RowingChat Rebecca Caroe

Our third episode to help you master rowing square blades. Three drills to build your skill and confidence.

Timestamps
01:00 The finesses you need to get confident doing square blade rowing and sculling. Start with episode 1 to get the early drills. The set-up is critical to getting stability before you try the advanced drills.
20:00 3 on 1 off drill
Do 3 strokes square then 1 feathering. Get boat speed from the feathered stroke.
Try the other way around if you are less confidence. Commit to the square stroke; don't give yourself an "out". When you do the square stroke, leave the blade on the square.
Check your hands nest through the crossover; check pressure down is equal on both hands.
04:00 the POINT of learning square blades
Square blades gives you the skill to control the blades when the water is rough.
Time your entry and exit in isolation from squaring / feathering. Get more finessed with timing.
05:45 The Swinford Switch drill
Work in 10 stroke blocks; 10 strokes square on port; 10 strokes square on starboard; 10 strokes square on port etc. Do this as long as you can tolerate it.
07:30 Rebecca's variant: 10 strokes normal rowing; 10 square stroke side (feathered bow side); 10 square bow side; 10 square on both oars; 10 strokes feathered again.
08:00 Marlene focuses on the feathered oar to keep concentration. Be aware of the correct weight in the hands so the oar is high enough off the water. The feathered hand sets the rhythm for you. You can hold the boat level with just one hand. Keep lateral pressure into the pins for the switch over stroke.
09:00 Pause at hands away then feather drill.
Come out square and hold the oars square pausing at arms/body away. During the pause move to feather, continue the rest of the stroke.
For bladework handling this is a really good drill.


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Two more drills to get yourself rowing with square blades. And tips on ways to practice.

Timestamps
01:00 Recap last week's drills. Progressively add these exercises - the ladder of learning concept.
You can always do more of the basics.
02:00 Row Circles
Drills of two types - isolation or exaggeration.
This is an isolation drill - row with one oar. Stabilise the boat with one oar while you practice. This is good for self-coaching as you can watch your blade. Get your release timing perfect.
Practice the tap down - do it as a progression moving from arms only to full slide.
Ensure you are entering and exiting the water correctly. How much weight in the handle do you need to maintain the shaft height above the water.
Ensure the oar not rowing is resting on the water and maintaining the balance of the boat.
05:00 Try looking at your handle while doing this. A visual reference for yourself.
Look past the handle to something beyond so you know if your hand is not in line with that point you're not at the right height for square blade rowing.

Join the Faster Masters Rowing Training Group on Facebook for discussion and support.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/261607611492302

07:00 Delayed feather drill.
This is an exaggeration drill. Release square, when hands change direction away from the body, then move to feather off the oar.
This can also be done as a slide build progression.
If you've never done this before, add it to your rowing in circles work (above).
Visualise a soccer ball on the water behind your blade - make the oar go up and over the floating ball.
This drill fits with the Episode 1 drills.
Do make the drills challenging - switch them up.
10:00 Do the drill for 10 strokes and then go back to normal sculling. Reduce your tension then return to the drill. Score yourself for your tension (low) and quality of strokes.
Are you more dexterous on one side?
Go back to the stationary stability drill to help fix this.
12:00 being able to lift the blades high off the water at the release is a good skill for rough water and when you're racing.
13:00 Testing and proving that the blades balance the boat when they are out of the water drill.
Observe when you press down on right hand, does the boat tip to the left or right? If your boat tips more to one side - which of your hands is likely at the wrong height? What should you do to bring the boat back to balance?
15:00 if you get caught at the finish, try tapping the finish out earlier. It should easily come out of the water at the release.
Experiment with the timing - when it's right, the release helps you to get the oars out square.

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James will talk about the South African hosts of the World Masters Regatta.
James will talk about the South African hosts of the World Masters Regatta 2023.
He runs the venue services team for what may be the only African World Rowing Regatta for a while.

02:25 Roodeplaat Dam is 65 minutes from Johannesburg and 40 minutes from Pretoria. It's close to the OR Tambo airport. It's the venue for the national team.
Shuttle busses will be available to take you there.
04:00 Boat rental
Making it easy to come - End to end services - Travel Partners, Accommodation, Transport from the airport to your accommodation, Daily transport to the course and Boat rental. Glamping on site at the Roodeplaat. They expect 1000+ people staying on site from 2* to 5* accommodation options. Glamping price includes breakfast and dinner.
07:00 Saturday night party including "acts" and entertainment.
It's a rowing bucket list for many people.
07:45 Boats from Filippi, Swift and Falcon internationally plus local clubs contributing to the local boat rental pool (150 boats) including John Waugh boatbuilders. Oars come with the boats.

10:30 the regatta website
wrmr2023.africa is the website.
Newsletter sign up in the footer. Anne in the marketing team writes fortnightly.

A discount on Faster Masters Rowing training programs in the newsletter.
12:00 What to see
Bush Berg and Beach.
Kruger National Park - and local safaris where you can see the "big 5" wild animals.
The Berg is the mountain range in the middle of the country
Cape Town winelands, coast and Table Mountain.
James thinks 2 weeks of things to do after the event.
13:30 Temperatures in September - it will be mild - mid 20s in the day and down to 5-10 degrees Centrigrade overnight. Rain is unlikely. T shirts for rowing - after 9 am each morning.

James Thompson is a Rowing Innovator from South Africa.
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16:00 racing is in divisions by age category.

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Time to get confident rowing square blades. Join our 3 part mini-series on how to coach yourself and learn square blade rowing and sculling.

