Nereid Boat Club

2010-08-27T14:56:00.003-04:00

MASTER’S SEASON RE-CAP

Nereid master’s rowers have had a lively, winning season in regattas around the region. Here are the highlights:

US Master’s Nationals, 12-15 August, Camden NJ
Andrea Hurwitz, rowing with Vesper, 1st place, Women’s 8+, 4+ and 4x
Marc Monplaisir, rowing and PRRA’s Jim Benz, 1st place, Men’s 2x finals
Charlie Johnston, 4th place, Men’s lightweight C 1x
Rob Welsh, 6th place, Men’s AA 1x
Eric Hagberg, 5th, Men’s lightweight 1x
Marc Monplaisir, 4th in heat 3, Men’s B 1x
Andrea Hurwitz, with PRRA member Clemens Reinke, 4th place in mixed 2x.

Mayor’s Cup, May 30, Providence, RI
Rob Welsh, 4th place, Men’s Open 1x
Briant Canha, 6th place, Men’s Masters 1x

Derby Sweeps & Sculls: June 5, Derby, CT
Briant Canha, 2nd place, Mens Masters 1x
Charlie Johnston, 1st place, Men’s Masters 1x
Rob Welsh, 1st place, Men’s Open 1x

Schuylkill Navy Regatta, June 12, Philadelphia
Julian Fernandez, 3rd place, Men’s Lightweight Intermediate 1x
Rob Welsh, 4th place, Men’s Intermediate 1x
Chris Buesser, 5th place, Men’s Intermediate 1x

New York Athletic Club Masters Scullers Invitational, June 13, Travers Island, NY
Charlie Johnston, 1st Place, Men’s Masters 1x
Briant Canha and Erik King, 2nd Place, Men’s Masters 2x

Carnegie Lake Regatta, June 20, Princeton, NJ
Eric Hagberg, 1st Place, Men’s Masters 1x
Charlie Johnston, 4th Place, Men’s Masters 1x
Ian Hawkins, 6th Place, Men’s Master’s 1x
Bonnie Triolo and Stacey Ornitz, 6th Place, Women’s Masters 2x.

Catch the Cooper, June 26, Camden, NJ
Marc Monplaisir, 1st place, Men’s B 1x
Andrea Hurwitz, 1st place, Mixed Masters 4x, and 1st place, Women’s Masters 4x

Independence Day Regatta, July 4, Philadelphia
Andrea Hurwitz, 1st place, Mixed Masters 2x

Diamond States Masters, July 25, Wilmington
Andrea Hurwitz, Briant Canha, Justin Rauch and Helen Woznack, 1xt place, Mixed 4x
Charlie Johnston, 2nd place, Mens C-D 1x
Andrea Hurwitz, 2nd place, Mixed 2x

Quaker City Masters, July 31, Philadelphia
Marc Monplaisir, 2nd place, Mens A-C 1x
Eric Hagberg, 3rd place, Mens A-C 1x and 2nd place, Mens A-C lightweight 1x
David Wolf, 6th place, Mens D-H 1x
David Wolf and Joe Oliver, 7th place, Mens D-H 2x
Joe Oliver, 4th place, Mens D-H 1x
Andrea Hurwitz, 1st place, Mixed 2x

Nereid Social August 14th

2010-08-15T14:57:00.000-04:00

USRowing Considering Mandatory Membership

2010-08-14T07:41:00.003-04:00

Nereid members -- what do you think about this?

In a recent letter (reprinted below) to the rowing community, the USRowing CEO, Glenn Merry, outlined a plan to hold a series of Town Hall discussions on the topic of mandatory USRowing membership.

The second of the 2010 fall series of town hall meetings with Glenn Merry will be hosted by South Jersey Rowing Club on Thursday, August 19, from 7 to 9 PM on the second floor of the Camden County Boat House, 7050 North Park Drive, Pennsauken, NJ 08109. Everyone and anyone is invited to attend. The issue has implications for all of us should mandatory individual membership be implemented.

