ROWING - Session 2 Overview

• Skill Area #1: Able to do a 4-way safety check of access holes, riggers, "pins", and gates.

  Tips: If pilots can make some 200-safety checks before each flight, a sculler can easily make four safety checks for leaving the launch site. The four most important safety checks include: a) covered holes or deck openings; b) secure rigger arms; c) rigid stainless steel oarlock pins; and d) rowlock gate is securely locked and unblemished. Let’s take a closer look at the four safety checkpoints. First, if there is any hole or deck opening larger than the tip of your little finger it needs to be covered to prevent water access to the hull. Electrical tape or a tapered wine cork can cover most deck holes. Second, tug on the rigger arms to ensure that the rigger bolts are not loose; tighten with a crescent wrench if necessary. Third, ensure that the stainless steel rowlock pin is not loose or wobbly. And Fourth, make sure the gate for the oarlock is locked, and that there is no crack in the gate arm where it attaches to the rowlock.

• Skill Area #2: Do a 4-way boat adjustment for: leg length, rib touch, crossover, & oar height.

  Tips: Since sculling is such a tactile sport, requiring a great deal of balance, then proper boat adjustment is critical. There are 4 primary adjustments that need to be measured for the boat to fit you correctly. The sequence of these adjustments is also important. The first adjustment to be made is for leg length. If you can’t fully extend your legs, the foot stretchers need to be lengthened.

  Second, with legs fully extended and oar handles fully seated in the rowlocks and drawn to your rib cage, your thumbs should lightly graze the curve in your rib cage (the so-called costal margin). If your thumbs touch you near the midpoint of your stomach the oar handles are too close to you; and vice versa if the oar handles cannot graze your costal margins when drawn to your ribs. However, before moving the foot stretchers, it is important to make the third measurement.

  Third you want to see how much the oar handles overlap when fully seated in the rowlocks and parallel to each other. If the oar handles overlap or cross approximately 6", then the amount of cross-over in the oar handles is correct unless you are taller than 6’3" or blessed with unusually long arms. In that event you might want a little more crossover, up to 7 or 8 inches. If the oar handle cross over is correct and the oar handles still do not graze your ribs at the costal margin, the foot stretchers need to be moved backward or forward until the handles touch you at the costal margin.

  And finally, the fourth adjustment is done to determine if the height of the rowlocks is correct over your thighs. Hold both oar handles in one hand, just above your thigh muscle, with the oars touching the water. See if you can stand your entire other hand on top of your thigh (with your little finger laying on your thigh) and nearly touch the oar handles. If you can touch or are within 2 inches of touching the oar handles to your upright hand, this adjustment is correct. However if there is substantially more or less than 2" of space between your upright hand and the oar handles, the rigger height needs to be adjusted. In a separate monograph are tips on how to use tools to help make necessary adjustments in the riggers, foot stretchers, or oars to gain the proper fit you need.

• Skill Area #3: Enter the boat using a hip transfer, two-leg, one-leg, or river send-off methods.

  Tips: It’s not easy for most newcomers to easily enter a rowing shell. The main two goals in boat entry are to not hurt yourself bending or leaning, and secondly to not put very much bodyweight on the dockside rigger. If you press hard on the rigger you can break the rigger or internal shoulder - and if you lean or twist your body too much you can easily strain a muscle or joint. The easiest way to enter the bout involves a hip transfer. Using this method you sight on the deck right next to the hull, hang onto both outside oar handles with one hand, place your free hand right next to your hip and then deliberately transfer or lift your body weight over the gunwale, and into the seat. The three other methods for entering a shell are all done standing up. The two-legged entry is simple. Hang onto the oar handles with your outside hand, step into the boat by placing both feet on the bench. Then start to bend down, and place your dockside hand on the dock for increased stability. The one-legged entry appears much more difficult but with practice it will become the least stressful method of entering a rowing shell. Hang on to both oar handles with your outside hand, and step onto the middle of the bench. Then hang on tight to the dockside rigger and start to swing your free leg into the foot stretcher without letting it touch the bench. The river send off is very similar to the one-legged entry except you push off the dock with your dockside leg, just as you are starting to swing your free leg into the boat. All 4 methods work because they don’t hurt your body or the boat.

• Skill Area #4: Be able to push away from the dock by safely pivoting off the stern or scull.

