Caroline Gilmore
Above: CMCC eight plus coxswain during rowing practice on University Lake. PHOTO BY CAROLINE GILMORE
Rowing dates back to the Egyptians 1430 BC, and is one of the oldest sports. What once started out as a means of transportation, rowing has evolved into a team sport celebrated by kings and queens.
Rowing is a lifetime sport. It is low impact, provides a good cardio workout of moderate to high intensity and requires total fitness. Training for rowing includes: walking/running, weightlifting, taking spin classes and using rowing machines.
The levels of competitive rowing are juniors, college and masters. Masters rowers are over 18 years of age and usually post-college.
There are two types of rowing: sweeping in which each rower has one oar and sculling in which each rower has two oars. The boats for sweeping and sculling are identical and come in different configurations that go by different names.
In sculling there are single sculls, double sculls, quad sculls which can be coxswained (coxed) or coxless and coxed octuple sculls (always coxed, and mainly for juniors and exhibition). In sweep rowing there are coxless pairs, coxed pairs, coxless fours, coxed fours and eights (always coxed).
The coxswain is the quarterback in rowing with the four-fold job of: steering the boat with a tiny rudder; keeping the boat safe from traffic and obstacles; calling the race strategy and motivating the rowers.
The racing year has two seasons—a summer season that lasts from March to early August and consists of sprint races over 2000m (high school and college) and 1000m (masters), and a fall season that lasts from September to November and consists of head races in which boats are set off at intervals to row 5000m.
Rowing organizations in the Orange/Chatham area are Carolina Masters Crew Club (CMCC) which is based on University Lake in Chapel Hill and CHAOS Rowing (CHAOS) based on Jordan Lake.
CMCC (www.carolinamasterscrew.org) was established in 1993 under the auspices of the UNC Crew Club and offers sweep rowing for women over 18 years of age. CMCC rows out of the Nicholls Boathouse that it shares with the UNC Women’s NCAA Rowing program and the UNC Men’s Crew Club and is coached by Samantha Chauveau who rowed in high school, college and, later, internationally.
CMCC’s 60 members are as diverse in their rowing experience, ranging from 4 months to 30+ years of rowing, and competitive interests, ranging from recreational rowers to competitive racers, as they are in age, ranging from women in their mid-twenties to mid-sixties. In winter, CMCC holds three practices each week, and in the spring/summer, they hold four practices each week.
CMCC also offers learn-to-row trainings in the summer. The sessions are four 2-hour sessions coached by Chauveau. In 2016, CMCC plans to offer three learn-to-row training sessions. Cost is $200.
Liz Jenista is a sweep rower who rowed in high school and for Notre Dame. She joined CMCC in 2006 and enjoys the team aspect of rowing and told CSN “I row for the workout and for the motivation and for the teammates …for the sense of community that masters has provided.”
Jenista continued, “It’s really great to have the same people to go to every week, working on the same goal.”
Felix Muhlebach started rowing with CMCC 10 years ago. After several years, he and a number of other rowers left CMCC and started CHAOS (www.chaosrowing.org) in July 2015. The eight charter members included local, collegiate and international-level competitors from several countries on four continents. CHAOS rows out of the Crosswinds Boating Center in Apex and has rowers from Apex, Carrboro, Cary, Chapel Hill, Chatham County, Durham, Raleigh, and Wake County. The club currently has 20 rowers ranging in age from mid-twenties to mid-sixties.
They can row with the club for up to one year without joining. CHAOS holds 2-3 practices each week during the winter and 3-4 practices each week during the summer. Additionally, members can row any time they get enough rowers to fill a boat.
CHAOS has a juniors program which is the only one in the Orange/Chatham County area. The fledgling program would like to get a fleet of shells for the juniors and a jon boat for a professional coach. Currently, the juniors are using CHAOS boats, but they need a boat that is designed for their smaller size and weight.
In February, I attended rowing practices with both CHAOS and CMCC. On a 38-degree Sunday morning, six people, myself included, showed up for a CHAOS rowing practice. I was about to get my first ever rowing experience. We took down and set up a quad and went over some basic rowing instructions.
We rowed to the middle of the lake and then under the bridge to a larger section of lake, making a number of passes across the lake. It was hard to keep the oars even with each other and with those of the three other scullers. Optimal stroke effectiveness doesn’t require brute strength, rather a relaxed, smooth stroke. The repetition of the stroke and smoothness of the boat on the water were mesmerizing and Zen-like.
Caroline Gilmore rowing with CHAOS on Jordan Lake. PHOTO BY RICHARD MCDONOGH
At a CMCC’s Saturday-morning rowing practice, I initially went out in a launch boat and followed the CMCC women’s eight with cox around University Lake. Members rotate “coxing” so that everyone gets a chance to row. That morning, the cox was Emma Shaw, who had coxed for UNC Women’s Rowing.
I watched her maneuver the boat around the lake and listened to her call out rowing commands. I also observed Jenista’s smooth, steady stroke. After practice, she and three other women let me row with them in a four with cox. I learned to watch the back of the rower in front of me to help me synchronize my stroke with hers. And learned what a good, full-body stretch rowing provides.
After rowing twice, I have a new appreciation for how much rowing relies on team work, focus, dedication, total conditioning. I am hoping to continue rowing. Maybe I will see you on the lake!