If you plan to attend please email Dennis Smith at dennis.smith@Atlanticcityelectric.com or call 609-226-6187.

The August Open Letter from Glenn Merry follows:

Recently, there have been animated discussions taking place in the rowing community about USRowing membership, its value and its cost. The debate should elicit many thoughts.
As I reviewed how other sports handle their membership, I found that most provide the same general benefits: insurance, newsletters, discounts, information, competitions, rules, safety programs and perhaps a magazine. The major national governing bodies (sports like triathlon, swimming, gymnastics and volleyball) have mandatory requirements for individual membership. If you participate in the sport, you pay to do so. USRowing does not currently require individual membership for the sport of rowing.
Why do most NGBs mandate membership? In many cases, it has been driven by risk and insurance. Frankly, anyone participating in a sport, from the novice to the Olympian, adds to the perceived liability risk, and it is more economical for everyone when an NGB shops a policy that covers all of the exposure rather than have each team, club or person to do so on their own. In conjunction with this, the NGB then provides the infrastructure to safely run the sport, things like rules, referees, coaching education and safety regulations.
For two decades, USRowing has not mandated individual membership. This was not always the case. When I rowed in college in the late 1980s, everyone was a member of USRowing. The change took place in 1990, kind of. USRowing dropped individual requirements, but the requirement shifted to organizations. If a club participated in registered regattas, then it had to be part of the structure.
Fast-forward 20 years. The sport has grown to five times the size. We had three major accidents in the mid-2000s where rowers died, changing our perceived risk. Insurance premiums quadrupled. Organizational dues reformed into tiered insurance categories. The sport survived, and five years later, we are out the other side. But, we need to think about our structure moving forward.
During the past decade, the sport has grown by a factor of three. We are now pushing up against constraints of an aged system from an era that supported the 30,000 who rowed in 1989, not the 150,000 active participants of today. Much of the recent growth in our sport has been driven by the NCAA and its addition of women’s rowing to its program. This, in turn, has pushed the growth of high school rowing. High school rowing has exploded into thousands of participants and hundreds of regattas annually.
As this growth occurred outside the control and stewardship of USRowing, some of these growth areas have not paid proportionally into the infrastructure of the sport. We also face other issues of rapid growth such as the deficit of experienced quality coaches. Programs are faced with hiring "coaches," many of whom have only the experience of being an interested parent or having rowed for three or four years. Do these issues seem like a sustainable model for a safe and professional sport?
I would argue that the answer is no.
Currently, 16,500 individuals pay into the system that supports the entire rowing population. It’s true that the 1,050 organizational members also pay dues of $350, but we are not seeing the scalable support required to take rowing to the next level. In addition, we have no idea the exact scope of the sport, and we need to know this in order to assess our combined risk, attract and activate new sponsors and appropriately program services.
It has been rumored that USRowing is planning to take over the sport, to mandate individual membership. In some regard, we aren't taking it over – we are the sport. Love us or hate us, we provide the backdrop for the sport to exist (albeit we could do a better job in many areas). Where would we row without liability insurance, referees, rules, safety standards, or basic coaching education? The better rumor that I am starting is that USRowing seeks to become a better NGB. We want every rower to support a system and organization that fulfills his or her needs as a member.
So that takes us to mandatory membership. It has to happen to survive and to meet the growth of our community. What mandatory membership will look like is still up for debate. What we offer to our members needs to be redesigned. But, we are at the beginning of this conversation, with the target of January 2013 to roll out a finished product.
