time. When we put the oars in, we are always saying "red on the right." The oars have green and red 'buttons'. These are the doo-dad's that keep the oars butted up against the oarlocks. When I put them in, I had them reversed. After the third one went in, I realized my mistake and had to switch them around. I must have rushed on one of Kathleen's. Sure enough, I had the oarlock turned the wrong way!

Kathleen says ...
Mike is an excellent and very strong rower. He has a very calm demeanor to my over exuberant one! We have loads of heated discussions as well as tons of fun while on the lake! I continue to tell him that one's voice does carry on the water (people on shore can hear you) especially when one is "a cussin!"

Heave Ho

Late start but good day on the lake. Kathleen asks the yacht owners about their length - it's 40 ft. Not seen it off their dock yet. We had good long runs. I am just going to have to figure out proper breathing timing. Kathleen long swims at the YMCA have her better conditioned than I.

Kathleen ended up wearing socks and putting a small thin towel around an oar to help with her blisters. Until we get some direct instruction, we'll have to review videos on YouTube. This is the best one I've found so far. I wish there was one with a top or front view to demonstrate elbow and wrist movement too. I'm going to encourage her to call the guy we bought the boat from. The Catawba Yacht Club rowing weekend isn't for a month yet.

One more thing: Kathleen is really nervous about falling into the water. She's rather skittish when jet ski's or boats are around. What she's really worried about is snakes. It doesn't help that a small protruding bit of land in the middle of the lake is called Snake Island. Thanks a lot, folks.

Cleanup Day

This morning is a clean up of the common area - infringing on the plan of rowing every day over the long weekend. I go help out. The pre-work meeting revolves around usual homeowner's association blues. Being half democrat half libertarian, I'm of two minds on the discussion points. The association president comments "oh, is that you walking with that boat?" Her husband teases saying she should have really drawn out, and emphasized, the 'yuuuuuuuu.'

After much spraying of weeds and clearing of brush, we're done ... and so is the opportunity to row today. It's too late to get started and still making to church. I always have to go early to practice for cantoring.

It's a bummer. Being cloudy and cool would have been a nice change from yesterday and what's expected for the rest of the weekend. As Kathleen and I are chatting about the chatting, it starts to rain pretty good. Ha-ha, would that have been interesting if we'd been on the way, trying to put in, or on the water!

Instead, I finally catch up on these blog posts. No more posting about something a week ago as if it were a week ago. No more counting of the outing number either - that was getting tiresome.

(May 23) Outing #6

On this Friday, May 23, I manage to stop working midafternoon. Well, late afternoon - I'd targeted 3pm but went until 4pm. We head off again in anticipation of checking out the rumored yacht. The cheapskate in me is also happy because trip #6 puts us into the cost pay-off territory for the lake's yearly boat fee versus per-use fee. We've got the hang of getting shell off the back porch and onto the dolly. I'm ready to donkey it in no time.

We get out on the water smoothly and the water is really calm. Sweet. Temperatures are the highest we've experienced yet. It's not long before we're sweating like crazy. We head directly to the headwater cove. And Kathleen's right. The "yacht" is at the house by the turn into the cove. I don't know what qualifies a boat as a yacht, but this is big. It's long, it's kinda high, and it has one of those rotating thingies on top - a yacht in my book. We see that various folks are coming by, in their boats, to take a look. The owners have people with them but they're not on the water. We keep going.

We're taking it easy. Kathleen, having read the printout of the NY Times article, linked to from the rowingmasters Yahoo group, is reinforcing "slow and easy." I'm listening and, for the most part, paying attention.

Kathleen has a hard time with keeping her grip on the oar handles. They keep slipping in her sweaty hands. I remind her she's not supposed to be gripping them hard. She has more trouble, in general, when she's not. She's got the blisters to show for it.

On this outing, I tucker out first. Calling out the count is tiresome. Kathleen gives that a try. This gives us a new opportunity to "discuss" what where doing. She was complaining about my count not always being in synch with what I'm doing. I let her know that her count isn't steady and that she can't call 'catch' to try to shorten up my stroke. Fun, fun. I remind her that the bow seat is supposed to be the more adaptable rower who matches the person in the stroke seat. "What seats are you talking about?" she says. Luckily, she has to keep her hands on her oars or I'da been konked in the head.

We wrap it up short this time. Long days, trip to Pittsburgh, not enough sleep - taken a toll. As I'm walking the shell back, a guy in the neighbor drives up and stops. He'd love to go out with me to give it a try. He's #2 on our list now, after my boss. I tell him we're still learning but that I'll call him soon.

