Sam and Ginger tried to drill this into me, but 165 blisters later it finally sunk in.  Keep your hands light on the grips.  Your fingers should act as nothing but hooks on the handles.  If your forearms are wearing out early in the row AND you’re getting blisters every time you row you are gripping way too hard. 

Try this - from a dead stop drive with nothing but your legs.  Hang onto the oars without a death grip on the handles.  Just curl the ends of your fingers over the handles and let that be the only connection between your legs and the oars.  No forearms, no biceps, just your arms extended as if you were hanging on to the oars like a pull up bar.  Relax your forearms and your wrists and just let your hooked fingers transmit the drive of your legs to the oars.

It takes a bit of focus to come to realization of the concept.  The best exercise I’ve found is to repeat the exercise from a dead stop.  It will reinforce the negative aspects of introducing your arms too early in the drive, and give you a better feel of how little is actually required of your hands to “hang” on to the oars during the drive.  If you find yourself getting out of control when driving from a dead stop it is almost a guarantee you are either trying to drive with your arms too early, death gripping the oars, or a combination of the two.  Just relax and enjoy the ride.

I read about this a few years back and it never really sunk in until I tried it.  Think of the catch and drive sequence, from a physiological standpoint, as you would when you prepare your body to jump.  What is the last thing that happens as you leave the earth?  You are on the balls of your feet.  I used to feel that power was to be derived by driving my heels into the stretcher, but have come to realize there’s more to be gained by applying the same motion in the drive as you would if you were trying to jump.  That is end the drive off the balls of your feet.  It gets you light in the seat as well as provides a bit more leverage as you drive into the finish.

Try it and see what you think.

If you haven’t had a chance to take advantage of Tom C’s generosity you should.  Tom’s been putting older copies of Rowing News at the login table for members to read.  There are some very interesting articles published within.

In the November 2006 piece Quick Catches by Tom Bohrer there’s a nice visualization you can use to perfect your technique of coming into the body with the oars from mid-drive to completion.  Most of us have the tendency to draw our elbows in to the body when completing the drive.  Bohrer suggests envisioning that you’re pulling your arms across a table.  If done properly this keeps your forearms parallel to the water, elbows away from the body, and perhaps most important - keeps your shoulders low and relaxed.

Give it a shot next time you’re on the water.

Let’s row! 

If you’re not a wave wuss this one’s for you directly from the Skipper. 

Until one is totally comfortable in the boat and can row a straight corse in a light crosswind, don’t row if the wind speed is 10 mph or higher.

As most of you are aware, the winds on our lake are unpredictable and can beome gusty in a moment.  If you do get caught out in conditions you’re are struggling with, here are a few thoughts that will help you get back to the dock:

1) Try to row dead into the wind or dead with it.  It is the corsswind that is hard to handle and puts water in your boat.

2)  Into the wind, shorten your stroke and maintain momentum.  It requires far more energy to accelerate the boat if the wind and chop stop it on each stroke.  Although it is conter-intuitive, relaxing when rowin rough water is imperative.  The boat will stay right side up if YOU let it.

3)  If you find yourself surfing white caps north up the lake from the shelter of Garland Road, be sure you get into our cove.  If you get north of the point east of our House, you may have to walk home (did y’all know that point is Roxanne Point?).

4)  Sometimes you may have to row a course that isn’t the most direct route home.  Rowing along the shore all the way around may be safer way to get home than cutting straight across the lake.

5)  Use common sense!  If in doubt, don’t leave the dock.

Last week’s tip talked about the effect of checking (slowing your forward momentum) the boat due to either not initiating the catch as soon as your body is compressed into the stern, or rushing to the catch and not being ready to set it as soon as you get there.  Think about it - your “forward” momentum is toward the bow, but you oppose this inertia when you slide the seat toward the stern to get into the catch position.  If you rush it, rather than letting the boat run underneath you by recovering smoothly and slowly, then you just checked the momentum you provided during the drive.  

The transition from the finish to being ready for the catch should be a smooth one, not rushed.  Nothing is served by hurrying the transition out of the bow and into the catch position - quite the opposite.   You want to get your weight out of the bow as quickly as possible, but not at the expense of a smooth run of the boat.  At the finish you should feather your oars and smoothly transition your weight out of the bow - led by the hands, but let the boat run underneath you.  You should be able to bring yourself out of the bow without depending too heavily on the straps on your feet - if you do then you’re probably throwing your back too far into the bow.  A whole ‘nother issue we’ll address in the next tip. 

If you’re curious as to your rowing technique and its effect on the boat try this tip - trail a 4 or 5 foot piece of string behind you next time you row.  Pull out the rubber stopper in the stern and insert enough string inside to hold it in place.  PUT THE STOPPER BACK IN!  Start your row and watch the string - if you start seeing an “S” pattern forming at either end of your drive/finish you are checking the boat.  Strive to keep the string flowing straight behind the boat.  Checking is inevitable on either end of the drive cycle - just strive to mitigate the disruption of the run of the boat.

Let’s row!