Let's open the conversation about mandatory membership by describing some common models for consideration. Set aside the issue of how much dues cost right now; we will address that in relation to the value of services rendered to the members. There are two primary models commonly used to implement mandatory membership by NGBs. The first is a direct model where every individual joins and pays his or her dues directly to the NGB. This is close to what we do now with our full-privileged members. The NGB then provides regattas and clubs a roster of eligible members that can participate and compete. USA Swimming uses such a model, with about 400,000 members. The second model is indirect, where an individual is a member via his or her organization. Each athlete pays dues to the organization, and the organization then submits its roster to the NGB with funds to balance its account. USA Curling uses such a model and has about 15,000 members.
The current system used by USRowing is a hybrid of the two models. We have non-privileged members who sign waivers and are part of USRowing through their clubs, but without paying dues and without USRowing gaining access to their information. Our full-privileged membership is used by the 16,000 who have typically raced at one of the USRowing-owned regattas such as a national championship, or by those who want to receive the yearbook and newsletters.
There are some pros and cons to both systems and perhaps a hybrid is necessary for USRowing to meet all of the needs of our community. However, the current hybrid needs to be revised, so that we more actively engage those members coming indirectly through their organizations.
Now turn your attention to the issue of value and cost. Let’s assume for the purpose of this example that the status quo is sufficient for the service and programs provided by USRowing. If it is an accurate assumption that there are 150,000 active rowers and we keep USRowing's expenses relatively the same as they are now (no new programs, some build-out costs for automated member systems, add someone to answer the increased calls and e-mail, etc.), then one could project a drop in individual dues by a significant amount. Five times as many people paying into the current system could result in half the dues per person.
But let’s take this to another level. What if we said that USRowing should be better (and it really should be.) We should offer new programs, say for example ... a recruiting clearing house for youth members and college coaches, advanced coaching education systems, masters rowing camps and real marketing tools for clubs to recruit and engage their local communities. What would that look like? What would that cost with 150,000 rowers paying into that system? Could we do those things and others while reducing the per-person cost of dues?
I believe this is a conversation that we must have. We must address the question, “Is USRowing good enough.” This is the conversation USRowing is beginning with focus groups like the newly formed youth task force. We also will bring this conversation to the people in the rowing community through town hall meetings this fall at local boathouses nationwide.
When the board hired me in 2005 as the new CEO, USRowing was precipitously perched at the edge of collapse. We had run year after year of overspending. Our cash reserves were spent, and our balance sheet was a disaster. Our governance was out of date. We lacked revenue diversity. We were an unstable organization. I have spent the last four years rebuilding the internal structures and stabilizing the association with the help of the board and key stakeholders such as the NRF. We are no longer in triage mode, attempting to keep the association alive. It is time to move forward to not only assure that our sport has a future, but to create a robust future.
I have taken some criticism recently for again asking for input from the members and the community on these issues. It has been said that people have already screamed about what is wrong with USRowing, and how could I not know by now. It's true that I have heard complaints about USRowing from some key individuals year after year. I guess what I wonder is if the people who have been screaming the loudest really represent what’s best for the masses of rowers or if they are just the loudest one-issue complainers?
I have to admit that after 24 years in the sport and five years in this role, I am more interested in hearing from, and working with, people who want to make USRowing better, stronger and fresher than those who revel in pointing out our missteps.
As I wrote earlier, we are about to embark on a series of town hall membership meetings nationally. If you would like to host a meeting at your boathouse, contact me and let me know. You can reach me at 609-751-0701 or glenn@usrowing.org.

