Rowing Camp: An Experience in Precipitation

A handful of novice rowers were invited to the training camp for the development squad. Three full days out on the water in the middle of a relatively mild English winter. How bad could it be? Well we woke up at 5:45 on the first morning to gently falling snow. Normally I would be thrilled about that but it didn't bode well for a day on the river. The stretch of river near Oxford is narrow and windy, with only a short channel that is navigable by boats so we were to row at Reading, which is about an hour away. We walked 30 minutes in the dark and snow to get to the boat house, rowed across the river, then disassembled the boat and put it on a trailer before walking back to get the cars. Unfortunately the snow melted as soon as it landed so everything and everyone ended up wet. By the time we drove to Reading, the snow had stopped but reassembling a boat with dozens of nuts and bolts when your fingers are numb with cold isn't particularly pleasant. Or productive.

When we finally got on the river everyone was freezing and two hours of technical drills didn't improve anyone's spirits. The two coxes, who are both males, keep up a constant banter, whether it is at dinner or using their microphones to shout insults across the river. The jibes aren't particularly clever and it seems incredibly immature to constantly make themselves the center of attention. But I'm a lowly novice rower so I'm endeavoring to bite my tongue and hide my annoyance. Good practice for me. One of them is quite officious which is irritating. If someone in a group is going to be officious, I prefer for it to be me.

The senior girls have a beautiful new racing shell named Shakira (the last one was named Brittany so I'm sure you can see the trend). And it is a definite upgrade over Joan and Carol.  But, like all divas, she's a bit temperamental so keeping her level in the water is a constant struggle. And she still weighs several hundred pounds so getting her in an out of the water is a considerable feat. At reading, the docks were lined with landmines of goose poop the size of cow pies.

We were all so tired of being cold that we turned the water on scalding hot when we finally got in the showers and the steam must have triggered the locker room fire alarm. We deliberated and decided that we would wait and let the fire marshal drag us out. Alternatively, burning alive would be far better than freezing to death in our towels outside.

Photo courtesy of Puffett Foto

On day two we were sparred the rigging process but it started raining just as we went out on the water and the temperatures were hovering around freezing. I don’t think I have ever worn so many pieces of clothing at once. Fortunately the skies soon cleared and the sun peaked out a bit in the afternoon. When we weren’t on the river or gasping for breath in the erg room, several of the crew took to bursting into song. Show tunes, Christmas carols, and bad pop songs. You name it, they probable sang it. It was like living in an episode of Glee. Amusing and exasperating all at the same time. Everyone was sleeping over at one of the girls houses and that is a lot of team bonding time.

The training was a great experience, and definitely improved my rowing, but by the third day I was ready for it to be over. Despite frost and icy docks, the weather held through Sunday. We got really lucky to have fairly decent conditions but a hailstorm caught up with us just as we were rerigging the boats in Oxford. The weather gods wanted to make sure we experienced the full spectrum of precipitation.