Big news on the lake

Kathleen goes to the Moss Lake office by the public access. I ask her to get the story about the "danger" buoy we see at the turn into the nearby cove we are using for our jaunts. As a man-made reservoir, nobody cleaned up the area before flooding. Supposedly, there's a crane down there somewhere. At nearby Lake Norman, there are bunches of houses and other stuff underwater. This buoy marks rocks of some sort. We'll find out when the inevitable drought hits and the water level goes down.

But the big news and the office is the 45' boat/yacht someone brought in that day on an 18-wheeler. Folks are wondering where those folks live. Kathleen thinks it's the recent buyers of a house in the neighboring neighborhood. She eagerly awaits the weekend to go check it out.

N.B. I'm leaving out the part where the old guy on staff hits on her. She's very vivacious. And a healthcare professional with that care-giver personality. She attracts all types. Luckily, she picked me for the second trip to the altar.

Almost Caught Up

I've been trying to keep a sequential order to these posts even if the chronology is out of synch with reality. I'm almost caught up now; but not quite.

Beyond Donkeydom?

The setup with the dolly has improved. It's not taking so long to get started. It's easier during the transportation. But I tell ya, it's a hard push/pull back with tired legs. There's gotta be a better way.

All of my jury rigging schemes are gonna be $100 - $200. Why not re-assess something that's built for what I need? Emails exchanged. Yes! They do have a hitch attachment. $130. Ouch! Thunk, thunk, thunk. What to do?

(May 18) Outing #5

On Sunday, May 18, we're in no rush. I had more beers that usual. Saturday night's DVD, No Reservations, started late (hence 2 before) and was interrupted several times so it ran longer than usual (hence 3 during). Hmmm. New aerobic exercise isn't going to help reduce the belly if the caloric intake doesn't decrease.

We get out smoothly. It's actually windier than the day before, but we venture forth - gotta get a handle on whether we can handle it or not. ;-)

With the lesson learned from the day before, I'm not pushing so hard with my legs on the drive. We get into a routine quickly and are back and forth in the new cove. The cove is the headwater for the lake. Buffalo Creek comes in here. On one turn, I'm thinking we're doing fine but all of a sudden ... whoops! There's the sandbar right on us. "Stop thinking! Keep oaring right" Kathleen hollers. Fortunately, it's not rocks and we aren't bow in like we were in outing #2. Our right side oars a digging into the sand as we keep moving around but we get re-oriented and are back out into deeper water in no time. Back to back-and-forth and back-and-forth. It's very pretty back here. Steep hills with big houses built up high and nice roofed docks, lake walls, sitting areas, etc.

Kathleen has choice words for the jet ski riders that zoom past us. We discover that their wakes really aren't a problem for us. Boat wakes are much more noticable. We just have to make sure the jet skiers don't run into us.

As we are moving along, Kathleen and I "discuss" the synchronization of our strokes. I think our height difference is a factor. I'm six inches taller. It seems like my stroke will swing across a wider angle since I can reach farther on the catch and extend farther on the release. My efforts to use twigs to show this, after we're done, don't impress Kathleen much. Maybe I am full of sh*t.

After a better day, we return and have another smooth entry into the access ramp. We realize we don't have to be weenies about the wind. It won't deter us again. Woo-hoo! Now storms are still a different matter.

(May 17) Outing #4

We begin Saturday, May 17, with high anticipation. The last row was so much better than previous ones; we think we might get the hang of it yet! The temperature is a bit cooler.

The transportation setup doesn't start so well. How come this ding-dang dolly can't seem to stay horizontal with the shell on it? The thing keeps angling down and the boat tilts - all while I'm trying to secure the ding-dang straps. I say several bad words. It takes me a little while to realize I have the dolly too far towards the stern and the shell is narrowing rapidly. Duh! Triangle + parallel tracks = "unstable situation" to paraphrase a Greek grad student colleague. I shift the dolly to the middle and try to remember the position with respect to the rigging so I don't do this again. Finally, I'm off to the lake.

We're hitting the water a little later than usual. It's windy. The chop isn't too bad. We got our routine started the usual way - first one, then the other, then both together. But, in no time, we're having "disagreements." "Easy" she says, "Stop strong arming it." I'm not using my arms at all - trying to use proper technique. After a while, I realize she means that I'm driving too hard. As we pick up speed, I'm driving harder with my legs to keep increasing our speed. I'm counting out loud but only on the return leading up to a simultaneous catch (when both our oars go in the water to propel us forward). Since I'm "driving" harder and faster, she's getting pulled along and is having a hard time getting her oars out of the water on the release (when we've finished, turn the oar 90 degrees, and get them up above the water).