Track Bites

2010-06-07T07:50:00.000-04:00

I generally subscribe to the ‘track bites = badge of honour‘ school of thought, but the other week I had to go to a fancy fundraiser for work and the red welts on my calves didn’t go so well with my cocktail dress...

After ten years of rowing, I’ve developed what I think is a pretty good system for dealing with blisters, but track bites still baffle me. The fresh wounds I acquired on Saturday came through a doubled-over layer of sock. What really stumps me is that I’d never even heard of track bites until I came to the U.S. And while I love Nereid’s club Empacher collection, I have a feeling it’s the Empachers that are the biggest track-bite culprits. Even when I raise the shoes and move the tracks and foot plate back, it’s hard to avoid the bites, particularly in the smaller boats with narrow tracks.

I think I just need to find a thicker pair of socks, but it does get hot wearing long socks in the summer…. Have any of you found any tricks?

USRowing

2010-05-09T22:34:00.000-04:00

Nereid juniors did really well at the mid-atlantic championships at Lake mercer this weekend. Here's a reference in a US rowing press release:

USRowing: "In the women’s varsity double sculls, Nereid Boat Club dominated the field, recording nearly a 20-second victory. Nereid clocked a 7:57.99, with South Jersey Rowing Club finishing second in an 8:17.40. Baltimore Rowing Club took third. In a much closer race, Shipley School won the men’s varsity double sculls, crossing the line in a 7:06.30 to finish 1.63 seconds ahead of South Jersey Rowing Club. Chestnut Hill Academy finished third."

Do you need a new libation vessel?

2010-05-06T11:41:00.002-04:00

A submission from David Wolf:

It has come to our attention that some Nereid members may be without a libation vessel to call their own. After experimenting with a number of prototypes, and hours and hours of extensive trials, we have come up with a vessel that not only looks good, but is guaranteed to make all beverages taste better, and to improve your oarsmanship. The price is $25, including an engraved Nereid logo and the name/nickname of your choice. Please make checks payable to David Wolf, and post to 94 Windsor Road, Tenafly, NJ, 07670. The above is an artist's rendering of the vessel.

The Boat Race

2010-03-30T09:20:00.003-04:00

The 156th Oxford/Cambridge boat race takes place this Saturday at 11.30 am Eastern Standard Time. This year us people on the wrong side of the Atlantic may even get a chance to watch the race live on TV, providing you have access to BBC America. If you don't have BBC America, you can listen to the race build-up and commentary here on Radio Five Live via the internet. BBC Sport's Web site will also be showing the race live over the internets, apparently, though in previous years I've had little luck with this.

But why should you care about a race between two fancy British universities, more than 3,000 miles away? Well, for many people (including me) watching 'The Boat Race' is their first introduction to rowing. It's arguably the reason why the sport is so big in the U.K. and this year's race is set to reach its biggest ever audience (according to the race Web site). Raced over 4.2 miles on the part of the Thames that is tidal -- the 'Tideway' -- makes for a more exciting race than any Olympic 2000 metre course. Steering decisions can win and lose the race and the unpredictable English weather can often add an element of excitement. The race has been held since 1829 and Cambridge have a narrow lead over Oxford: 79-75. Oxford have won four of the last five races and betting odds have them favourite to win this year.

Nereid's membership (by my calculations) is currently tipped in favour of Cambridge (light blue) -- with at least three members having attended that institution, compared to one former Oxford (dark blue) student. Will you be cheering for the light or dark side?

Concept 2 January Challege

2010-01-10T20:16:00.003-05:00

Hi all -- it's not too late to sign up here for Concept 2's January Challenge. The Nereid team is currently 27 out of 307, so the more people joining in, the better we'll do. It's pretty simple -- you just enter register online with the Nereid team, then log all your workouts in the online logbook... Adrian I-like-to-erg-marathons Rivera is topping the leader board for the men currently, while Stacey Ornitz and I are battling for first place among the women. Every meter counts!

Surprise on Monterey Bay

2009-11-13T10:03:00.003-05:00

As if Loreley herself was on the Santa Cruz harbor jetties, calling them to ruin, two Nereid rowers recently paddled for their lives in a dawn row on Monterey Bay.

While on a weeklong, post-HOC vacation on the California coast, club members Frank Schaefer and Erin Martin made a 6 a.m. date with Beth and Ginger, two avid and gracious rowers from the Santa Cruz Rowing Club. The day before, an offshore Pacific storm had caused onshore swells of 15-20 feet – a surfer’s dream, a rower’s nightmare. Some 12 hours later, Beth anticipated that conditions might be a little rough, but perfectly rowable. Ha…

The two open water 2xs, decked with lights and life preservers, launched long before there was any hint of light in the sky. Leaving calm waters and docks of sleepy sail boats behind, Beth and Ginger slipped into the 100-foot wide channel, between the two rock jetties sheltering the harbor. Erin and Frank followed their middle line, avoiding the waves breaking on the Mini-Cooper-sized boulders on each side.

