In books…
I’ve rediscovered Rowing Against the Current by Cornell professor of history and classics Barry Strauss which I bought in 2010 when the urge to row first manifested as a boat kit in the basement. The subtitle — “On learning to scull at forty” — has clear similarities to the overall theme of this blog.
Whippersnapper.
Really, you should just go buy the book. Here are a couple of pull quotes from the forward by Harry Parker, head coach of the Harvard heavyweight crew:
“[College crew coaches] know that they can teach a willing college student the fundamentals of good rowing and that persistence and determination to master the rowing stroke can more than make up for any loss of receptivity to change that muscles might have already developed at the age of eighteen.”
page 13
“There are no ‘naturals’ at the age of forty.”
also page 13
Barry Strauss writes about rowing, as almost everyone does, from the standpoint of racing or preparing to race. But it’s clear that he gets that there is much to be said for messing about in (racing) boats apart from racing:
The colors of upstate New York…
page 34
Also some practical tips: Dr. Strauss learned to feather and square properly with handles shaped to indicate the orientation of the blades (page n). So consider putting a removable tactile indicator on the handle, something like a small dowel or just a ridge of tape to indicate squared or feathered. As usual, I am getting far ahead of myself.