What OTW Training have you done today

[Byron Drachman]

The last 15K was done with squared blades.

And - I would hope - with floats and pogies as well.

Bob S.

Hi Bob,

I took the pogies off after the first several K. No floats yet, but I wore a dry top and my PFD. But you are right. It is time to attach floats. It is supposed to be cold tomorrow so I'll be wearing dry top, dry pants, as well as a PFD.

Byron

[Rocket Roy]

How do you do the square blade rowing.

I see all the good sculler's set off and they all use the square blades for ages. I tried to copy them this morning but soon abandoned it! I almost went over !!!

[Byron Drachman]

How do you do the square blade rowing.

I see all the good sculler's set off and they all use the square blades for ages. I tried to copy them this morning but soon abandoned it! I almost went over !!!

Hi Roy,

Here is how I learned: I started out with 9 regular (with feathering) strokes and then one with blades squared, then repeat. At first that tenth stroke was a mess. But I have a stubborn streak and I kept at it. After a while, I did eight feathering followed by 2 with blades squared, repeat. Then 7 and 3, etc. It took me forever but I had a set distance that I tortured myself on trying to do the drill. Then one day a miracle happened. It just clicked and it was unbelievably easy. It was like why was that such a problem? Maybe I had been trying too hard. I don't know why it clicked but it just did.

Among other things, rowing with blades squared is a balance drill and you get used to keeping the blades off the water during the recovery. Then doing a more gradual roll-up makes the catch easier to do when you do regular rowing with feathering: no more flip-catch, you can do a softer catch, and there is plenty of time to feel that the blades are squared and locked in before the drive.

added later: One of our coaches says balancing starts with the lower body: even pressure on both sides of the seat, even pressure on both sides of the footstretcher, sitting straight, etc. Easier said than done because most of us are not completely symmetric.

Byron

[Rocket Roy]

Great post, many thanks this will help.

[Snail Space]

One of our coaches says balancing starts with the lower body: even pressure on both sides of the seat, even pressure on both sides of the footstretcher, sitting straight, etc. Easier said than done because most of us are not completely symmetric.

I vaguely remember Xeno Muller talking about balance starting low in the boat: even pressure on the foot-stretcher and a firm core providing a stable base so that, with hands at the same height, good balance is more easily established.

I remember thinking exactly those thoughts the last time I fell out of my single scull.

Cheers,
Dave.

[Rocket Roy]

One of our coaches says balancing starts with the lower body: even pressure on both sides of the seat, even pressure on both sides of the footstretcher, sitting straight, etc. Easier said than done because most of us are not completely symmetric.

I vaguely remember Xeno Muller talking about balance starting low in the boat: even pressure on the foot-stretcher and a firm core providing a stable base so that, with hands at the same height, good balance is more easily established.

I remember thinking exactly those thoughts the last time I fell out of my single scull.

Cheers,
Dave.

I too distinctly remember thinking of Byron telling me to check the oarlocks are locked when I was underwater last saturday. And chuckling to myself!

[Rocket Roy]

For the guys who don't come over to the UK forum, are there any?

Talking and hanging out with the great and the good at London RC, a couple of World Champions women there too 8) . The Aussie's are good fun.
We got the speed coach set up and working but we can't calibrate it on the Tideway due to the currents and swirling currents, so I'll need to take it to Dorney Lake one day and do it there.