The plan was to row due west, one mile out to sea, to a lighted buoy visible in the distance.
“Yee, haa!” hollered Beth. “It’s a little rougher than I thought. Let’s just take it easy and see how it goes."

“Oh shit,” was all Erin could say from the bow. Immediately gripped by sea sickness, she was shocked to see herself looking down at Frank, and then up at him, as the waves lifted and dropped the boat. “This is insane.”

And then it got worse. “Ride ‘em cow boy!” Beth yelled as the swells got progressively taller and wider, ranging 5 to 7 feet. Total darkness made the experience more surreal. There was one way to survive: the Free Radical Mantra – just shut up and row.

Soon, the divine cadence of strokes took over, the seasickness abated, and the rhythm of the waves began to entertain. After about 25 minutes, the boats reached the tall green buoy, where a trio of sea lions eyed their visitors with inquiry. A line of red and orange curtained the eastern horizon. The peace of the scene overpowered the sea.

Circling back, Erin and Frank could now see the waves coming at them, which was not necessarily comforting. A bit of water splashed in the boat. Even so, the sensations became familiar. After just 10-15 minutes, the boats were near the mouth of the harbor.

“Follow us again,” Beth called as she and Ginger headed into the channel, unaware that a particularly large set of waves was coming in. Frank and Erin started out on the same line, but were soon pushed about 20 feet to their starboard, closer to the southerly jetty.

“Look out! Be careful! Look out! Watch it!” screamed Beth and Ginger in a chorus so sudden, loud and highly pitched that every axon in Erin’s and Frank’s bodies seized up in alarm. Glancing over their shoulders, they realized that the last swell had driven them within 15 feet of the southerly jetty. And they were pointed straight at it. To port, another wave in the monster set barreled toward them.

“Starboard, starboard, starboard,” Erin yelled. Both rowers pulled with all their might, turning the boat parallel to the jetty. But the cresting wave had pushed the boat so fast that Frank could almost touch the outermost rock with his oar.

“Row, row, regular rowing,” Erin shrieked from the bow, instinctively remembering from white water rafting that one should never stop paddling in a rapid. The top of the wave turned white as it began to break. Frank pulled with the strength of an Olympic champion, and Erin hung on, and the boat gracefully dropped over the backside of the wave, clearing the rocks.

“You did it! Great job! Way to go! I can’t believe it! That was awesome!” cried Beth and Ginger in euphoric relief. The episode had lasted no more than five seconds.

The flat water of the harbor felt like a good, deep exhale. Within 30 strokes, the boats were on the dock, all four giddy with gratitude that neither rower nor boat had come to harm. “If I had some Irish whiskey, I’d be passing it around right now,” Ginger said.

Beth laughed too. “I had the sick thought that I’d forgotten to get you to sign a waiver!”

After warm goodbyes, Frank and Erin walked back to the nearby house where they were staying, longing for coffee.

That day, Loreley was no match for the Nereids.

World Rowing Championships

2009-08-23T09:30:00.002-04:00

The world rowing championships begin today in Poland... If you're planning to follow them, or just want to sound knowledgeable when talking to friends at the club, the U.K.'s Rowing News has a good article on the boats to follow...

I have Time Warner Cable which I'm sure is showing it somewhere, I just can't find it. If anyone knows a channel that's showing rowing, please let us know. Thanks!

Rowing and weddings...

2009-08-04T21:22:00.003-04:00

Huge apologies to my two (dear) readers, but I got a bit busy getting married over the last couple of months or so....

