Concept2 Forum

I've never done OTW rowing/sculling, but I am interested in what it is all about. So, I decided to find an OTW training camp. I found Calm Waters Rowing in Lancaster, VA. The owners/coaches are John Dunn and Charlotte Hollings, both of whom have extensive rowing and coaching backgrounds. They coach both beginners and experienced rowers.

Just last week, I went through a five day/four night program, rowing three times a day Mon-Wed and once on Sun and Thurs. Their private lake is about 2500 m round trip. Their inn is very nice and Charlotte is a great cook. It is not terribly expensive.

Sculling is way more complicated than I realized. Oar management alone takes a lot of getting used to, not to mention incorporating that into a complete rowing stroke. John and Charlotte are very helpful. They really emphasize a fluid rowing stroke using the back with a good deal of layback and forward lean at recovery. They do not coach a rigid hands-away on recovery and straight arms at the catch. I left after five days barely scratching the surface but feeling like I had a small clue about sculling. It would take a lot of time to get the consistency to be a decent sculler.

I just thought that I would pass on my experiences at a sculling camp. Perhaps others have been there or have used other training camps. With their instruction and video taping John and Charlotte could probably fine tune most anyone's rowing.

Welcome to the world of OTW. How did you like it? You did not really say in your message. My own early OTW experience - in a rolling seat shell - was all sweep rowing and only in eights at that. When I took up sculling much later in life, I found that it was a whole new game. Even after years of experience rowing with a single oar plus some fixed seat rowing with 2 oars, I found that switching to sculls was very challenging. I regret that I never did try out a rowing camp. I had a brief introduction to sculling at a rowing club and was on my own after that. Erging came later and, to me, it is just a pale shadow of any OTW experience.

Bob S.

Bob S. wrote:Welcome to the world of OTW. How did you like it?

Not sure if I have a definitive answer. I found it to be rather involved. Access to a facility good for sculling would undoubtedly be difficult. One thing about erging is that I walk into the next room, devote maybe 30 mins or so, and then I'm done. There also is the posssibility of going in the water, not an appealing prospect. To be perfectly honest, I'm not currently planning on sculling on my own anytime soon. I don't think my camp was a waste of time or money. I was curious about sculling and now I know something about it. Plus, I got some good insight into rowing from two experts.

I recently had my first OTW experience after 9 years on the erg. It was all sweep rowing and I rowed in an eight. I really had to throw out the mental image of being on the erg when I was on the water, and had to re-learn taking a rowing stroke because being in a boat is really different from being on the erg. I really enjoyed being out on the water, but what I like most about rowing is competing. As you say, with the erg there is almost no "overhead" in terms of time spent doing stuff other than rowing (i.e., carrying the boat out, setting up the oar locks and oars, launching, backing, docking, putting the boat away, etc.). This is why I find erging to be more appealing. But if I was back in college I'd be trying out for the crew team in a heartbeat.

I posted some videos of me sculling in another forum. I was curious as well and I'm fortunate to have a great club with a decent number of master's rowers as well as a bunch of coaches who run a very large youth program nearby. I plan to attend one of these camps as well once I get some time, which looks like it won't be until the spring. My plan is to go to Calm Waters, but if anyone else has any suggestions, please let me know.

-Steve