What OTW Training have you done today

[Snail Space]

I know the feeling.

Byron, it is you that is giving me the motivation to try out the single. I know that you started at a mature age, so it encourages me that I might be able to do the same.

Cheers,
Dave.

[Byron Drachman]

that with age his balance was shot to pieces

Hi Dave,

Yes, part of the balance comes from using the inner ear, and that does lessen as we age. I don't know how important that is in a single. We still have the visual clues and can feel if our hands are close to each other and stay level, especially at the finish, and we can feel if we are sitting upright and applying fairly even pressure with both feet, etc

Docking tip: Some people reverse the blades and "back in", i.e., approach stern first instead of bow first using backing strokes. I use a mirror so I don't do that.

Something else to try, assuming you are approaching with the usual bow first: Instead of trying to pull in parallel to the dock, stay parallel to the dock and pretend you are going to hit the dock on the side facing you a foot or two from the corner, then steer so the bow just misses the corner right before docking, then a few strokes on the side away from the dock will bring the bow around and you will be against the dock. That is assuming the dock has a rubber bumper and you don't mind rubbing against the dock a little.

added later: It is not necessary to reverse the blades for taking backing strokes but it might take a few more strokes. If you do reverse the blades it helps to tilt the blades just a little so the blades don't want to go deep when you are taking the backing strokes.

Byron

[Bob S.]

I'll have to ask some of the old hands for some tips.

Are you familiar with one-oared sculling? It works very well used at the stern of a long, skinny boat and is great for use in narrow channels where there is not room for oars to the sides. Although it is extremely awkward to use it to go sideways, it is possible if you just use care and patience. There are two methods, blades vertical and blades horizontal. With Macon blades the horizontal is the easiest for me. With hatchets, it is probably necessary to stick with horizontal. If you are familiar with finning when you are swimming, it is the same principle. The blade (or hand) goes back and forth using the proper tilt for each direction.

http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/Port-re ... story.html

For going sideways, the resistance of the whole length of the book makes it difficult and slow, but it can be done - as I said above, with patience and care.

Bob S.

[gregsmith01748]

Snail: As an aging novice, I identified with your post. I started rowing last year. We started in quads, and then I graduated to a double, and then eventually talked my way into a single. The first time out in the single was terrifying. Like bambi on ice! Nothing seemed to move in the direction I expected it to. But I had some good coaching from the guy in the next boat, and just by sitting there and spending some time to see how my motions with my body and oars effected the boat, I began to relax. I ended up doing about 6K that day. But to Byron's point, each successive time I went out in the single, I could never tell if it was just going go well, or if I'd be floundering around.

I finally thought I had it well in hand by the end of the season, but on Halloween, with an air temp of 0C, I managed to flip the damn thing. That was my last row in the single. Now I am working my courage back up to try it again this spring. Something tells me that I will be a bit tense and tentative the first few times out.

Regarding age and balance. It may decline with age, but I found it really improved with rowing. I noticed after a season of rowing, that I could stand on one foot to put my sock and shoe on the other one without a bobble. Now there is a useful skill that rowing has helped me with.

[Bob S.]

Re one-oar sculling: Here's another website that has several videos of sculling being done:

http://www.duckworksbbs.com/gear/scullmatix/index.htm

I don't know why they made such a big deal over the device the guy invented. I have never felt the need for it. All it takes is a simple twist of the oar at each change of direction - not all that different from feathering

The boat shown in the videos is not ideal for one-oared sculling. A well designed boat would be much faster than that. It needs to be long and slender, but stable enough for the sculler to stand up. I used to use that on my 26' trimaran when there was no wind and my outboard was giving problems. It displaced about 2 tons, but I could move it at about 1.5 knots. A boat used for that has to track well - it shouldn't have much wiggle as the oar goes from side to side. A typical dinghy is too squirrelly to propel with that method.

Obviously you don't want to stand up when you use the technique to move a lightweight rowing shell to the side, so you can't put the power in it that you would for normal one-oar propulsion, but you are not going all that far - just a couple of feet or so.

I have heard that one-oared sculling is done a lot in the Danube delta by the cormorant fishermen. A lot of the channels are too narrow for two-oared rowing and the single oar sculling is very quiet as well.

Bob S.

[Snail Space]

Thanks guys. It looks like I have some new projects.

Cheers,
Dave.

[Snail Space]

... the end of the season, but on Halloween, with an air temp of 0C, I managed to flip the damn thing.

I flipped a wide training boat when I was doing the learn-to-row course. How embarrassing! I had been dreading a dunking, and so I had studied several youtube videos about how to re-enter the boat. When the momentous event happened I was surprised to find that the water was only knee-high, and I could simply step back into the boat. No hassle.

Cheers,
Dave.

[Bob S.]

Hi Bob,

Maybe when the water is warmer you can get out.

Not on Lake Sabrina. It is never really warm - too deep and too high an altitude.

Lake-Sabrina5.jpg (111.4 KiB) Viewed 10279 times

There is a small, shallow lake only 2 miles from my house, Lake Klondike, which despite its ominous name must get quite warm in the summer. It is on the flat valley floor, at 4000'. I don't know its depth, but it can't be very much. I have heard that it gets a bit of ice-skating in the winter and a fair amount of water-skiing on summer weekends. It has no facilities, but boats can be launched from a small beach of hard sand. Unfortunately, it has no appeal for my shell-owning friend. As a desert lake, it is saline, so washing the equipment after use would be a problem.

http://www.schweich.com/geoCAInyKlondikeLk.html

Bob S.

