On learning to scull

[ancho]

We use to row in the Castelldefels olympic paddling channel. Grat place to row all year round, although it was conceived for canoe and kayak races and is only 1,2k long, so it's not so suitable for 4s and 8s. We share the channel with our fellow rowers from Maritim Barcelona, as wel as with paddlers and regreattabily with windsurfers and waterskiers
As often as we can, we go to Banyoles lake, where the 1992 olympic rowing races took place. 2k of wonderful rowing in beautyful surroundings.
Lately we also use to row on open sea on the Barcelona beach, with a newly acquired seaworthy 4+. Great fun!!
Othe rnice place I like to row in Spain: Ebro river delta from Tortyosa to the sea, great Head regatta there in november! Legutiano in Alava, and Santander Bay for open sea traineras in northern Spain.

Sevilla in south Spain also has great racing installations in a beautyful surroundings (world cup 2004)

[rurumon]

Hey, I guess I am new here. I discovered the forum after using the logbook for the past few months.

I rowed in high school, then took a 6 year hiatus until a friend got me hooked on the C2 again. I hit it hard for a couple months and was surprised to see that I crushed my high school 2k best by 20 seconds after 2 months of training.

After a while though, I started to miss the actual sport of rowing. I mean, the erg is a great tool and probably the best cardiovascular machine I have ever had the pleasure of sweating on, but in the end...its just a tool. It was either that realization or my utter frustration at watching fellow gym members utterly embarrass themselves on the ergo that led me back to the water.

I started rowing a single about a month ago for the first time (sweep and quad back in the day) and it was amazing. From my first few strokes I knew that I was back where I belong, its unfortunate that the old 8-5 keeps my on water workouts at bay. Say what you will, but my 20something modus operandi still has trouble with the 5am awakening.

It's good to be in the environment of so many rowers who seem so passionate.

One Q though, I'm on a Maas Aero right now and feel pretty comfortable with it. Never flipped and I feel relatively solid with my form and technique. How much more difficult is rowing on a comp. single? Night and day?

[LJWagner]

I have a Pocock trainer circa 1970, probably for a heavyweight, as it rides high in the water for me (145 lbs). After rowing that a few years, I checked out a couple good singles. They seemed to be lower in the water, perhaps due to less hull, and actually more stable for me.

Check out some faster boats, and see how they feel. Take some time to adapt to a difference in balance. They are more responsive to pressure changes, but that also means more speed once you are comfortable. They may not be as difficult as you expect.

My cruel to the core twin suggested he'd need to be paid to take my Pocock away. Mind you he offered me $500 for it, and I asked for more and would throw in the Pocock training sculls.

[becz]

One Q though, I'm on a Maas Aero right now and feel pretty comfortable with it. Never flipped and I feel relatively solid with my form and technique. How much more difficult is rowing on a comp. single? Night and day?

You will definitely find a difference, but it's not unmanageable. Small errors that go unnoticed in the Maas will be magnified in a racing single. I'd suggest making sure your first few times out are on flat water so you can focus on balance and getting the feel of the more responsive shell. After that, just keep at it.

One of the best confidence drills you can do in a single (other than flipping on purpose) is to sit still on the water, and balance using just one oar. That is, take one hand off of one oar, and just apply enough downward pressure on the other oar to keep the boat stable. Then start moving the handle up and down just slightly to see how the boat responds. This helps to take away some of the fear of losing your grip.

[Byron Drachman]

One Q though, I'm on a Maas Aero right now and feel pretty comfortable with it. Never flipped and I feel relatively solid with my form and technique. How much more difficult is rowing on a comp. single? Night and day?

I took a learn to row course a year ago and now I am hopelessly addicted to rowing on water. After the course I was rowing a Mass Aero or 24, very nice rec boats.

An acquaintance at the boat house told me to try a Kaschper lightweight racing shell because it's more fun to go faster. It is a long, skinny boat compared to the Maas. I very nervously pushed off the dock assuming I would flip, and I was thrilled to find that the Kaschper shell is easier to set for me and feels more stable to me than the Maas.

I say go for it, and try some long skinny boats. They're way more fun. What's the worse thing that can happen? Flipping? It's good to do capsize drills anyway.

Byron

[Gus]

It's almost always your reaction to something rather than the something that causes you to flip. If you can stay relaxed and not overreact you can stay upright during some pretty surprising things. One morning when I was just barely ahead of my partner (something that rarely happens), he caught an oar on a buoy and completely lost it. To my shock, he managed to balance himself as he came to a stop and relatively calmly reached out to regrab the oar. I've never seen anybody lose an oar while rowing a single and not end up swimming. We were amazed and had a a great laugh about it.

Some find a racing shell "easier" to row when compared to a trainer. Again most problems in it come from fear of it's narrow shape causing you to think it's different from being in a trainer. Yes, its less forgiving of mistakes, but if you stay relaxed you will likely find it an easy transition.

If you can find the right partner, the pair is my favorite. Technique flaws that can be hidden in the mix of a large boat, become glaring issues in a pair. Either find someone who is an exact counterbalance to your flaws or you better learn how to row.

[Rockin Roland]

There's quite a difference between rowing in a trainer/Rec boat and a long skinny racing single. Most people learning to scull have a tendency to grip the oar handles too tight which in turn creates tension in the arms and shoulders. It makes it very difficult to feel for the balance of the boat doing this.

