The Rowing Agenda

My near (yet far) future? A road to a PhD in biochemistry, molecular and cellular biology at Cornell University. I got into the program, now what about it? No clue. I'll probably leave as a Dr. by the time I'm 30 (praying for younger). As with all else, I'll plan for it as best as I can and then hope for the best.

How this topic fits into this blog is the question regarding the fate of my rowing life. After 3 years of intense focus and dedication to my collegiate rowing life, how does one deal with a transition from studious nerd to nerd-nerd? The sport has become part of who I am now; there must be a way around this problem....

I did contemplate about trying to walk-on Cornell's novice lightweight crew. At this point, I just want to row. But at 5' 8'', 140 lbs (and slowly dropping), I would think that they try to find the coxswain in me. Am I definitely NOT coxswain material. Of all things, fast-thinking and multitasking is not my thing. I am a critical thinker, of course, but not fast. (Say I do become a coxswain for Cornell, at least I'll be one of the strongest coxswains the crew would ever have!)

My other obstacle (the much more substantial one) is the fact that I would be a PhD graduate student at Cornell. Looking at my first-year course work, competitive crew already seems highly unlikely. As a grad student, I am not only a student but an employee. They are paying me to study AND to work in the lab. The stakes get much higher. Furthermore, I do not know whether I am even eligible for NCAA status as a graduate student. As far as I know, there are none on the team roster.

Whatever the case, I am confident things will work out sooner or later. Patience tend to solve things. Maybe I'll find a nearby rowing club. Until then, all I know is I need to be ready for any opportunities that may await for me.

Hence, my plan for this summer shall be studying, gaining healthy weight, and staying in optimum physical-mental shape.

Were you a small, light person when you stepped onto your crew for the first time wanting to row? Well then, your coach probably asked you (or maybe just thought about it) if you'd like to be a coxswain or row bow seat. Or, if you had a more hardcore coach, then you're stuck as bow. No questions asked.

As a novice rower, I was the bow of my crew. I'll tell you exactly what most novice bow rowers feel: frustrated, angry, just about hopeless for a while. That's right, I'm almost certain that novice bow rowers might be the angriest rower of the entire crew.

Let's look at the physics of the bow seat. It is literally the most narrow seat of shell. It is commonly said that the major "responsibility" of the bow (and 2-seat) is boat balance. Of course this isn't just their responsibility but any movement by these two seats will have a more drastic effect on balance than any other seat. So what are the stereotypical characteristics of a good bow? Balance, ability to mimic 7-seat (or 3-seat in a four), and smaller body size. Note that this does not in anyway mean that bow is the weakest. Remember, excluding technique, the shell is only as fast as the slowest rower.



Back to the question: why's the novice bow the most difficult rower's seat mentally? The novice boat will most commonly experience enormous amounts of problems. One of the major problems that affect bow the most is balance. As bow is in the most narrow seat, bow should be the first to contact the water on any starboard (or port if bow is port) lean. Since novice crews will generally experience a lot of heavy lean rows, bow will usually find him/herself "holding" up the boat. Holding up the boat means feathering the oar on the water during the recovery and pushing up on it so avoid further boat lean. This forces primarily bow to use energy to try to restore balance to the boat instead of into the stroke. Trust me, holding up boats is NOT FUN AT ALL. It makes things worst when the other seats in front can't see that you're holding up the boat and they think nothing is wrong. So they keep the way things are, and bow is just holding the boat all row long.

My advice: LET IT GO. Just that, if the boat leans, let it lean. Make sure to avoid feathering on the water even if you have to gunnell the oar (meaning push the oar handle as low as you can). That way, everyone will starkly feel the lean and will try to fix their personal technique. It probably won't fix the set because bow would also be having bad technique doing this, but this way everyone shares on the bad lean. Afterall, the first step in fixing a problem is identifying it. If the other rowers do not know, nothing will be fixed.