Sunday was the Head of the Potomac Regatta. It was a drizzly day, but quite a good one for the races: the wind was low and the water calm. We had 2 men's 4s in the morning, 1 men's 8 in the afternoon and several ladies' boats. Our 4, #189. launched around 11 am for an 11:40 start.
We rowed by pairs on the square to warm up through the Key Bridge. Then we switched to all 4 on the feather and rowed steady state all the way up to Fletcher's Cove to warm up. I think the line up worked pretty well. It was Paul G in bow seat; Bob in 2-seat; I was in 3-seat; and Bill F was stroke.
I like the head races because we get a rolling start. That is to say you start rowing for about 20 strokes before the start line, and then as soon as you cross over, you're on pressure. The race plan was fairly simple: 20 hard strokes to get started and then settle. I think we got a good start and I was especially pleased that the rowing seemed focused. These are long races--15 to 20 minutes, So to maintain focus and form throughout is a real challenge.
At about half way through the race, another boat overtook us with apparent ease. It is at such a point that one must maintain focus and "row your own race". If you get distracted by who is around you or passing you, that can cause panic, rushing and all kinds of other ills.
By 3/4 through, I think we were still rowing with good form and balance, but we clearly lacked power which lead to our less than stellar placement at 21:03 minutes. By comparison, the winning boat finished at 15 minutes and some seconds. There are 2 reasons for lack of power. The first is simply not staying on pressure enough on every single stroke--driving the legs down. The second is that we are still struggling to learn how to let the boat run out underneath us and not rush the slide. Our ratio at a 28 rating was probably no more than 2 to 1, but possibly even 1.5 to 1. That's no good.
So, while I think there is a lot to be pleased with, we are still placing last against boats with a higher average age. We rowed well, we maintained the set and our focus, but now we need to add the power.
We had Nancy H as cox. She was very good, very calm and level headed. The only thing I would have liked more from Nancy was that as we came to the last 500 meters of the race, it would have been helpful for her to have called out how many strokes were left, or otherwise found a way to focus us. At one point I thought we had 20 strokes left, and then the race continued for another 100 strokes. The role of the cox is critical for discipline, correction and motivation when you start getting tired.
My next race will be the Occoquan Chase on October 17. Between now and then I have a few specific things I need to work on both in the boat and in the gym--mostly slide control, and power at the drive.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
September 23, 2010
Yesterday saw the Harvest Moon, and today ushered in the first day of fall. At 5:30 am along the river, the full moon cast a bright light on the dark waters and gave us the impression we might be able to see.
We launched 4 boats this morning: 1 eight, 2 fours and 1 double. Our four (I was in 3-seat) started off with a reverse pick drill, legs only. We worked our way upstream by pairs breaching the silvery silence. At the initial low rating of 20-22, we immediately had problems on every stroke, and wobbled from side to side--maddening! In vain attempts to correct it, we tried to apply more pressure at the drive to no avail. That was followed by an effort to get hands away faster and bodies set sooner - it still didn't come together. We may have even tried to slow the slide--but still the wobble.
My speculation is that is that some in the boat are still working on correcting their propensity for leaning with their outside shoulder opposite their rigger instead of following the arc of the oar, dropping their inside shoulder and twisting out over the rigger from the hip.
After Three Sisters, we rowed a 10-minute piece, all 4, up to the middle of Fletcher's Cove. It had its moments, but we are still struggling with some of these fundamentals. The rating on the way up to Fletcher's was about a 24--very heavy, not efficient, not powerful.
When we paused at Fletcher's to rest and get comments from Nancy, the gentle hues of the morning sky to the South spoke softly but with the certainty of a well constructed phrase. The effect of the morning was one of muted drama--the type that goes unnoticed by the unobservant: recall some paintings in the museum that don't immediately draw the attention, but with sustained observation intensify despite their subtlety.
After turning around, we had 2 10-minute pieces at a 28 rating. This is close to race pace, and the object of the exercise was to focus on:
-Overall form
-Pressure at the drive
-Controlling the slide
-Maintaing length in the water
We got it together somewhat, but we lacked power. The first 10-minute piece was a bit like rowing a grand piano--very heavy. Some of us were digging a bit and this slowed us down a great deal. We are still not together on hands down and away and bodies over together. Most of all, we are still tending towards rushing the slide--the last 6 inches--and not letting the boat do its work by letting it run out under us. Our cox this morning was Steve C., an experienced coach who kept saying "let the boat do the work" and "let the boat come up to meet you at the catch."
