“When you see someone putting on his Big Boots, you can be pretty sure that an Adventure is going to happen.”
From Winnie-the-Pooh By A.A. Milne
This weekend the novice rowers received our first opportunity to get out on the water. Due to to large number of people trying out they divided us into six groups of eight that would go out over the course of Saturday and Sunday (even then they didn't get everyone out the first weekend!). I lucked out and got the first group on Saturday.
The boathouse is located on the River Avon near the M40 (that's a highway, or motorway). Because of the distance from campus we had a set time at which the shuttle would come to collect us for our outing.
Not wanting to be late I arrive at the rendezvous point ten minutes before the minibus was scheduled to arrive. Twenty minutes later, six guys and five girls began questioning if we had the right time, but we figured that either we had a group hallucination or the bus was running late, maybe the Lemington pick up was taking longer than expected. Thirty minutes after the scheduled pick up time I began creating scenarios in my head as to why the bus was so late:
At last the shuttle arrive - forty-five minutes late. Apparently the Senior Men hadn't gotten off the water in time and that had throw the whole day off. So sixteen people crammed into the Minibus (a fancy term for a sixteen passenger van with a high roof) and we were off. I ended up sitting in the front and got the full impact of how far off the beaten path we were going, traveling over hill and dale to reach our final destination. Once we got off the motorway and starting roaming through a field on a rutted path I starting to wonder - could they be taking us out just to make us walk back, survival of the fittest style? This was not the case, however (and thankfully), soon the river and boathouse came into view.
Before I go into more detail about the experience let me explain some basic terminology. There are several different types of boats used in rowing but the only one your need to know about at this time is the eight. As the name implies, it is a boat with eight rowers, with one oar each. In addition, an eight also has someone called a Coxwain (usually referred to as the Cox) who give directions to the rowers through a microphone that is connected to speakers that run down the boat. If you watched any rowing during the London Olympics this was the tiny person standing with the super tall people during the medal ceremony. The smaller they are the better because they really are dead weight and their seat at the stern of the boat is tiny. The person at the stern is called the Stroke (because they set the speed of the team's stroke) and the person at the bow is called the Bow (logically). Terminology differs in the UK from the US on this next part but how they divide the boat here (UK) is those whose oars are on the Stroke side are referred to as such (Stroke Side) and those with oars on the Bow side are the same. This is where it gets confusing (if you haven't reached that point already); when they want a certain set to row together they call them pairs, fours, or sixes. For example, if they only want the two people closest to the bow to row they say, "Bow Pair row." If they want the two closest to the stern to row they say, "Stroke Pair row." However, if they want the four or six people closet to the stern to row, they say, "Stern Four/Six row." In addition, the rowers are referred to not by name, but by number starting with the bow. Now that you have way more information than you probably ever wanted regarding rowing terminology, we may continue.
We were met at the boathouse by our Captain, Lara, and our Coach, Oli, who went through basic boat terms and a safety talk. While we were going over the basics, the novice men put their boat into the river. The men returned to the boathouse as Oli stated, "and remember to have someone stay with the boat once it's in the water or..." suddenly he stopped talking and turned to look at the novice mens' coach ..."or it will start drifting down the river - like the mens' boat is doing right now."
We all turned towards the river and, sure enough, as if in slow motion the eight was drifting away from the dock. The mens' coach rushed down to the dock mumbling about how he had told someone to hang on to the boat. Oli looked into the faces of the eight expectant girls and stated, "the boats are expensive, we would rather not loose them down the river." We all burst out laughing and enjoyed watching the men scramble into the launch and retrieve the runaway boat.
The boathouse is located on the River Avon near the M40 (that's a highway, or motorway). Because of the distance from campus we had a set time at which the shuttle would come to collect us for our outing.
Not wanting to be late I arrive at the rendezvous point ten minutes before the minibus was scheduled to arrive. Twenty minutes later, six guys and five girls began questioning if we had the right time, but we figured that either we had a group hallucination or the bus was running late, maybe the Lemington pick up was taking longer than expected. Thirty minutes after the scheduled pick up time I began creating scenarios in my head as to why the bus was so late:
- Maybe they were testing our resolve to see who really wanted to join the team
- Maybe they had forgotten to fill the tank and the shuttle was sitting on the side of the road and they had no way of contacting us
- Maybe a river snake had eaten the team and there wasn't anyone left to come get us
At last the shuttle arrive - forty-five minutes late. Apparently the Senior Men hadn't gotten off the water in time and that had throw the whole day off. So sixteen people crammed into the Minibus (a fancy term for a sixteen passenger van with a high roof) and we were off. I ended up sitting in the front and got the full impact of how far off the beaten path we were going, traveling over hill and dale to reach our final destination. Once we got off the motorway and starting roaming through a field on a rutted path I starting to wonder - could they be taking us out just to make us walk back, survival of the fittest style? This was not the case, however (and thankfully), soon the river and boathouse came into view.