I also altered the span from 161 to 159. My outing afterwards was pants. After yesterday that was good, today was the opposite. It took me a good 20 mins to find anything like the consistency of yesterday. On reaching Chiswick bridge I turned and waited a minute then started the speed coach up. I caught the usual crab at the start , then it all went well for a good while, through barnes railway bridge middle span pointing slightly to Middx, look for the green bouy, need to cut it close, must be further round the bend, the water is nice here, I get into a rhythm, then remember the bouy, look round and see it dead ahead 20m!! I'm going to hit it, what to do? take speed off dig left oar in bugger wrong oar--BANG! lucky only a glancing blow then it hit's the outrigger and oar, ouch! But surprisingly we just plow over it and carry on as if nothing has happened.
Right gonna watch for the next one....about 1k further on I get to it and realize I need to steer to Surrey, bugger!! Pulled the biggest crab ever with the left oar, the boat is sideways on, but straighten up regroup and carry on, more nice water here, get going nicely again. I reach HB at 16 mins, now into a headwind and the waves are big, bloody hard going!Some strokes the right oar is buried and the left is sailing in the wind. I make sure i'm shaving the red bouy's today, it;'s a struggle to just get both oars in the water at the same time. Then a Port Of London boat goes past, I have to stop as the wake is huge and some comes into the boat I can hear it sloshing backwards and forwards by my feet. Almost stopped there, but carry on and finish in 30.15. A good time considering the eventful race down the course.

[Bob S.]

For the guys who don't come over to the UK forum, are there any?

Talking and hanging out with the great and the good at London RC, a couple of World Champions women there too 8) . The Aussie's are good fun.
We got the speed coach set up and working but we can't calibrate it on the Tideway due to the currents and swirling currents, so I'll need to take it to Dorney Lake one day and do it there.

I also altered the span from 161 to 159. My outing afterwards was pants. After yesterday that was good, today was the opposite. It took me a good 20 mins to find anything like the consistency of yesterday. On reaching Chiswick bridge I turned and waited a minute then started the speed coach up. I caught the usual crab at the start , then it all went well for a good while, through barnes railway bridge middle span pointing slightly to Middx, look for the green bouy, need to cut it close, must be further round the bend, the water is nice here, I get into a rhythm, then remember the bouy, look round and see it dead ahead 20m!! I'm going to hit it, what to do? take speed off dig left oar in bugger wrong oar--BANG! lucky only a glancing blow then it hit's the outrigger and oar, ouch! But surprisingly we just plow over it and carry on as if nothing has happened.
Right gonna watch for the next one....about 1k further on I get to it and realize I need to steer to Surrey, bugger!! Pulled the biggest crab ever with the left oar, the boat is sideways on, but straighten up regroup and carry on, more nice water here, get going nicely again. I reach HB at 16 mins, now into a headwind and the waves are big, bloody hard going!Some strokes the right oar is buried and the left is sailing in the wind. I make sure i'm shaving the red bouy's today, it;'s a struggle to just get both oars in the water at the same time. Then a Port Of London boat goes past, I have to stop as the wake is huge and some comes into the boat I can hear it sloshing backwards and forwards by my feet. Almost stopped there, but carry on and finish in 30.15. A good time considering the eventful race down the course.

Ah! The many things that no volume of meters on an erg can prepare you for. And I must admit, when I first got into sculling, in my mid-60s, I realized how spoiled I had been back in my college rowing days 4 decades earlier. Steering had never been a problem for me and my rowing mates. We just left it all up to the cox and got a laugh when he had screw-ups. At least the minor ones - failing to dodge a bridge pier could be rough on either of the bow pair and I was a 2 seat for my first 2 years and bow for the last two.

You said, "we just plow over it--" Were you in a double or did you mean yourself and the boat?

Regarding wakes, when I first started rowing as a kid in big, heavy skiffs, we lived on San Francisco bay (at Point San Quentin near the notorious prison), right alongside a long pier that went out to a dock for the ferry boats that came over from Point Richmond. The ferries put out just one significant wave, a huge bow wave that came into our cove in pretty much a straight line. These waves were regarded to have the potential to overturn a skiff if you took it on the beam, so the strategy was to meet it bow on. I didn't know about surfing in those days, but now I realize that it might have given quite a rush to try to ride with it. A few years later, when I got into 8s in college, I learned that, in a long (65 ft. for an 8), skinny, thin-shelled boat, you have to take the wave on the beam. If you go at it bow on, it could break in two when the wave gets amidships and you have the weight of 4 big guys one each end suspended in space. Even if the hull survives intact, a high wave will dump a lot of water over the gunwales. There is no problem about flipping with a shell, since you come to a stop and have the blades flat on the water. That provides plenty of stability. It would not have worked on our old skiffs. Not only were there no outriggers, but the oars were short and the oar-locks were on pins that would easily pop out.