Happily, some of my very best rowing friends could be there, including many of the awesome Celtic Warrior Princesses. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm not sure any rower could have had a wedding send off much better than this:

(On the off chance someone is still reading this, I hope to resume normal service -- perhaps with even the occasional post -- shortly)

Nereid Boat Club Makes Money Magazine

2009-07-15T18:20:00.001-04:00

Rutherford is #22 on the list of places to meet someone rich& single (not to be confused with out boat, the cute&single):

"Pick up a preppy Wall Street type while rowing on the Passaic River -- the river's smooth water draws rowing enthusiasts from New York City as well as from the Rutherford area. Try to get in the water before work, when young professionals are most likely to be there. After work, head downtown for a bite. There are no bars in Rutherford, but you can BYOB to any restaurant in town."By Stephanie Fletcher, Money contributorhttp://money.cnn.com/galleries/2009/moneymag/0906/gallery.bplive_richsingles.moneymag/22.html

Why we should all be taking Dirk's magic tablets...

2009-05-14T21:35:00.002-04:00

Perhaps you suspected that a few of your fellow rowers have some crazy tendencies. Early risers, early drinkers etc etc... But did you know we had record-breaking erg marathoners in our midst? And, apparently, it's all thanks to Dirk's magic tablets:

On Sunday, May 10th, Paul Gribelyuk, Adrian Nino De Rivera and Jim Beattie each completed an erg marathon. They each rowed the 42,195 meters in one sitting without any breaks. The recreation room of the boathouse was filled with the whir of their three ergometers for nearly three hours on that sunny spring morning. On the television was Patrick Swayze’s 1989 hit movie Road House and on the stereo’s speakers were motivational tunes, ranging from Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” to Rammstein’s “Du Hast”. When asked why they had bothered to undertake such an arduous task, Adrian, replying for the group, said, “Because we’re better than you, son.” Each of the three rowers set a new personal best for the distance. Paul finished at a split of 2:01.1 (2hrs 50mins 23.4secs), Adrian, who was completing his first (and only?) marathon brutalized the poor erg for 2hrs 47mins 47.7secs, a split of 1:59.3. Completing his second marathon in six months, Jim surged ahead at the beginning, only to slowly die a very painful death with 7,000 meters left to row. He sputtered across the finish line after 2hrs 45mins 44.7secs, a split of 1:57.8. This was just better than Eric Hagberg’s most recent mark of 1:58.0 (Eric holds the world record for lightweight men in the 100,000 meter distance).

To what do the three attribute their success? Hands down, the answer is “Dirk’s miracle tablets.” After the three had convalesced sufficiently to be able to form coherent sentences, Jim said, “Those little tablets work miracles. With 25,000 meters to go I started popping a half tablet every 5,000 meters. By the time I was 32,000 meters into it, I was popping them every 2,500 meters or so – just like candy [editors note: they essentially are candy].” (Important note for USADA: The “miracle” tablets were actually dextrose energy tablets, a common supplement for long-distance athletes.) Will the three be repeating this remarkable feat any time soon (perhaps so anyone who missed it this time can catch it live next time)? Well, according to Paul, “Yeah… probably not.” Adrian’s only comment was a string of expletives, followed by “son” and hysterical laughter. With a devilish gleam in his eye Jim said, “Sure, but not until there’s a pretty good reason to do so.”

The three (brainless?) rowers would like to thank Erin Colgan for her help in completing the marathon.

Classic Video: Possibly the best rowing race ever shown on national TV

2009-05-11T21:50:00.000-04:00

Feel free to argue with me if you have a different opinion - and suggest other videos we can watch!

Nereid picture of the week:

2009-05-07T21:43:00.001-04:00

(Slightly out of season, but still beautiful. Many thanks to this site)

Nereid picture of the week:

2009-05-01T21:47:00.000-04:00

Taken on one of the last days of good rowing last year...

Nereid picture of the week:

2009-04-28T20:30:00.001-04:00

Cardcow Vintage Images

A vintage postcard titled 'Boating on the Passaic'

What's the best crab you ever saw caught?

