Rowing

tonycondon

tonycondon

Gastons CRO (Chief Dinner Reservation Officer)
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Mar 9, 2005
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Wichita, KS
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Tony
The last few weeks I've been going rowing with Leah a few days a week. We have been out twice in a double. We're talking long skinny sculling boats here, not rowboats. I enjoyed it and learned the proper stroke and whatnot. Leah seemed to think I was ready to go out in a single. The club has these big ass single boats that are about 2 feet wide so beginners probably won't flip them over. I was pretty happy rowing the double. I sorta figured if I had to row a single I probably wouldn't flip it but didn't really feel like I was really competent to be out myself.

Well of course we show up at the river last night and there goes the double. guess i solo tonight. We went up the river and back which is normally a 6 km distance. I figure I got in at least 8 km zig zagging from the middle of the river to the bank and back. I did manage to make it through all 3 or 4 bridges in each direction. Only hit one tree branch and caught the river bottom in a shallow point with an oar but kept the boat afloat. I'm pretty sure by the time my slow boat made it back to the dock position lights were technically required but, of course, i was the only boat still out on the river so no harm no foul.

Now I know how my students feel when they have a set of lousy landings but I tell them that it was fundamentally fine. They still feel like they had a set of lousy landings!

Oh well I guess with more practice either I will learn to steer or everyone else in the club will learn to steer clear.
 
Lol First time in a single skull is fun, but they are like retractables. There are those who have fallen in, and those who will :-)

Did you manage to smash your thumbs yet?
 
no i haven't smashed thumbs yet. usually the oars are at such incredibly different heights that there is no way my hands are going to hit.

Leah still hasn't fallen in. But she is lusting over a wooden racing single in Chicago so her chance is coming...
 
I've never rowed on water, but we've had a Concept 2 rowing machine for 7 or 8 years, and they are phenomenal. I'm told that they are as close to real rowing as it gets, and I know most rowing teams have many of these for dry land training. http://www.concept2.com/us/default.asp

They are manufactured in Vermont, and their customer service seems to rival David Clark. Great folks.
 
stan you gotta get out on the water. i rowed on an erg once and it was just as boring as running on a treadmill or riding a stationary bike.

concept makes some good oars too.
 
That sounds like fun. It is nice to share that with Leah. Denise and I are taking swimming lessons. We thought that we already new how to swim, and wanted to get better. We found out that we knew how to slap water. Your description of zig zagging back and forth as you make your way down the river is just like my swimming laps. I've hit the ladder a half dozen times, and I run into the lane markers almost every time across. We've both got a ways to go buddy. :D
 
My boy rowed back east in boarding school and rowed one summer with the group in Wichita, they have a really great club. You get a good workout.

Kevin
 
Always wanted to try that. I bet its pretty aerobic.
Friend's son was on the Yale team.
 
dave it is supposed to work all muscle groups and generally be a really good workout.
 
That's great that you have the opportunity.

Friends of mine tried to drag me onto lightweight crew my freshman year. I heard about the erg tests on Saturday mornings at 6am and politely declined.
 
yea Leah was really active in the college rowing club and tried to get me out a few times, but the waking up at 5:30 AM or earlier so they could get a practice in before 8 AM classes did not sound interesting to me.
 
tonycondon said:
yea Leah was really active in the college rowing club and tried to get me out a few times, but the waking up at 5:30 AM or earlier so they could get a practice in before 8 AM classes did not sound interesting to me.
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I never scheduled a class before 11am. The one exception was that 9am Monday calc recitation: unavoidable, and brutal.

Now you're older, and wiser, and can enjoy being on the open water, breeze in your hair, quality time with the missus. No, I think you played it just right.
 
i also always did my best to start classes as late as possible and end them as soon as possible. Working the schedule around The Price is Right and Tom & Jerry was always a bonus.
 
tonycondon said:
i also always did my best to start classes as late as possible and end them as soon as possible. Working the schedule around The Price is Right and Tom & Jerry was always a bonus.
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Company man. :thumbsup: I remember when I started at the airport and tried to keep working when they turned on the TV for the Price is Right. I learned pretty fast where the priorities were.
 
tonycondon said:
stan you gotta get out on the water. i rowed on an erg once and it was just as boring as running on a treadmill or riding a stationary bike.

concept makes some good oars too.
Click to expand...

I know you haven't met me yet, Tony, but you would laugh your arse off if you saw me and tried to make that statement with a straight face. Let's just say that I saw several Regattas when my daughter went to Holy Cross, and I didn't see too many 6' 3" 260# former linemen in those dinky boats. Plus, I would have to slow down in the "no wake" areas due to the draft I would create. :wink2:
 
You haven't lived until you've been on the Mississippi River in a Minnesota March at 6:00am.

Thinking about that makes me feel a lot better about the 8:00am pre-flights here.
 
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