INTERESTING TIMES

The previous post about big water rowing strategy for small water boaters has been helpful to a lot of non-boatmen tasked with rowing. Friends have asked me to write more about rowing skills, so here we go. It took me years to get comfortable with the basics because I was only occasionally on the oars. When I finally got control of my boat angle in turbulent water I started having better lines. Moving the boat forward and going for the meat got easier, but any finer points were lost on me. I've ridden with boatmen who row every day for months and years on end, and they knew things that you have to learn by doing. I've never rowed for a living, so I'm an amateur. Still, I've had some seasons when I rowed enough that light bulbs went off in my head. Here are three lessons that made a big difference for me.

Lesson 1: Push More (You Don't Have Pull out of Every Corner)
( Read more... )

...is worth overdoing. That was their mantra.

Completely Recommend.
( is worth overdoing. )

Here's a nice new post on the NRS blog by a friend of mine. It's about Staying Connected to Boating... The author gives examples of several different ways of negotiating the river, and makes the point that a full connection to river running and to the river itself comes from trying many different craft and styles.... which is in my view what adds up to true mastery. And joy.

On Monday, during my rowing class, a set of black helicopters started circling overhead. It was hard to pick out any details on them, because they were so dark. They flew east through downtown, flying so low that they were below the tops of the buildings. Then they turned south over the river, over our heads. They turned west over Ross Island, and circled back toward downtown flying low along the ridge on which OHSU sits. They circled this way many times, seemingly lower each time, and then they all concentrated in a small area in the SW. We watched them from our rowboat with uncertainty and some alarm. I thought they were searching for someone, and had been given a perimeter. Later that night they were still flying low over the city, and one came awfully close to my second story window in Brooklyn, considering wires are everywhere.
( The helicopters are coming! )