However this is usually a confidence thing where beginners believe they'll tip if they relax their grip and arms. This problem is magnified even further by ergers learning to row.

People coming from an erg only background have a tendency to apply more pressure via the upper body muscles rather than more with the legs because on a erg it's OK to do that (OTW rowing coaches may dissagree).

Apart from balance factors, Erg and OTW technique have their differences. The main difference being; because you don't need to feel for the balance on the erg with your arms, the arms are free to be utilized more for power generation. That's the way I erg anyway and have had some good success doing it that way.

I hope that the above helps people in some way.

[FrankJ]

Well today I tried my first race. A 5K head race in a relatively large lake. The wing was howling down the lake and I quickly forgot about trying to efficiently and just worked on trying to stay upright. I was OK until the halfway point when we had to turn to head back to the finish line. With the waves hitting me broadside I lost it and went over. One of the officials boats helped me back in and I finished OK.

The problem as I see it in 16 hours of rowing experience is that up to all my rowing has been done on flat water. This is the first time that I've been in waves high enough to wash over the shell. Is there any way to practice for rough water when the conditions are relatively calm?

Frank

[PaulS]

Is there any way to practice for rough water when the conditions are relatively calm?

Frank

Uhmmmmmm.........

You could come on out and row on our lake with the wake boarders and wake surfers, at least the rough bits come in cycles.

[Byron Drachman]

Is there any way to practice for rough water when the conditions are relatively calm?

I almost always row with the Kaschper racing shell, usually on fairly flat water, and I include several K with square blade rowing. I think among other things it has helped me with balance and being able to keep the blades higher off the water when the water is choppy. It also helped me break the bad habit of dragging the blades along the surface of the water during the recovery, i.e., using the blades as outriggers. My other suggestion is to concentrate on feeling the weight of the oars and keeping the blades off the water during the recovery when you do feather. It's tough to deal with choppy water if you depend on the blades for balance during the recovery.

For the square blade rowing, even if it's a total mess at first, keep at it. All of a sudden it will click and you'll get it.

I'm still not skilled enough to continue rowing when a wake boarder, speed boat, etc. comes close. If the water is really choppy, say with winds 20 mph or more, my first choice is an open water boat like a Maas Aero. A nice feature of the Aero is that it has a self-bailer, so that if you do get swamped by a huge wake you can pull a lever and take some strokes and the footwell drains.

Byron

[SlugButt]

Frank is too polite to mention that he deserves worlds of credit. The conditions were severe and even highly experienced scullers were considering scratching (it was certainly on my mind!). To take this on as one's first race says volumes about courage and tenacity. Well done, Frank!

David

[Rockin Roland]

Frank,

Don't worry too much about going into the drink during your first season on the water. Elite rowers sometimes do it in major competitions. Rowing is essentially a flat water sport but you don't always get ideal conditions.

If you train mainly in calm flat conditions, then come across a race situation in rough water, you have a couple of options. You can scratch and not race so that you don't come home with a bad feeling. Or you can raise the height of your oarlocks (gates) by a couple of washers or so, to have more clearance over the chop. Also changing the gearing of your oars and riggers helps (increase inboard etc) so your oars spend more time in the water then out. Then give the race a go but without high expectations. A longer or wider hull also helps in such conditions.

In contrast to your experience, yesterday I did a 4K approx. head sculling race on beautiful clean flat water with no wind whatsoever. Ideal conditions led to some very fast sculling and the pace was hot. There were 95 starters, men and women of all ages. I was very happy with my 11th overall placing considering I was seeded as 16th before the race. My investment in more time on the water than the erg is paying off.

Maintain your training time on the water Frank and eventually you'll be rewarded with some fine experiences.

[FrankJ]

Thanks for all of the encouragement. While I was out sculling in the flat calm this morning I was thinking that this fall on Wednesdays I can row anytime of the day. Assuming I get a windy Wednesday or two I bet I could go out and have the lake to myself to experiment with windy conditions.

This morning I started out doing figure 8s then worked hard on rowing with loose arms. Actually I think I'm not letting my hips pivot side to side freely from years of being on the erg only. There were a few other boats out today and I was hit by a few wakes. After yesterday I barely noticed them. That 5K "race" has already made a difference in my rowing.

I also like the idea of rowing with square blades. Seems like I read that somewhere else but had forgotten about it. Next time out I will experiment with square blade rowing.

Now if I can just find a wake big enough perhaps I can get my boat to surf.

Frank

[LJWagner]

My Pocock trainer has a rounded bottom and a tiny keel (0.5 ") the length of it. Original owner added a brass fin. With wakes from the rear, someone told me to press a bit more with the foot on the wake side, to keep from being lifted and tipped to the opposite side. That worked, once I got the hang of it. Sometimes you could anticipate series of them from the bow, but always a touch late.

Works somewhat, as long as the waves are less than a foot. And have your rigging set high as mentioned.

Anticipate your hand heights being way off occasionally, but not too far apart or you'll be rolling in.

[Hal Morgan]

Boat wake!

Good grief... I hate boat wakes. The six miles I rowed yesterday. I was fighting wake boats and the stinking wakes they create. I tell you what you can have it. Is there a way to keep rowing in those big rollers?