Before I go into more detail about the experience let me explain some basic terminology. There are several different types of boats used in rowing but the only one your need to know about at this time is the eight. As the name implies, it is a boat with eight rowers, with one oar each. In addition, an eight also has someone called a Coxwain (usually referred to as the Cox) who give directions to the rowers through a microphone that is connected to speakers that run down the boat. If you watched any rowing during the London Olympics this was the tiny person standing with the super tall people during the medal ceremony. The smaller they are the better because they really are dead weight and their seat at the stern of the boat is tiny. The person at the stern is called the Stroke (because they set the speed of the team's stroke) and the person at the bow is called the Bow (logically). Terminology differs in the UK from the US on this next part but how they divide the boat here (UK) is those whose oars are on the Stroke side are referred to as such (Stroke Side) and those with oars on the Bow side are the same. This is where it gets confusing (if you haven't reached that point already); when they want a certain set to row together they call them pairs, fours, or sixes. For example, if they only want the two people closest to the bow to row they say, "Bow Pair row." If they want the two closest to the stern to row they say, "Stroke Pair row." However, if they want the four or six people closet to the stern to row, they say, "Stern Four/Six row." In addition, the rowers are referred to not by name, but by number starting with the bow. Now that you have way more information than you probably ever wanted regarding rowing terminology, we may continue.
We were met at the boathouse by our Captain, Lara, and our Coach, Oli, who went through basic boat terms and a safety talk. While we were going over the basics, the novice men put their boat into the river. The men returned to the boathouse as Oli stated, "and remember to have someone stay with the boat once it's in the water or..." suddenly he stopped talking and turned to look at the novice mens' coach ..."or it will start drifting down the river - like the mens' boat is doing right now."
We all turned towards the river and, sure enough, as if in slow motion the eight was drifting away from the dock. The mens' coach rushed down to the dock mumbling about how he had told someone to hang on to the boat. Oli looked into the faces of the eight expectant girls and stated, "the boats are expensive, we would rather not loose them down the river." We all burst out laughing and enjoyed watching the men scramble into the launch and retrieve the runaway boat.
Next it was our turn to put our eight into the water. As you probably guessed (being the smart person I know you are) these boats aren't light; A standard eight is about two feet wide, sixty-two feet long, and weighs over two hundred and ten pounds. Since they are delicate and very expensive (shells alone cost between twenty-five to forty-five thousand dollars!) we had to be extremely careful to not drop it, scrap it, or put holes in it. To get the boat from land to water we first needed to get it from its cradle (because they would never be left on the ground) to above our heads.
Before we started Oli emphasized several times that when going from holding at our waists to rolling it above our head we should not stop, even if we wanted to, because there was no way that anyone could hold the boat at an angle next to them without dropping it. On that frightening note he said, "on three swing the boat above your head. One...(we starting swinging the boat)...two...(we swung a little harder)...three...put to head" We swung the boat with all our might and, fighting against gravity and our shocked muscles, we wrenched to boat above our heads. "Shoulders," Oli instructed and we all gratefully lowered the the boat to rest on our shoulders. With similar directions and struggle we succeeded in getting the boat into the water with no major mishaps.
Before we started Oli emphasized several times that when going from holding at our waists to rolling it above our head we should not stop, even if we wanted to, because there was no way that anyone could hold the boat at an angle next to them without dropping it. On that frightening note he said, "on three swing the boat above your head. One...(we starting swinging the boat)...two...(we swung a little harder)...three...put to head" We swung the boat with all our might and, fighting against gravity and our shocked muscles, we wrenched to boat above our heads. "Shoulders," Oli instructed and we all gratefully lowered the the boat to rest on our shoulders. With similar directions and struggle we succeeded in getting the boat into the water with no major mishaps.
Once we were in the water I discovered something about several of the people with whom I was afloat with: they could not retain basic directions. This became apparent when we were working drills and they were unable to keep the boat level! No matter how many times Oli told them to "set" the boat they couldn't figure out how to keep it there! Because of this we spent most of the time sitting at a funny angle! I really don't understand the difficulty! Don't they realize that if the boat is tipped away from their oar they need to raise their hands up, and vice versa if the boat is tipping towards their oar. If I hadn't been just as annoyed at their lack of understanding I would have found Oli's frustration very humorous. But really, how hard is it to realize that after they say "Stroke Side up...Bow Side down" that they have to return to center or we'd have the opposite problem as before. In addition, when it's not your turn to complete the drill you can't just set your oar on the edge of the boat but keep it cradled in your arms like a baby (maybe they'd never held a baby and that's their problem?)
After almost an hour and most of the people in the boat with me couldn't grasp this concept I realized that while I might not be in the best physical shape (especially when forced to run - the horrors, makes me shudder just thinking about running) at least I apparently had a leg up on the others in terms of my information retention skills!
It will be extremely interesting to see who makes the team in the end! I'll keep you posted :-)
After almost an hour and most of the people in the boat with me couldn't grasp this concept I realized that while I might not be in the best physical shape (especially when forced to run - the horrors, makes me shudder just thinking about running) at least I apparently had a leg up on the others in terms of my information retention skills!
It will be extremely interesting to see who makes the team in the end! I'll keep you posted :-)
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