  Tips: After you safely enter the boat, you are still not free to take off. You need to get away from the launch dock. Unless you quickly master the river send off mentioned above, it can be very frustrating to maneuver yourself away from the dock. Fortunately, you can lever yourself away from the dock either with an oar or with the stern of the shell itself. So start by using the hull to lever the boat away from the dock. Start backing the boat with your outside oar. With each successive gentle stroke, the boat starts gently moving away from the dock. After about 10 backing strokes the angle will be great enough for you to propel the boat with your dockside oar. Problem solved.

• Skill Area #5: Show 4 drills that will continually improve your rowing.

  Tips: There are many drills that can help you improve different parts of your rowing technique, but these four drills will continue over time to help improve your overall rowing performance. They are: 1) Full water glass drill; 2) Warm hand drill; 3) Monkey drill and 4) Bicycle spoke drill. The Full water glass drill requires that you imagine a full glass of water sitting on the deck of your boat, just aft of your foot stretchers. With each stroke your goal is the same - to be so smooth that you do not spill one drop of water during any part of the stroke motion: the catch, drive, release, or recovery. Interestingly it’s not that hard to mount an 8 oz clear plastic cup to the deck of your shell. If you bring along a small filler cup, you can keep putting water in the cup to ensure that it is full. With either an imaginary or real cup of water, take note of where you do most of the spilling from your full cup. Depending on where the upset happens, you can use additional specific drills (available from our coaches) to work on that source of instability.

  The Warm hand drill is very simple. Imagine that you have a warm, loving, supportive hand located in the middle of your back. Can you imagine it? Now when you take a stroke and want to improve the way that you swing into the bow of the boat, feel yourself gently pushing against that warm, loving, imaginary hand - all the way to the finish. Don’t hurt the hand by jerking or tugging, and because the hand will support you, relax your grip on the oars as you are swinging against the warm hand.

  The next drill is called the Monkey drill. Before you try this drill on the water there is some required homework. You are to go to your local zoo, where you can watch a relatively large monkey hang from a branch or bar. You will notice that they seldom grip the branch - they know that they are more powerful for a longer period of time if they hang rather than grip or squeeze the branch. It’s almost as if they money forms the capital letter "L" with the angle of their cupped hand when hanging from the branch. Now especially during your 6-minute warm up drills try to "hang like a monkey". As you become more successful at it, try to do it when you apply increasing amounts of power on the oar.

  And last, the Bicycle spoke drill. In order to continually improve the way the spoons of your oars (or sculls) enter the water, you need to have the sculls enter the water the same speed the water is moving underneath you. To make this point, imagine you are watching two, 6-year-old children playing with the wheels of their overturned bicycles. In trying to see who can spin their bike wheel faster the first child places an open hand on the wheel and spins it faster and faster. The second child, looking for a better technique decides to place a finger between the spinning spokes to generate a more positive connection with the wheel. If the second child’s finger is moving at the same speed of the spinning wheel when it comes into contact with the spoke it can generate much more speed than the first child to produce. Point: let the spoons of your sculls enter the water the same speed the water is moving. Conclusion: practice all four of these drills on a regular basis and they will help you continue to improve your overall balance, swing, grip, and blade work in rowing.

• Skill Area #6: Demonstrate a full-cycle quick out drill without getting oars stuck in the water.

  Tips: Lesson #2 is the right time to start to learn "ratio", or proper sequence of the stroke motion. Novice rowers often "kill" the run of their hull speed generated in a powerful stroke by spending way too much time leaning into the bow of the boat. Some old coaches euphemistically call this "having breakfast in the bow". Think about it: when you body weight is shifted to the lay back position it forces the bow of the hull deeper into the water, thereby slowing the hull speed. If the rower could spend very little time leaning into the bow following each stroke, the boat would go much faster for the same amount of effort - good deal! Unfortunately most of us first watched or tried rowing in a rowboat, and developed the bad habit of spending way too much time at the finish.

