Lesson Two: Rowing

Following my singing lessons, I decided to push myself into something more sporty and try rowing. At my family cottage we have quite a few dinghy-style rowboats...the kind you row solo and are VERY hard to tip over. I've always enjoyed rowing those, so I thought I'd probably like rowing crew, too. So I signed up for a "Learn to Row" session at Argonaut Rowing Club in Toronto.

The first evening was a bit disappointing: we watched safety videos and learned proper form on the "ergs" (rowing machines to non-rowers). I volunteered to be in the tough coach's boat; I was there to learn, after all! Sure enough, the tough coach (I think his name was Frank, but I'm not 100% sure) got us on the water right away at the beginning of Week #2, while the other eight practiced more on the ergs for the first half of the night. I started off in the last seat position (bow), being one of the lightest people in the boat. It was challenging to keep in stroke with the rest of the boat, especially with the people in the middle losing the rhythm set by the person at the stern (stroke position). I think almost everyone caught a few crabs the first night (angled our oars incorrectly in the water, making it difficult to control). Lots of yelling from Frank, but he gave us some more positive comments once we were back on land! VERY sore the next day, especially in the lower back and shoulders.

The next week, Frank tried me in seat #2 (at the stern of the boat, behind the stroke position).  This suited me much better, since I didn't have to decide whose rhythm to follow, just had to keep steady with Frank. I stayed in this position for the remainder of my rowing sessions, including when we tried rowing in fours (instead of eights). Frank continued to yell at all of us while in the boat. I continued to be sore after rowing, though it got a little better as time went on.

For our final week, we had a Regatta with people from all the Learn to row sessions. Yes, Frank continued to yell at us. We had gotten a decent rhythm down in our practice during the previous few weeks, but that was nothing compared to how hard we pushed ourselves during the race. We got out of synch a couple of times, but we managed to come in second!

I really enjoyed learning to row, especially since I wasn't the only person being yelled at! However, it is an expensive sport and crews mostly practice at unfathomable times like 5:00 am. Maybe someday I'll go back to it.