I slow down on the drive and we do much better. We are puttering into a different cove on this outing. It's wide and long and rather sheltered from the wind. This works out really well. We can go longer without having to turn around and are getting the hang of looking behind us a making adjustments as the cove makes its slight curves. My legs are a bit tired. We go back and forth a few times and turn back to the access ramp. We even make it to the ramp without bumping into the dock or having to make several attempts to "back in." Whew!

Mother's Day

No rowing on Mother's Day. We were doing a lunch-brunch with Kathleen's parents. We don't have a routine yet for getting going early and getting back before noon. We'll need to get one by the time it really gets hot. The weather didn't look so good in the afternoon. Wouldn't have mattered anyway. Ate like a pig.

(May 10) Outing #3

We skipped the Friday afternoon jaunt due to breezy conditions at the house. I went down to the lake, about 6pm, after finishing work to find that the water wasn't choppy like we feared. Bummer - a missed opportunity

Saturday morning, May 10, we start prepping around 10am. Beautiful day. I hoof it with the shell. Kathleen drives. We get in and push off from the access ramp with no excitement. Woo-hoo! Out on the water, we're doing our back and forth between points. After some individual rowing while the other stabilizes, we try to do it like we're supposed to: both rowing together.

Rowing together ends up going pretty well! We putter back and forth. It's a bit breezy but we realize that we just need to go into or with the wind. I'm working on getting the hang of turning the boat in several different ways. Once, my slow turn is too slow; I switch to the "turn on a dime" technique and then we power out of one tight situation without a problem.

Kathleen and I are much happier. It takes our technique getting sloppy before we realize we've been on the water for almost two hours. We head back in. Getting back to the access ramp ain't so pretty. After we're finally in, a different set of neighbors coming out to their dock, and tease us. Since neither of us got hurt or were too mad at the other, we can laugh.

Rigging options

Bill takes a look at my setup and suggests several options. He has ideas for testing them with whatever lumber we have lying around. Clearly, he's an experimentalist while I'm more of a theoretical kinda guy. The suggestion that catches my fancy involves using these garden hand carts to hook to the tractor and support the front part of the shell. A pair of somethings would connect the cart to the dolly we have. Several even have a section in their back side which would work for the prow (or stern) of the shell.

This sounds promising. The carts are typically around, or under, $100. I'm also looking at sturdier options besides the aluminum conduit for the connectors: aluminium angles, squares, even barn door runners. The wheel dolly at the back has to be, at least, at the halfway point - 12 ft from the point. Preferably, the length will be longer so that the back end doesn't get too close to the ground.

After some thinking (remember the theoretician bent?), I conclude that the hand cart will pivot some. On a turn, the point of the boat will swing back or forth across the cart. Not so good. Back to Bill's perspective, this would take experimentation.

I'm rethinking the jury rigged approach. Why not get something built for this - like this? Email sent to ask about their width because the picture implies "boat wide" not "rowing shell wide."

Rigging a trailer?

The push/pull process for the shell and dolly combo works pretty well, but Kathleen's knee has a real hard time with the walk. As we prepare to leave the access ramp from Outing #2, we're talking with the neighbor there and she says her son asked the day before "why don't they use a John Deere?" Why, exactly! I hadn't thought about a motorized solution. Since the boat has some cracks in it, we get patching instructions from Dick Fuller. We got no Evercoat Formula 27 on hand on a Sunday, May 4. We decide to pass on the lake and instead I think of ways to rig a trailer.

I'm measuring and drawing and thinking and measuring and drawing again and again. I'm looking at the dolly, the lawn tractor, and this bucket-like contraption that latches on to the back end of the tractor. Then I head off to Lowe's to see what I can scope out.

After several hours, and assistance from two employees, I come away with a bunch of nuts & bolts, mutiple lengths of conduit, compression joints, squared steel, right angle brackets, and door brackets. What a get-up!





That black plastic trunk wouldn't be part of the get-up. I was just using it as a stand. I'd also cut the square steel or get a smaller piece to span those other brackets on the tractor.

However, as I use the coupling joint to put the aluminum pipes together, one 10 ft and one 5 ft length for each side, I realize .... Mega-bummer, this is too flimsy. So, what to do? Call in the big guns! 1-800-Kathleen's-Dad, the master rigger. Or is that Key Grip in the movies?