2009-04-22T22:24:00.003-04:00

What's the best crab you have ever seen caught - or you yourself have caught? The best crab I ever witnessed was in my first year at university. A novice men's crew was racing in Fairbairns - a particularly miserable head race held on the Cam in early December - and a medic in the 6 seat caught a boat-stopping crab, the blade handle hitting him smack in the forehead and almost - but not quite - knocking him out of the water... Obviously, he wasn't seriously hurt or I wouldn't be laughing about it 10 years later...

Anyway - I was thinking about this after reading about this poor guy's experience at the Head of the River Race on the Thames last weekend (that's the Boat Race backwards in VIIIs for those of you that haven't had the pleasure of racing it)...

Thanks to the Tideway Slug:

Also worthy of note was the performance of Alan Stepnell, the four man in HSBC’s second eight, who allowed himself to be crab-a-pulted from his seat into the Thames, 30 seconds from the finish line.

Indeed, such a showman is the aforementioned Mr Stepnell, that he waited until he was bang in front of his own boathouse before exiting the boat in such dramatic style. Once in the water, he bravely started swimming only to realise that the crew behind was bearing down upon him at speed - he then had to make a quick dash to hide between the moored boats to escape being clobbered. Whilst the phrase "another bank bailout" does come to mind, we couldn’t possibly sink to such low levels of punage – damn... too late.

The Passaic of Yore

2009-04-20T22:23:00.002-04:00

Look how beautiful it used to be...

Back - and better than before....

2009-04-15T20:05:00.003-04:00

Hello Nereids,

I'm going to attempt to get this gig running again, hopefully with a lot of help from you lot. Please send your favourite Nereid stories, your nicest Nereid pictures, along with any gossip, news, helpful tips, lost and found - anything you like, really - to this address.

We post, you do the commenting. But that said, we do need some more people to post if we're going to keep this going for more than the week that I managed last year.... So email the above address if you fancy trying your calloused hands at blog writing.

See you all on the water,

EC

Twitch, row, twitch, row, twitch…

2008-06-05T11:54:00.009-04:00

Now, don’t tell my husband, who’s been rowing since he was 12, or the Nereid masters women, who are gunning for the top 10 at the Head of the Charles this year, but I’m really in it for the birds.

Yeah, yeah, I know rowing gives me an incomparable, low-stress, total body workout, and sure I love to hang out with other rowers and eat Briant’s (internationally known) pancakes by day and picanha, Brazilian-style steak, by night.

(BTW, Here’s Briant, the famous chef, drinking OJ, I think:)

But my most cherished moments on the Passaic River are those of bird sightings: a belted kingfisher, dive-bombing for a meal; a black crowned night heron, bursting out from a low-hanging branch; or an osprey, atop a tree on the riverbank.

Osprey? Did I say Osprey? On the Passaic River, home of Agent Orange – the avian kingdom’s worst enemy? Yes. Twice last year, I saw an Osprey in the trees near our club.

My specific joy on the Passaic relates to the persistence and diversity of birds on a body of water often clogged with floating islands of empty bottles, tires, and nail-studded construction materials, never mind enough logs and branches for all the beaver dams in North America. Did you know that washing machines and filing cabinets can float? (That's what I learned last summer when the river flooded – talk about surprise sightings!)

I often think of that Keep America Beautiful ad from the 1970s, with the Native American brave crying about pollution. I’m sure he was paddling across the Passaic.

In case you never saw it, it's a must-see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3QKvEy0AIk

The Passaic is an aquatic border between our past and our future. It’s a tidal legacy of our country’s industrial roots, including its history of environmental abuse. Yet it’s a sign of nature’s stubborn insistence on living – a flicker of hope that ecology just might win out over man’s foolery. That’s what I love about it.