The second 10-minute piece was much better--more relaxed--but still rushing a bit on the slide. Tomorrow is another day.
We launched 4 boats this morning: 1 eight, 2 fours and 1 double. Our four (I was in 3-seat) started off with a reverse pick drill, legs only. We worked our way upstream by pairs breaching the silvery silence. At the initial low rating of 20-22, we immediately had problems on every stroke, and wobbled from side to side--maddening! In vain attempts to correct it, we tried to apply more pressure at the drive to no avail. That was followed by an effort to get hands away faster and bodies set sooner - it still didn't come together. We may have even tried to slow the slide--but still the wobble.
My speculation is that is that some in the boat are still working on correcting their propensity for leaning with their outside shoulder opposite their rigger instead of following the arc of the oar, dropping their inside shoulder and twisting out over the rigger from the hip.
After Three Sisters, we rowed a 10-minute piece, all 4, up to the middle of Fletcher's Cove. It had its moments, but we are still struggling with some of these fundamentals. The rating on the way up to Fletcher's was about a 24--very heavy, not efficient, not powerful.
When we paused at Fletcher's to rest and get comments from Nancy, the gentle hues of the morning sky to the South spoke softly but with the certainty of a well constructed phrase. The effect of the morning was one of muted drama--the type that goes unnoticed by the unobservant: recall some paintings in the museum that don't immediately draw the attention, but with sustained observation intensify despite their subtlety.
After turning around, we had 2 10-minute pieces at a 28 rating. This is close to race pace, and the object of the exercise was to focus on:
-Overall form
-Pressure at the drive
-Controlling the slide
-Maintaing length in the water
We got it together somewhat, but we lacked power. The first 10-minute piece was a bit like rowing a grand piano--very heavy. Some of us were digging a bit and this slowed us down a great deal. We are still not together on hands down and away and bodies over together. Most of all, we are still tending towards rushing the slide--the last 6 inches--and not letting the boat do its work by letting it run out under us. Our cox this morning was Steve C., an experienced coach who kept saying "let the boat do the work" and "let the boat come up to meet you at the catch."
The second 10-minute piece was much better--more relaxed--but still rushing a bit on the slide. Tomorrow is another day.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
September 21, 2010
Thought the morning was splendid, the same may not be said of our rowing: it was as labored a day of rowing as I've ever had! But first, the splendid: Upon arrival at the boathouse at 5:30 am, it was dark and Orien's Belt could be clearly seen hanging high above Memorial Bridge. As we started rowing upstream, the darkness moved from blackness through infinitesimally small gradations of dark blue from stroke to stroke.
Twenty strokes above the Key Bridge, the only evidence of the bridge were the lights atop it marching in a silent progression from shore to shore casting their white light on the water far below. By sixty strokes above the bridge, still dark, a band of red sky had pushed its way through the darkness and set the first stroke of morning light on the canvas of the day.
Now back to reality: we were attempting to row 6s on the square. Our catch timing was off--we wobbled all the way upstream. It was atrocious. Our first piece was all the way from Three Sisters up to the middle of Fletcher's Cove. The whole affair was sexless: no fire, no rhythm.
After turning around to head back downstream, our piece was 4 minutes at 28 rating; then 90 seconds off. The repeat. We did this sequence 4 times and truly, we never got it together in any of these pieces. We were supposed to focus on slide control and hands quick away etc. But our issues of timing were more fundamental than that. I was apparently coming up short on my stroke--the cox kept saying that it seemed I was rowing at half-slide. I tried to extend and twist out over the rigger more, but still came up short. Several other seats were chastised for digging which slows down the boat considerably. Catch timing was off. 4-seat was crashing into every catch. We were a total mess. Sunday is the Head of the Potomac which means we have Thursday and Friday to work out a lot of issues. For my part, I will work on slide control, extension and posture. Remember: Posture Is Power!
Twenty strokes above the Key Bridge, the only evidence of the bridge were the lights atop it marching in a silent progression from shore to shore casting their white light on the water far below. By sixty strokes above the bridge, still dark, a band of red sky had pushed its way through the darkness and set the first stroke of morning light on the canvas of the day.
Now back to reality: we were attempting to row 6s on the square. Our catch timing was off--we wobbled all the way upstream. It was atrocious. Our first piece was all the way from Three Sisters up to the middle of Fletcher's Cove. The whole affair was sexless: no fire, no rhythm.
