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.