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Should you scull or sweep first? Is one best or easiest...
Published 2 months ago • 3 min read
Hello again Reader
New joiners are the lifeblood for masters rowing - more midlife novices come to rowing than any other group. Planning and organising your learn to row group is an important part of masters club strategy.
It's important that they both have a good experience and that they get fed into a masters rowing pathway too.
We got this question from a club in Australia.
I have a group of late 30 something (age) ladies that have children rowing and would love to try rowing, I am torn as to whether to start them sculling or go straight to sweep oared rowing in bigger boats as a simpler option.
I bet you've faced a similar situation in your club, Reader. There isn't one single answer.
My first thought is to start the group sculling because it’s more flexible - you can easily match taller/shorter people than in a sweep crew. Plus, I know it’s easier to swap from sculling to sweep than the other way around.
If you do choose starting with sweep, we had an interesting discussion in our Coach Mastermind group last week - one member starts all his crew in sweep eights. And each session, they move one seat down the boat. So if you start at stroke, in the second lesson you go to 7, 6 etc… ending up in the cox’s seat. In this way he ensures everyone learns to row both sides, and to appreciate steering too.
So to answer the question - I don't think it matters as long as you start rowing, you'll get to doing the other one sometime!
Row for an education
Ana Perez Galvan is again running her virtual charity rowathon event on the International Day of Education starting on 24th January. The funds raised will be used to fund academic and sports scholarships for children from low income families. Supporters include Rowing Australia and British Rowing.
Why not invite a less experienced rower to practice with you this week?
Rebecca
This week's podcast
Beat the January blues by going on rowing camp. Four benefits to get from camp - coach point of view and athlete point of view.
When you learn just one useful thing from our podcast, become a supporter from $1 per month. This helps cover overheads and enables us to continue our work to improve masters rowing around the world.
Staying warm at winter regattas
A reader asked me how I manage to stay warm when racing, especially if it’s raining.
Out of interest, how do you cope and what do you wear as in gloves, socks, thermals etc for racing in cold temperatures regattas, like in Tassie, expected 1-3 ℃?
Louise, NSW Australia
Here’s what I did rowing in Wanaka, New Zealand (early morning 2 degrees, high of 15 with a wind chill too).
I layer up, big time. I pack 3 changes of clothing per day of the regatta.
We were wading out into the water to wet-launch our boats into the lake. I am bare foot, have my warmest leggings on; socks in my waist band. Get in the boat and put the waterproof socks on first (before fixing up so my feet start to warm through).
I wore four layers on my torso – silk undershirt, t-shirt, thermal long sleeve and a waterproof jacket. I had a neck warmer (half fleece, half cotton) and a beanie hat too.
For my hands, I have shooting mitts which are sheepskin but leave my palms open to the oar handles. Those are fine most of the time…. pogies don’t keep my hands warm, I’m afraid. And if I get wet I always change my clothing so I stay dry on land, even if it means putting wet clothes on to go out to race.
The Winter Rowing Kit Rules
Rowing clothing – the layering principle
Have many layers and take them off to suit your needs on that day. Our checklist for winter rowing:
Base layer (next to your skin)
Leggings, shorts or All-in-one row suit
T-shirt
Long sleeve thermal shirt
Winter tights or leggings
Warm socks – waterproof if you like
A hat (thermal) or a cap plus a neck warmer tube
Before and after rowing I also have a hoodie or jacket
There’s a balance between clothing that is too tight and too loose which a rowing-designed garment should get about right. Too tight and it restricts your movement. Too loose and it flaps around or gets caught in the slides.
Does anyone here use a digital log book at their club? Not for tracking workouts but for tracking which athletes rowed in which boats, checking boats in and out etc.
Join us to discover the fun in our global rowing community. We race, we train, we go on rowing vacations, we meet other masters, we discuss, we learn, we laugh. Join in
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