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.