Bob S.

[Rocket Roy]

Hey Bob,
That is so great to hear about the old days. If you have any more stories of how it used to be I'd be delighted to hear them and I'm sure I speak for most people on here.

As regard my "we plowed over the bouy" yes I was meaning me and the boat. I am only ever out in a single. I have had 1 go in a quad........... and 1 go in a 4........... Never been in an 8. I had 2 goes in a double when I first started sculling 14 weeks ago and on the 3rd time I was put in a single on the Thames, I was terrified. Then I have been in doubles about 10 more times with coach's but mainly in a single. Today nov 21st is my 62 outing about 50 of those in a 1x.

I must say at the moment I prefer to be in my single and try to get a grip on making that move faster.

[Citroen]

Roy, the word is "plough". It's only the silly Americans that use the word "plow" (since their dictionary was ruined by Messrs Merriam and Webster).

[Byron Drachman]

I also enjoy Bob's postings.

Yesterday I did a quad with three lovely ladies. This morning it was a few degrees below freezing. I wore a dry top, dry pants, my PFD, and attached my homemade pontoons. They weigh almost nothing, are easy off and on with wingnuts, and are well above the water so they don't affect rowing at all. There is no guarantee that I will never flip with these attached, but they do reduce the chance of cold water immersion.

floaties_Nov_21_2011_c_r.jpg (62.47 KiB) Viewed 9853 times

Larry Tait says his club has some of the stabilizers for adaptive rowing, beginners, and cold water safety sold at Wintechracing and that they are nice, easy on and off, and can be adjusted to be off the water.

[Rockin Roland]

Yesterday we had quite a long row in the 8+. We were on the water at 6.30 pm. It was was a beautifully warm and calm evening hence we did plenty of work. Our last major endurance session before our head race on Saturday. Well over 20 kms of rowing up and down the course. By 8.30 pm most people's legs were cramping up from all the work. So it was time to come in. It was still daylight when we put the boat away. I love this time of the year when the days are very long.

Despite all this wonderful crew rowing I still manage to find some time to go out in the single. I went out in the single last Sunday for about an hour and half in the morning. I was very please with the way I was getting a good hold of the water at the catch. It might have something to do with an excellent workout I had on the Rowperfect the night before. I find that the technical form I have on the Rowperfect the night before is a good indicator of how well I row the next day in a boat. It usually carries over. If the feedback I get from the Rowperfect is that I'm a bit off then that's the way I usually end up rowing in the boat the next day. Not surprising, this sort of form feedback I could never get from a C2 erg.

[Rocket Roy]

Crap, but believe it or not this is an improvement. Anyway the proof will come in 11 days time ...the Scullers Head race over 6,839m

[Byron Drachman]

We had a beautiful fall day, starting out a little below freezing but warming up to the high 30's. I did 28K, much of it doing drills such as square blade rowing, feathering on one side, staying squared on the other for some strokes, then switching sides, and double feather and square on the recovery (feather once the oars are out of the water, roll-up to squared by the times the arms are away, feather again, and then roll-up to square during the body swing to forward and the slide to the catch). I was wearing a dry top and dry pants because of the cold water, so I couldn't do much in the way of hard work because I was over dressed, hence the drills.

Tomorrow morning we have scheduled a short row followed by goodies in the boat house. Some gluttony to start the Thanksgiving day makes sense. It is like warming up before a big event.

[Byron Drachman]

We're still having mild weather with temperatures in the 30's this morning. We had a quad, a double, and a single out and then had goodies at the boat house including quiche, pumpkin pie, donuts, and coffee. I baked the pumpkin pies. What a great way to start the day:

Thanksgiving_goodies_at_boathouse_Nov 24_2011_c_r.jpg (104.64 KiB) Viewed 9795 times