[Byron Drachman]

Re one-oar sculling: Here's another website that has several videos of sculling being done:

http://www.duckworksbbs.com/gear/scullmatix/index.htm

I don't know why they made such a big deal over the device the guy invented. I have never felt the need for it. All it takes is a simple twist of the oar at each change of direction - not all that different from feathering

The boat shown in the videos is not ideal for one-oared sculling. A well designed boat would be much faster than that. It needs to be long and slender, but stable enough for the sculler to stand up. I used to use that on my 26' trimaran when there was no wind and my outboard was giving problems. It displaced about 2 tons, but I could move it at about 1.5 knots. A boat used for that has to track well - it shouldn't have much wiggle as the oar goes from side to side. A typical dinghy is too squirrelly to propel with that method.

Obviously you don't want to stand up when you use the technique to move a lightweight rowing shell to the side, so you can't put the power in it that you would for normal one-oar propulsion, but you are not going all that far - just a couple of feet or so.

I have heard that one-oared sculling is done a lot in the Danube delta by the cormorant fishermen. A lot of the channels are too narrow for two-oared rowing and the single oar sculling is very quiet as well.

Bob S.

One of the founders of our rowing club has a sandolo that he made. He makes the boat go fairly fast just using one oar.

Bruce_Mar_22_2012_c_r.jpg (105.6 KiB) Viewed 10273 times

[mikvan52]

Hey OTWaties!
The dogwoods are blossoming in the Mid Atlantic and the wind seems to be wanting to drop for those dawn hour rows... so...
Hope to hear from more of you as you ply the waters of your lake or river of preference...

I had a blissful experience out in a light breeze this morning...
2 x 3k + in my 1x Fluidesign
getting in a groove ~ NOT MUCH TO WRITE ABOUT... for sure.. but, just the same: how thrilling to be taking the indoor conditioning pout on the water...

[Bob S.]

[quote="mikvan52"
Hope to hear from more of you as you ply the waters of your lake or river of preference...
[/quote]

Hey! - that rules out San Diego, Los Angeles, Long Beach, the San Francisco Area, and Puget Sound. Plus, I would guess that a lot of rowing sites on the east and gulf coast are salt water inlets as well, especially around the Chesapeake. And then there is the open ocean blue water stuff - a great challenge.

Bob S.

[mikvan52]

open water ocean rowing `A brutish endeavour... I don't know why that would bb classified as OTW training

"Survival of the fittest" is more like it... a "step beyond"... your training is done when you embark on a venture like that...

I hope someone chimes in who's done one of these feats.... Truly admirable and remarkable but is it training?

[Bob S.]

open water ocean rowing `A brutish endeavour... I don't know why that would bb classified as OTW training

"Survival of the fittest" is more like it... a "step beyond"... your training is done when you embark on a venture like that...

I hope someone chimes in who's done one of these feats.... Truly admirable and remarkable but is it training?

Hey, Mike. That was just a side issue that I tossed in for fun. Your response ignored the main point of my post and that was that it is not all lakes and rivers. There are a lot of rowing venues on protected salt water inlets. Aren't you involved with Annapolis and isn't that on the Chesapeake? My old haunts were all salt water bays or arms of them, the Alameda estuary behind Alameda Island in San Francisco Bay. Newport Bay in Orange County, Ca., Los Alamitos Bay in Long Beach, and Mission Bay in San Diego. I am not familiar enough with Seattle to know which rowing venues there are fresh water lakes and which are inlets off of Puget Sound, but I have no doubt by there are protected venues there that are neither lakes nor rivers.

With regard to rough water rowing, I would say that when life guards launch their surf boats for practice runs they are indeed doing OTW training. It might not do much for them at the HOCR, but it helps them to develop the speed to get to the victims faster. No, those fellows would not be interested in this forum, but, like I said, I just tossed in the blue water bit for fun. Plenty of the C2 forum members do row on protected ocean inlets - my main point.

Bob S.

[mrpeepers]

Yesterday afternoon: 71' @ 18 spm, HR 130. Nice and light.

[mikvan52]

open water ocean rowing `A brutish endeavour... I don't know why that would bb classified as OTW training

"Survival of the fittest" is more like it... a "step beyond"... your training is done when you embark on a venture like that...

I hope someone chimes in who's done one of these feats.... Truly admirable and remarkable but is it training?

Hey, Mike. That was just a side issue that I tossed in for fun. Your response ignored the main point of my post and that was that it is not all lakes and rivers. There are a lot of rowing venues on protected salt water inlets. Aren't you involved with Annapolis and isn't that on the Chesapeake? My old haunts were all salt water bays or arms of them, the Alameda estuary behind Alameda Island in San Francisco Bay. Newport Bay in Orange County, Ca., Los Alamitos Bay in Long Beach, and Mission Bay in San Diego. I am not familiar enough with Seattle to know which rowing venues there are fresh water lakes and which are inlets off of Puget Sound, but I have no doubt by there are protected venues there that are neither lakes nor rivers.

I'm just being light hearted too.
The Severn (off the Chesapeake) where I am right now... can be mighty rough... Great training for adverse conditions elsewhere... We even have to cancel rows out there in favor of a protected creek...

Salt water inlets...all...

The San Diego Crew Classic is a prime example of a bay venue... Funny how the premier events there are always scheduled for an ebb tide... hmmmm.... sissies!
they should reserve the great conditions for the masters, don't you think?

When I travel and row... I look for rivers and lakes... rather than bays... I'm not proud I like the easy treatment....