Elan action from New Years drive

[EnfoKen]

Here are a few shots of my Elan 4448 during our annual drive around the hills above
Malibu and along the coast here in Los Angeles.

[memini55]

Ken,

Looks good and must have been fun, but wait both you and the Elise have your hoods on??
Isn't this southern California were it is warm??

Mark in the frozen midwest

[msd1107]

Mark,

Yes, southern California is "warm" compared with some other parts of the US. We are having a patch of lower than normal temperatures right now, so it can get a bit chilly.

When I start off in the early morning for my rowing practice, it can be in the low 50's. But it will usually be in the 40's and dip down into the 30's as I drive up to Lake Casitas. It has been in the low 30's recently, and this morning there was frost on the ground and ice on the dock. But once out on the lake and rowing, it was fine.

At least it is better than one day at practice back in Cambridge, MA on the Charles river when the back of my sweatshirt was frozen stiff from water splashing around and my hands were encrusted in a layer of ice. Brrrrrrr.

Rowers are crazy people, almost as bad as Elan owners!

David
1968 36/7988 and http://www.casitasrowing.org.

[EnfoKen]

There was ice on my car this morning. Yes, I know it's not Chicago ice but it is ice.

[garyeanderson]

There was ice on my car this morning. Yes, I know it's not Chicago ice but it is ice.

Ken
Try telling that to Beau

On Monday he was standing in his pool getting a drink, It took a bit of effort with the 2x4 to open it up so he could get a drink today.

Gary

[CBUEB1771]

At least it is better than one day at practice back in Cambridge, MA on the Charles river when the back of my sweatshirt was frozen stiff from water splashing around and my hands were encrusted in a layer of ice. Brrrrrrr.

There have been many winter mornings when I have driven along Memorial Drive and seen crews out training. As long as the Charles is not actually frozen over somebody will be out rowing. It looks like absolute madness to me!

[msd1107]

Russ,

It looks like madness, and it may well be. People have to be crazy to go out in the rain and cold.

Interestingly, student rowers tend to do well in their classes. And rowers tend to do better in their careers.

We use all these at LCRA to recruit new members. For parents, it is another tool to improve their child's chances in life. Even if they have not rowed in college, rowing increases fitness and provided new contacts. The better high school rowers get rowing scholarships - we had two high schoolers get full 100% scholarships last year - so this is a major cost consideration for parents looking at a possible 200K+ collegiate bill.

And I lost fitness when I went through Marine Corps boot camp!

After college, there is Masters rowing. It is age categorized so that there is even competition even into your 80's. Even at 72, I race (and medal) some six times a year up and down the California coast from San Diego to Oakland. More racing than if I wanted to race my Elan!

I am sure you have seen the Head of the Charles races in October. All day these 60 ft long boats (and smaller ones) race down the Charles. It is an impressive sight to see. One of our members goes back each year (a 79 year old woman) and we have thought of sending some people back, but it is hard to get an entry.

David
1968 36/7988

[CBUEB1771]

It looks like madness, and it may well be. People have to be crazy to go out in the rain and cold.

David,
Just for you, two images of the Charles from mid-afternoon today. Too much ice on the river for even the most hardy. Rowing shells are not successful as ice breakers. The Anderson Bridge is being repaired, hence the debris booms in the water. I agree with all you say about rowing as a sport. Doubles, fours and eights are all about hard teamwork. There is a great new community rowing facility further upriver and I should get involved. From the day my Dad taught me to row a dinghy I have always enjoyed the basic craft. A friend has a single that I have used in Madaket Harbor on Nantucket in early mornings. It is almost open water there so early morning calm is important given a shell's few inches of freeboard. The Head of the Charles is now a bizarrely crowded event although I usual stop by. A neighbor's father has been competing into his eighties.
Russ

[msd1107]

Rowing shells are not successful as ice breakers.

Russ,

Truer words have never been spoken.

One of the boats I row is a pair. For two rowers, it is a little over 30 ft long and 11 1/2"(!) wide, weighing a little over 40 lbs. It is constructed almost entirely from carbon fiber. The main portions of the hull are less than 1 mm thick. I can easily flex the hull between my fingers. There are minimum weights for each boat type, so the emphasis is on structural rigidity in the load path from the foot stretcher and seat to the oarlock to efficiently transfer the rower's force on the foot stretcher and oar handle to the oar blade. While it handles rough water in a race with aplomb (I have had waves splash over the sideboard during a race), it is damaged very easily if it hits a solid object. So we treat these boats with tender loving care, just like we treat our Lotuses with TLC. They will last forever with good care. The double that won at the '84 Olympics is still being rowed on a regular basis.

Teamwork, as you mentioned, is critical. It is a black art for coaches to determine who and where to place rowers in any multi-person boat and the pair is the blackest of the arts. What are called "magic pairs" row faster than nominally stronger rowers. My coach and I in the pair have, in a race, rowed faster than our four that I was stroking at the same stroke rate, and, at times, have rowed faster than our eight. Compare this with the lightweight efficient Lotus Eleven that can beat larger more powerful cars.

There is a lot of technology that goes into constructing these boats, and there is not a lot of technology transfer from other forms of racing. America Cup designers have not been that successful designing racing shells and there is not a lot that transfers from Formula 1.

So think of this the next time you see rowing on TV or practice up and down the Charles.

David
1968 36/7988

[CBUEB1771]

While it handles rough water in a race with aplomb (I have had waves splash over the sideboard during a race), it is damaged very easily if it hits a solid object.

You have likely heard of a very tragic event at the Head of the Charles a few years ago. The entry list had gotten so big that a few qualifying events happened after dark on the Friday of the event. I think it was an eight that went straight into a bridge in the dark and there was at least one drowning as a result.

[msd1107]

You have likely heard of a very tragic event at the Head of the Charles a few years ago. The entry list had gotten so big that a few qualifying events happened after dark on the Friday of the event. I think it was an eight that went straight into a bridge in the dark and there was at least one drowning as a result.

Very true. These head races are management nightmare (like herding cats) and it a real challenge starting boats off at 10 second intervals in order to keep to the schedule. It is easy for boats down the line to be subjected to substantial delays.

So unfortunate. There are rules regarding quick release from the foot stretchers so that in case a boat flips, the rower can get out quickly. Usually an official checks every boat before they launch to ensure proper equipment.

At our last regatta, a prep school eight with an inexperienced cockswain steered into one of our doubles, slicing it in half. The rowers got out and the boat came back on the officials launch.

I have flipped upside down in our double. I thought it was taking me a long time to get back to the surface until I realized my feet were still in the stretchers and I was upside down under the boat. I kicked free and got to the surface, but our coach and another boat were getting worried and were coming over to help.

We have a rule that if a rower goes out alone, they have to wear a life jacket. The accepted wisdom is that if you flip, stay with the boat. Especially in a single, it is possible to right the boat, get the oars back in, and get back in the boat, and I have done so. Even with the boat filled with water, I could row back to the dock however slowly (and the adrenalin is certainly pumping!)

David
1968 36/7988