Finishers

[robhen]

Went rowing yesterday and the new coach says slow hands around the turn is the better way to row. A couple of months ago I was ergoing at my local gym and saw a kid, on the erg next to me, his hands were mega slow. Turns out he is rowing at Yale.

I have always rowed, and thought the ideal is that the hands come in and away at the same speed.

Is slow hands around the turn the new orthodox? Anyone got any links to papers?

[jackarabit]

We are backing the blades and shafts against air on the recovery. Presumably this action tends to check the boat and is one very good reason to have the blades on the feather rather than broad side on. One can get carried away with fast hands away. USRowing teaches hands away and subsequent back rockover before leg lift. John Dunne and Charlotte Hollings (U.S. National and Olympic crew competitors and former collegiate coaches) advise that they DO NOT see top Olympic rowers do this and advise a smooth "conveyor belt" connection of feathering to out of bow with arms and torso simultaneously. Same speed in and out conforms to their views.

They coach the catch as blades square and buried WHILE STILL ON RECOVERY and ever so slightly PRIOR TO pressure on the foot stretcher. In their words "The catch is part of the recovery, not part of the stroke." They impressed on me HOW MUCH BOAT CHECK can be created by weighting the stretcher without sticks in the water, HOW MUCH STROKE LENGTH can be WASTED by a late catch and HOW MUCH TIME WASTED in a strictly sequenced turnaround. No documentation except the Calm Waters series of sculling instruction on u-tube. Jack

[Bob S.]

Did they mention back splash at at the catch? That was regarded as an essential feature back in my days at LBRA. The club is loaded with former olympians, so I figure that there must be something to it, although it seems counter-intuitive to me.

[jackarabit]

Bob, Hollings & Dunne have a lot of closeup video of the "vee" splash off the entering blade. According to them that's optimal but their reasoning escapes me ATM. I do remember that they recommended a slight hesitation of the leg push coincident with the catch or bury in the case of those of us who pushed off the stretchers and made the catch part of the stroke. As with all such training emphases and accents, these little 'fits and starts' appear to get themselves enshrined in the instruction literature, as I believe you have noticed. At the other end of the slide, Hollings is vocally opposed to segregating the feathering action from hands (and upper body) out of bow which she says produces an interruption of the "conveyor belt" at the recovery end. I myself never left the rec trainers so the problem of simply setting the boat was not added to my newby execution problems. Jack