Familiar Foes

We have been fortunate enough to piece with Loyola for the past two weekends. They are putting together a 4+ to race at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRAs) at Mercer on June 3-5, and so they were more than willing to race us for the past two weekends. 

The distance of the pieces varied but the intensity did not - the competition was always fierce. We raced 2,000 meter pieces all the way down to 500 meter blasters, trying to produce as much speed as possible. We were joined by a Loyola spare pair and a women's double, who started in front of us, adding to the fun. Ian Schmertzler, our coxswain, managed the conditions and the other boats masterfully, dodging them when necessary to minimize the wake that we rowed in. Other distractions were present, as during our first piece we were followed by multiple launches with one even trying to coach us during the piece. There is nothing like focusing on technique to distract you from rowing at race pressure. 

The multiple pieces over the two weekends allowed us to practice starts, sprints, moves, and rowing at base. Conditions were beautiful as a whole, but we managed to even practice in winds and currents thanks to the ever varying Baltimore Harbor. 

We were grateful for the chance to row next to a crew as it will only help us for the dual races. Good luck to Loyola when they compete this upcoming weekend at the IRA! 

Bonus clip: Rowing at base during a 1500 meter piece. We borrowed a boat from Loyola for that practice. Notice the water's movement on the boat's bow - hull design has come a long way.

Final Days - Learning a Lesson

I am the only member of the boat that has competed at Henley. The event - Thames Challenge Cup in 2012 with Potomac Boat Club.

The experience changed my life forever. I sometimes talk about it with the guys in the boat. I remember one particular moment that changed my attitude on rowing and competition  - it goes back to May 8th, 2012.

I had already bought the ticket (flights) for the regatta and worked my butt off to make the boat. My erg scores and rowing ability were good enough for the boat. But on May 8th my coach pulled me aside after practice and said "someone in the Open Four wants your seat and has demanded that he seat races you again for a position in the boat. Given that he has been around the club for years and is a very talented rower, I feel obligated to give him a race. You will seat race him several times tomorrow morning."

Can you believe that? About 45 days from the event I am being seat raced! Well, I had encouragement from everyone in the boat and the team. But at the end of the day....that was just words. I had to race a very skilled oarsman for a seat in a boat that would change my life.

The next morning I came prepared. We were doing a series of 5 minute pieces in fours. I didn't speak to anyone. My first line up had beaten his boat by more than a length. We took an early lead and held. On the switch, the coach didn't say a word...she knew I needed no encouragement. After a minute on the second piece I had a 2 length lead. Following the next 4 minutes I took a seat every 3 strokes. I solidified myself as the best rower. The entire team saw it. The coach made the switch several more times and each time I was victorious.

We were less than 45 days from competing in the hardest regatta of our lives and we were STILL seat racing.

I look at BRC and this boat. We have had ZERO seat races but have had the same line up since October 2015. We don't have distractions like we did in 2012. We don't have a set of rowers demanding they get a seat race because they "deserve it".

This boat is far more prepared than I was in 2012.

Although I felt as if I earned my seat (a feeling many rowers have and a feeling that propels them to victory), the distraction in 2012 shook my nerves and hurt my energy for the race.

I look forward to what we are doing in 2016. It is an honor to row with these boys.

Musings on speed

      I spend a lot of time thinking about this boat and there are several things which absolutely astound me about it, and all of us as a group. As a group we discuss the boat, fundraising, technique, power application, pieces, and other odds and ends to a point that is almost hard to believe. We constantly have a text message group chat, several email chains, and all the time we spend together actually rowing to discuss the aforementioned. Basically, it is massively impressive the degree which we all care about the boat and our mutual success.

    Beyond the five of us, we have a dedicated group of coaches and a coxswain who have gone above and beyond to help us more than we could possibly hope. Our club itself, Baltimore Rowing Club, has done a great deal to be supportive. At the end of the day it is us in the boat though. We will be the ones with the lactic acid building in our legs, pushing ourselves against other crews from around the world in hopes of winning some hardware. I might also add we will be doing so looking incredibly classy in our rowing blazers and uniforms.

    In pushing ourselves as far and as hard as we can while still balancing busy lives we have rowed (by conservative estimates) about 6000000 (that’s 6 million) meters. Over the past couple weeks a couple things have stood out to me which I don’t really think I have ever experienced in a boat before and are truly incredibly.

    During the course of a normal row we will row a lap (about 4 thousand meters) and talk briefly about what we could do better. Almost totally organically Josh will make a call and we will do a drill to work on an issue. For instance lately we have been working on inside and outside arm only. The amazing thing is, the change sticks and we get better. I have seen crews work on something for weeks and no change is had, but we do it in a few minutes. Our coach, Jeff, asked us how we figure out drills and enact them so well together with minimal discussion or planning. I guess we are just good. 

    The other thing that amazes me has to do with our lineup. In many boats I’ve experienced everybody has a seat that they sit and that rarely changes. When I was in college I think I sat 5 seat for about two years straight. Most crews are like a machine where all the parts fit perfectly and the boat goes fast, but if you change a part, or move the parts around everything goes awry. In our case this isn’t exactly our experience. We have been rowing a starboard stroked lineup almost since the beginning and we felt that things had been going very well and we were moving fast. We come in one morning (5 A.M.) and find that through some miscommunication our 4 was rigged as port stroked. We figured we would give it a try and see what happened.
 
    Our coach joked that it looked like we had tossed all the pieces in the air and wherever they landed in the boat we would just row that. The boat was still fast, if not even fast. In fact over the past couple months we have rowed five or 6 different line ups. Nearly everybody has sat in every seat at one time or another; the only exception being yours truly has never stroked because frankly, I have no interest in stroking haha. No matter what we do, we are fast, lacking in any sort of self-serving ego that prevents gaining more speed, and have the passion and personalities which make me believe that there is no stopping us.