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.