Moss Lake

If anyone is interested, here's Google's satellite view of the lake. Buffalo Creek, the head of the lake, is up at the top. The dam is at the bottom. This looks like last year, or the year before, when the water level was way down. Drought is still on us for groundwater but the reservoir water levels are back up to full again. The brochure at the King's Mountain site has the lake at 1660 acres and averaging 50 feet deep.

We live in one of the neighborhoods at the top right. Kathleen's parents have a lake view on a wider cove top center. One day, we'll visit them at their across-the-street neighbor via the water.

(May 3) Outing #2

After sleeping in like normal, and coffee ingestion has produced desired effect, we start out again. This time we shift the dolly back a bit so that I can stand straighter and the other end doesn't come so close to scraping the ground. It's a bit heavier to lift but actually more comfortable. On the uphill, Kathleen grabs onto a rigger and pulls too. Well, first time she pushed - which includes a downward component to the force vector. She changes her position after my outcry.

We get to the access ramp. This time, being wiser, we point the bow of the point towards the lake (!) not the cove. We get the oars into the oarlocks properly this time - oarlocks pointing to the rower's feet. And, most importantly for me, my hunch about the previously incorrect orientation of the sliding seat contraption is spot on. Now, my calves don't hang up on the durn thing when my legs are fully extended.

We're a little shaky getting started but we are soon going out into more open water on the very first attempt. Water is calmer. We talk through which two points, near our cove, that we want to go back and forth between and we starting working on our turning technique. We're improved enough to give us confidence. We head out with our "my turn, your turn" strategy for getting the hang of it. Kathleen does good. I'm doing better than before. My left hand is still does whatever it wants. We go back and forth a bunch of times and are actually enjoying ourselves.

It's quite fun to be so close to the water. Temperatures are pleasant and the clouds keep heat and glare down. We go beyond one of our endpoints on some of our passes; uneventfully, until the wind picks up suddenly. Now, we're back to struggling to go forward. We can't manage to turn around properly and keep getting pushed towards the shore. Our attempts to turn here don't get us far. Finally, we're almost on small rocks that line a transition boundary between neighborhoods. We're "discussing" whether to go for a dock and grab on. When Kathleen's end starts bouncing on the rocks, that settles it. I get out. (N.B. Kathleen's end is the front of the boat. So, we weren't having much luck pointing ourselves in the right direction.) I re-orient us to point outwards and get us away from the rocks. We take our time to settle down and get re-focused. I get back in the boat and we power ourselves straight out into the lake in no time. We go straight into the wind and don't try to turn until we're way out and have plenty of room to have the wind help blow us back towards our cove.

Back in the saddle, we go back and forth several more times before deciding to turn in. We head back to the access ramp. We try to go in forward but drift into the dock and Kathleen's oars start getting hung up. I "push" us in reverse out. We decide to go in backwards. We turn and reverse to get back in. I imagine Carl laughing his head off if he saw us. Kathleen checks her watch. We've been on the water for over two hours.

Much happier, we arrive home, get the shell upside down onto the saw horses, and discover small cracks on the bottom near the front. Bah-buh-bump-bump!

Time ordering of Posts

Hmmmm. Blogger seems to remember when I "drafted" the post and keeps that date when published. Because I drafted a bunch out of sequence, "Dolly and Life Vests" appears after "(May 2) Outing #1" instead of before. Bummer. I guess I won't be doing that anymore.

Dolly and Life Vests

The carting experience was more than enough to convince me that we needed a shell dolly for transportation back and forth from house to lake/dock. Even if we figured out how to keep the shell at the dock on the weekend, we wouldn't leave it there all the time. So, at least one round trip would be needed each week.

We also weren't quite comfortable going out on the lake without a life preserver of some sort. I knew that not all state regulations applied to non-powered boats but we sure as heck didn't want to be out in the middle of the lake and get tipped by the wake of some moron. Not knowing what we were doing, we decided to pass on a Sunday (Apr 27) outing and researched logistics instead.

After some surfing, I settled on a small boat dolly and pair of life vests sold by Chesapeake Rowing. We paid extra for them to arrive before the following weekend.

I also went to Lowe's to figure out a system for storing the boat suspended from the ceiling in our garage. At 24 feet long, I only have one option for the hanging to avoid lights, garage door openers, etc. But this is better than having the thing sitting out on our back porch all the time! The porch is the same width at it's max. To walk around the end by the door, the bow of the boat sticks off a bit.



The white thing on the spa is the stroke (stern) seat drop-in. It has the seat on runners and allows the shell to be set up as a single as well as a double. The oars are also on top but hard to see. They are about 8 foot long hatchet-style carbon oars - really very light.