After turning around to head back downstream, our piece was 4 minutes at 28 rating; then 90 seconds off. The repeat. We did this sequence 4 times and truly, we never got it together in any of these pieces. We were supposed to focus on slide control and hands quick away etc. But our issues of timing were more fundamental than that. I was apparently coming up short on my stroke--the cox kept saying that it seemed I was rowing at half-slide. I tried to extend and twist out over the rigger more, but still came up short. Several other seats were chastised for digging which slows down the boat considerably. Catch timing was off. 4-seat was crashing into every catch. We were a total mess. Sunday is the Head of the Potomac which means we have Thursday and Friday to work out a lot of issues. For my part, I will work on slide control, extension and posture. Remember: Posture Is Power!
September 20, 2010
Not the most brilliant practice today, but ok. We went upstream this morning starting with a reverse pick drill by 4s. We then rowed by 6s on the square just beyond Three Sisters. From that point, we rowed all 8s for 10 light strokes followed by 20 medium strokes and then 20 full pressure strokes. Then back to the beginning of the sequence.
Because of the debris, great darkness and other crews, we had to stop a few times which broke the rhythm of the practice. Nonetheless, we rowed well enough, but we really need to focus on getting length and run in the boat, and punching together with the legs as soon as the oars are buried in the water in the catch.
I was in 5-seat today and I have to admit that 6-seat was driving me nuts all morning. even after the coach specifically said he needed to get hands away quicker, there was no change whatsoever--the perfect example of "living at the finish". So while 7-seat and I were getting hands away quick and getting the body over and set, 6-seat was taking his time at the release and then often would pick up speed and go crashing into the catch with the left shoulder. Of course, it's easy to see someone else's faults--I can only imagine what 4 seat is writing about me!
On the way back downstream, we were supposed to do the following sequence but it didn't quite come off this way:
- 5 minutes steady state at a 22 rating, then:
- 5 minutes at 24
- 3 minutes at 26
- 2 minutes at 28
- 1 minute at a 30
According to our cox, there was a bit of check in the boat which means we are still rushing the slide. We also really had trouble moving up from a 28 to a 30 at the end of the piece. We only got up to a 29--weak! On the positive side, the balance and the swing seemed alright; and while we didn't go up in rating in the last 3 minutes, I think we maintained the pressure and energy to the end.
Occoquan Challenge, October 5, 2008
For our crew race today, God sketched a day of perfection, and cast from on high ten thousand dancing flecks of sunlight on the blue headwaters of the Occoquan. As we set our boat and oars to water, a gentle October wind laced with warmth and coolness ushered us upstream to the starting point of the contest.
The Occoquan Challenge starts 5,000 meters upstream from the docks. Two or three buoys are set in the river downstream around which boats must sharply turn to cross the river and come up the other side. With starboards pulling like hell, and port oars taking air strokes, we actually made the turn quite well--perhaps better than some of the high school and college teams.
As in the Head of the Potomac, I rowed 2-seat. The fastest boats rowed at 14-16 minutes for the whole course. Rowing between a 26 and 28 rating, we finished at a raw time of approximately 22 minutes, with an adjusted time of 18:38. I think we rowed very well, but our relative inexperience showed as we trundled downstream: our catches and releases were often not entirely together, so our power was limited. Though much improved, our handle heights and set were a bit funky--often down to port all the way downstream. As a result of our catches not coming precisely together, we lost precious power at the drive. However, we had several good sequences where everyone was connecting at the same time, and we could feel the thrill of the boat running long in the water under us.
At one point, 3-seat caught a crab, but managed to recover fairly quickly without the boat having to stop. I had a few close calls, but thankfully never completely lost it. Last, but not least, as may be expected from a relatively inexperienced crew, things started falling apart and getting sloppy towards the end of the race as rowers began to tire, lose focus, or tense their muscles. When rowers tense their shoulders or their grip, bad things start to happen. Yet, all in all, I thought it a great success, and really fun event with so many teams: high schools teams, college teams, club teams, Army, Navy, etc...
Probably the most impressive, elegant thing I saw all day was the boat launching just ahead of us. I am not sure if they were high school or college, but they had a Princeton-like orange stripe on their uniforms. In a Cirque-du-Soleil-like movement, both athletic and aesthetic, they cast away from the dock standing with their left legs in the boat, and their right legs perfectly aligned hanging over the water to port. As they cast away, they held this delicate pose for several seconds like eight humming birds in a perfect line before sitting down to row into the brilliant canvas of the day.
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