Session 2

Week 2 of the Learn to Row course was well attended; no drop-outs and three new members. After a brief re-cap of the things we'd forgotten from a week ago we did a warm-up on the ergs and we were then soon out on the water in the eight again.

This week I was put in seat 6, stroke-side. As before, seat 7 and stroke seat were there for stability and manoeuvrability. This meant that I was, in effect setting the stroke. This did not come easy. I could feel myself gradually increasing the stroke-rate and the coach pointed out, by megaphone from the launch, that I was rushing the slide. When I corrected this and adjusted the stroke-rate downwards this seemed to throw the rest of the crew out of synch and I could feel the boat lurch and sway as we progressed upstream assisted by a strong tail-wind.

After a while we introduced some seat slide into the rowing action. Just a couple of inches slide at first and then half slide and eventually full slide with our out-side knees being thrown out of the boat. I was impressed at the speed generated by this.

A couple of times it felt like I came close to catching a crab. We were still square blading and I was finding it awkward getting clearance between the blade and the water's surface when returning to the catch position. My square blade was catching against the tops of the wavelets on the river and this was disturbing the rhythm for me and for the rest of the crew who were struggling to follow my erratic movements.

To combat this problem I made sure that I dropped my hands firmly and sharply at the end of each stroke. I quickly realised that this simply created a new problem as the fingers of my left hand smashed into the sax-board, crushed between boat and oar handle. Usually I learn from my mistakes, especially painful ones, but sadly I kept repeating this one. I did try moving my left hand further inside the boat but then found that my thumb nail snagged against my left thigh.

To prevent further repeated injury to my fingers I started resting my open palm against the top of the oar handle as I slid back into the catch position and I did more work with my right hand. The coach noticed this and made me row with my right hand on top of my head so that I would get used to my left hand taking on most of the workload. I got the idea of what the coach was trying to teach me but this did not prevent the fingers of my left hand from getting crushed again and again.

I am hoping that when we get on to feathering the blade in future sessions this will give me more clearance for blade over the water and as a result of this there will be better clearance between my oar handle and the sax-board.

Anyway, at the end of session 2, we returned to the boathouse upright and dry yet again.

Session 1

Session 1 of the Learn to Row course went well and has whet my appetite for the remainder of the course. We started with introductions. There were 12 newbies on the course and plenty of club members keen to help out and share their knowledge and enthusiasm for the sport. There is a good mixture of men and women on the course with ages ranging, I would guess, from 20s to 60s and a wide range of sizes and body shapes.

After a brief health and safety talk we were given instruction upon the correct use of the Concept2 rowing machines. We were then set off erging in unison while the coaches walked around correcting posture and technique where needed. We were on the ergs for about ten minutes but it felt like half an hour. A tour of the boathouse followed after which we were split into groups and taken out onto the water.

I was put in seat 5 in an eight, rowing on the bow side of the boat. Seat six was occupied by another novice and seats 7 and stroke were taken by a couple of experienced rowers to help provide some stability and manoeuvrability for the boat. We rowed mainly as either bow four or middle four and got a good feel for the boat. We rowed with arms only and kept the blades square. Sliding the seat and feathering the blades will follow later.

For a few strokes we got a nice rhythm going. I followed 6 like a shadow but suddenly he stopped rowing. "What's he messing about at?" I thought. The coach then announced from the motor launch that 6 had caught a crab. "How embarrassing for him. What a silly novice mistake to make" I thought. A few minutes later we were rowing along nicely again and picking up a bit of speed when suddenly, as I went to tap down at the catch, I felt the handle of my oar dig into my chest and it pinned me to my seat. The more I tried to free myself the more the force of the water held the blade handle against me. I was surprised at the force of the crab to say that we were going so slow. Eventually I managed to get the spoon out of the water and into the air and recover my position. I don't know how I would have done this if we had been going at a high speed.

We returned to the boathouse upright and dry. Result!