during winter, rowing practice involves keeping fit by erging and refining our technique by simulating some of the on-the-water experience in the “tank” / three rivers rowing in pittsburgh is the only national rowing club that operates two boathouses, one is at washington’s landing and the other in millvale \ the tank is in the millvale boathouse
after being in a bit of lull, i am back in the swing of things! \ nothing like learning something new to get me motivated again / the new thing is learning to row starboard, that’s rowing the left oar \ i learned and rowed port in the past two years by default <due to an injured left rotator cuff> / but i think it would be good to be ambidextrous <or bisweptual> since i plan to learn to scull in the spring \ and just being skilled in both would help the coach in filling lineups
coach reviewed feathering when we got to the tank / to feather is to turn the blade parallel to the water \ it was a great way to learn starboard / i am right handed so feathering comes easily when i row port \ with starboard, i have to feather with my weaker left hand / and as coach reminded us, the proper way to feather is to use the fingers with no help from the thumb \ it seemed impossible at first <as a drill, we feathered four times in one stroke> but when we did continuous rowing, it was very doable though it was clear that i needed to strengthen my hand / great practice today and i’m happy to be back rowing!