  Here is a little bit more explanation about the very important concept of ratio, or quick swing out of bow. Instead of having your oars go back and forth, from catch to full recovery at the same speed - like windshield wipers - you want to change this rhythm or ratio. In other words, if it normally takes 1.0 seconds to take a stroke, another 2.0 seconds resting in the bow, and another second coming up the slide, we want to alter the amount of time spent doing each of these activities. So with good ratio you will continue to take a second to complete the stroke but will reduce by 1.5 seconds the time you sit in the bow and add all of that time on to the recovery time up the slide (or 2.5 seconds). So the new ratio will be 1 (stroke) to .5 (quick out) to 2.5 (recovery on the slide). By spending much less time in the bow and a lot more time on the recovery you will be able to keep the bow out of the water longer, and also not "check" the boat by sending your body weight too quickly toward the stern for the next stroke.

  There is a drill that can help you have a faster ratio out of bow. It’s called the full-cycle, quick out drill. The first time you start the drill, begin with your oar handles at your rib cage in the release position. At the count of ready-set-go, try to quickly swing from the release position to the swing forward position without banging your hands on the crossover and without dropping your head as you swing forward. Now do it this same drill 5 more times, each time trying to increase the speed at witch you swing out of bow. Now you are ready for the full-cycle, quick out drill.

  Begin the drill in the swing out or recovery position, leaning 25 degrees toward the stern with a straight back and arms, chin up, shoulders down and relaxed. Now have an observer say, "Ready, come up" Start to come up your slide very smooth and slowly and take a stroke motion without upsetting the boat. BUT as you come to the release position try to swing out of bow just as fast as you did on your fastest quick out practice run. Then sit there in the swing out position for a count of 3 seconds. Then your observer will repeat the command "ready, come up", and you will repeat the drill. Do this drill for 10 strokes, each time coming away from the bow quickly, and then coming up the slide slowly. Viola, you now have ratio.

• Skill Area #7: Go through warm up drills: open hand, hooked catch, and quick out drills.

  Tips: In sculling, the 6-minute warm up process is important to help loosen up stiff joints and tendons. It’s also an important time to ‘practice perfect - before you start pushing hard with your legs. During those first 6 minutes, you could spend one minute or so doing each of the following 4 drills. The open hand drill begins at the rib cage as you start to send your hands away from your chest. Open your fingers so the oar handles are resting below your fingertips with your hands and wrists straight. The oars will not fly out of your hands - unless your oarlocks are rotated backwards. Instead they will gently glide across the top of the water. This drill helps remind you about the importance of maintaining a soft touch on the recovery. The hooked catch drill is particularly beneficial during the warm-up period. As soon as you have your oar squared, buried in the water, and ready to apply pressure you will quickly reposition your hands to form the letter "L" on its side. Then, practice hooking the oar rather than grabbing it throughout the drive. And finally, at the finish practice the quick out drills referred to in skill #6 above. It is more difficult to practice the quick-out skill when you are rowing hard, but working on it a little bit each day can be helpful.

• Skill Area #8: Successfully use a 6-banana recovery drill before the next stroke.

  Tips: Several years ago one high school sculler at Moss Bay, Heidi Eckmann, coined the name of this drill. Instead of using elegant concepts like "ratio", she preferred to use a moniker that novice scullers could understand, namely bananas. So the drill goes like this. Using full slide and at least half power, the sculler comes out of bow lightening fast, sets their back, then proceeds to move their slide very slowly. From the time they swing out until they reach the full-slide position, the sculler should be able to count to "6 banana", in a normal voice cadence of one-banana, two-banana, and so on up to six-banana. Sounds easy or corny? It's not. This drill challenges you to have balance, continuous movement of the slide, but mostly slow movement of your wheels. Try it.

• Skill Area #9: Successfully propel the boat at least 50 meters in fewer than 10 strokes.

  Tips: Several of the skills mentioned in Section #2 will help you develop the kind of "ratio" necessary to propel the boat without upsetting it. You will know you are doing them well if you are able to propel your boat at least 50 meters (or 50 yards) in 10 strokes or less. If you are unable to do this when using leg pressure there are 3 likely explanations. First, you may be upsetting the boat at the catch by gripping too tight or going too deep with your oars - soften your grip at the catch. Second, you may be gripping too tight at the finish causing one oar to get stuck in the water - try harder to finish the release more with your shoulders and less with your wrists. And a third possible explanation is that you spend too much time in the bow at the finish and/or race up the slide too quickly for the next stroke - learn to have "ratio" by coming out of bow quickly with your hands and following with a slow slide on the recovery.