Virtual rowing and PicoMicroYacht - there is no need to rush

Although PicoMicroYacht is prominent in this blog, most of my rowing is done on a rowing machine, a WaterRower made by BritishRowing - 'virtual rowing.'

The WaterRower has the advantage is that it is mainly made of wood and it stacks upright, such that it is more tasteful and takes up less space. It also uses paddles in a water filled barrel for inertia.

The paddle feature means that instead of metalic whirring, there is a more natural swishing noise, as illustrated in this video.

My WaterRower has lasted many years, although I had to replace the plastic barrel, having damaged it when trolleying (it has wheels)  into another room and catching the barrel on the door frame.

Virtual rowing keeps me fit throughout the year and then when I go out in PicoMicroYacht I am able to row the long distances.

Like all rowing machines it needs the right coordinated smooth action. I learned this action in boats at school, firstly with a fixed seat, then moving onto sliding seats in quite easy to row skiffs.

The first sculling boat I raced  was clinker and had the disadvantage that when it dried out in the winter through non-use gaps appeared between the planks. It sank rapidly before the planks swelled again.

I soon moved on to smooth wooden sculling shells. In the 1970s these had not really progressed in design for over 50 years. The one shown below was used by my father's cousin at Henley in 1923 and is similar to the one I raced some 50 years later.

A smooth rowing technique can be obtained through following a few simple rules and starting at a slow rate.

WaterRower instruction video

The instructional videos for rowing machines can be quite good, but the techniques are not always  technically perfect. Some fantastic techniques can be found in race videos. I found this commentary on Zach Purchase, an English Olympic gold medalist lightweight rower - his technique is amazing.

The main approach is of course to lead with the leg movement and then the upper body and finally the arms, reversing this on the recovery. When learning I found I had to be careful not to do what we used to call a 'bum shoving' in which the sliding seat moves faster than the shoulders at the start of the stroke..

Technique and common rowing faults to watch out for are also seen on this webpage from  British Rowing

https://www.britishrowing.org/knowledge/online-learning/techniques-and-training/water-rowing-technique/

Interestingly, technique may not be everything. For example, spot the difference in technique between the O'Donovan brothers below. They still went on to win silver medals in the Rio Olympics.

When I was learning to row our  main coaches  had been influenced the successful East German international rowing teams. They had instituted very long slides, with greater compression at the front end of the stroke. This required special training to implement.

One of our coaches, Ronnie Howard, had introduced systems of high intensity interval training  in the early 1960s, again copying the East Germans.  This had produced notable success and is now commonplace.

It superceded lengthy rowing at a more steady state to obtain form.  We used steady rowing in the winter to build up form, changing to interval training towards the summer to produce speed.

I remember the toughness of the training and the feeling of apprehension beforehand.

Interval training in a quadruple sculling boat in 1975, rowing number two

I now row steadily in PicoMicroYacht, enjoying the rhythm of  swishing along, the vibrant sea blues and greens, the salt smell and the undulations of the waves. There is no reason to rush.