Timestamps
01:00 This is for anyone who's never successfully rowed square blades.
It taught Marlene how to stabilise the boat on the recovery, to learn timing of entry and exit without too much tension.
Why is it challenging?
- balance
- stability on the recovery
- keeping the handle in motion without tension
- releasing the finish at the right time
04:00 Learn the progression to practice so you can learn square blade rowing
We give you the tools to work things out for yourself.
The disciplined practice you need to do to learn square blades.
05:00 Fundamental drills for square blades
The stationary stability drill done stationary "in place". The goal is to sit balanced with the blades square in the water, with equal weight into both riggers.
07:00 start with a half release - without the boat tipping side to side.
Then do a whole release. Learn the height difference for tapping down and how to control the oars returning into the water with weight over the handles.
The sculling Intensive course covers this drill in more detail.
https://fastermastersrowing.com/register/sculling-intensive/
09:00 Ensure you're set up correctly in the boat at the finish.
09:30 Quarter Feather is the next drill.
At square blades you have to carry the blade high enough not to touch the water. Now learn how to feather just a bit - so the blade isn't fully vertical. Build up to full slide if you choose starting at half slide.
Take the perception and guide from the stability drill into a moving stroke.
Do not be tempted to fully feather during this drill. Drag the oar along the water if you need.
Stop and reset if you get in a muddle - don't "argue with your boat"!
Join the Faster Masters Training Group on Facebook if you want to discuss your progress through this learning.
Next time we will add in two more progressions.
Make these two drills part of your warm up each time you go rowing.

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Steering is hard to get perfect. Learn the key issues as we get ready for racing season.
- positioning the foot
- roles in the boat
- how to steer and how much

Timestamps
01:00 Who steers - bow or stroke? Considerations - bow for head races, stroke for a straight, buoyed lane course.
02:15 How to set up the foot position. Make sure the steering wire is set so you get equal steering to both sides. Set the shoe to the mid-point.
Get a shoe with a snug fit.
04:00 Looking around - on a straight lane course, you don't look around.
For head races - look round when you need to.
On a head race depends on the course and how many bends it has and how well you know the river/lake. Know the places where boat positioning changes. Have a mental map of the course, or print out a map to take in the boat.
Know the 'next thing' coming up on the map. Break the race down into segments.
08:00 Steering with your toe without over-steering.
Know your equipment as boats differ.
Check the wires attached to the T-bar over the rudder - set them wider or narrower depending on how much turning circle you need.
Check the rudder is straight before tightening the shoe nut clamping the wire.
Are the wires attached to the t-bar wide or narrow to the midpoint? This can be adjusted.
11.30 You can make the boat turn without steering, especially in a sweep boat.
Keep the boat level while steering - use lateral pressure into the pins.
Steer corners in the fewest possible strokes. Always look before you steer so you know where you are relative to the next bend.
14:00 Roles in the boat. Who does what?
It is possible to steer, call and stroke all at once. But can you cope?
In a four person boat you need a stroke, someone to do the calls and you need someone to steer.
Who can read a race best in your crew? They must know what to do as the race develops and what trick to "pull out the bag" to respond to every situation.
Three seat can act as guide for stroke - give them reminders - monitors how stroke is going.
17:45 What can go wrong?
Try to stick to the race plan but also respond to what's happening in the race and to our crew so you make adaptations on the fly during the race.
Know what you will do if
- you go off course
- a crew comes into your lane
- there's a crab
- you clip a buoy
- steer close to the buoys or overlap with adjacent crew
19:30 If you drift to one side of the lane [look for the vanishing point on the buoy line].
Make your steering adjustment gradually to go back to the middle of the lane.
20:15 In head races what goes wrong is
- looking round frequently enough
- you forget what is coming up next on the course
- look towards the "object" which is your next steering marker.
Steer towards something solid (like a bridge pier rather than the arch).
How close you dare steer is based on your sense of risk, your crew's confidence and. your confidence in them.
How does the crew respond to a quick, urgent steering requirement? What words do you use when you need pressure on one side?
23:30 Practice during your training sessions.
Make notes about the course and the advice in this podcast.
Know your boat and know your crew.
Be confident making decisions on the fly. There will be errors and you will mis-judge things sometimes. Animosity within the crew kills ability.
Know how to get back on track. Practice them.
It's fun refining your skills and seeing yourself get more confident.

Resources from our archive

https://fastermastersrowing.com/troubleshooting-rowing-steering/
https://fastermastersrowing.com/your-rowing-steering-questions-answered/
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Going deep is a common technique issue, as is "corrugating" through the drive where the blade goes deeper and shallower. In this podcast Marlene and Rebecca discuss how to get a horizontal drive in the rowing and sculling stroke.

Timestamps

Horizontal Drive - what is a horizontal drive?
02:00 Why it matters? Stroke length is important for rowing and sculling.
How long the blade stays in the water at one depth. If your depth varies you have a shorter stroke.
05:30 Coming over your knees the blade can go deep.
Also on the placement if can go deep if you shoulder lift to place the oar.
07:30 Tape on the shaft at the correct depth is a useful visual marker.
09:00 check your rig FIRST.
Oarlock height is key.
In 1x at the finish check the handle height while stationary - your forearms should be parallel to the water.
13:00 Drills to stay horizontal.
1) One finger rowing drill - what it feels like to stay level on the drive. Draw through with only your middle finger on the handle. The water supports the blade to stay level - if you allow it.
2) Aim for where your knees were. Drive your knees away from your chest and keep your body leaning forward at the catch angle.
3) Row with blades flat on the water to see where the handle is at the catch against a visual marker. Your handle stays the same height through power phase and recovery during this drill. You can do this on erg - use tape to mark the chain / handle height
20:O0 Benefits of staying horizontal. Get a longer drive. Look at your blade to check as you re-pattern your movements.



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