The Passaic is an idyllic place to row, because the water is very flat, and there is almost no boat traffic (except for an occasional training maneuver by the Rutherford fire department). Typically, the only disturbances on the water are jumping fish and gaggles of Canada geese, who seem to think the river is theirs. (They do perform the occasional public service: rowing one day when the tide was unexpectedly low, they squawked aggressively to warn me that I was about to go onto a mud flat.)

I connect to the birds when I row because, on a very good day, I get the sensation of flying. When a boat is moving well, and you feel it glide underneath you as your slide creeps forward, there is a fleeting moment of weightlessness. It’s a delicious feeling. I imagine it’s what a bird experiences when it stops flapping its wings and cruises on its own momentum.

Perhaps this is a bit romantic of me. In truth, the closest parallel to a rower in the animal kingdom is probably the water strider.

See the similarities?

But birds are much more fun.

Thankfully, trash on the Passaic is a problem sporadically – the birds are there all the time.

Next installment: The commonality of a boat house rat (have you met my husband?) and the muskrats who have built a home near Nereid.

"The sport that doesn't turn away anyone"

2008-06-04T20:55:00.003-04:00

With National Learn To Row day coming up, the sentiment expressed by the U.S. National rower interviewed in this local news article is something worth remembering.

[Micah] Boyd, 26, grew up in St. Anthony Park and graduated from Central High School. "I was athletic, but not good enough to do any other sports," he said. He's 6-foot-3.

His twin brother, Anders, was rowing and coaxed him into the boat as a sophomore at the Minnesota Boat Club in St. Paul. "I found the sport that doesn't turn away anyone," Micah Boyd joked.

The U.S. system is different to the U.K. set up that I know, but nearly everyone I have ever rowed with has come to the sport late in life, after either abandoning other sports, or having never really been into sports (my case). Something about the water draws non-sporty people, while the perfectionist requirements of the rowing movement appeals to those that have realised they don't have the talent to compete at a high level in a throwing (or, in the U.K., kicking) sport.

I started rowing because I grew up near the sea, and went to university inland. I thought I'd miss the sea, so I chose to do an activity that would at least keep me near the water. I never dreamed that it could turn me into a healthy, fit and active person - before arriving at university, I chose to take extra classes for the express purpose of missing PE or mandatory Wednesday afternoon sports...

So how did you get into rowing? We'd love to hear your stories.

The Psychology Of Women's Rowing

2008-05-27T09:31:00.003-04:00

There's a good article here from The Australian, which has interviews with members of the Australian women's eight that won gold at the World Cup earlier this month. It has some insight into their training and sports psychology, as well as discussing how the crew has come together since Athens, when rower Sally Robbins 'blew up' ahead of the finish line, and how the squad has handled the extra pressure and media scrutiny (excerpts below).

Commitment to each other has now reached a level where there’s no need to tiptoe around dramas, be they real or imagined, says Kate Hornsey. “In the past there’ve been concerns with crews when things haven’t been said because they didn’t want to upset anyone, but now we’ve got strategies to deal with that. You can get your point across without crushing a person. But that works both ways – if you’re going to give it, you’ve got to be willing to take it.” She believes a bigger boat also spreads the dramas. “We get to the point in training where we’re almost breaking, we’re shattered mentally. So it’s nice to have others around to share that – they’re suffering with you.”

[Lizzie] Patrick [coxswain] reckons female rowers suffer more from these uncertainties than males. “From what I’ve observed, men can row with a bit of fracture – they just row hard – whereas women seem to be quite uneasy with drama and uncertainty. I feel terrible saying that, but I think we’ve all got to work to our strengths.” And one of women’s strengths is inclusiveness. “What we have seems to be working so far, so we’ll keep doing it.”

There's also some inspiration to those of us that don't quite have height in our favor:

Australian female crews tend to be smaller than their rivals – average height of this eight is the mid-170cms while weight is in the low 70kgs.

[170 centimeters is 5.58 feet and 70 kgs is 154 lbs.]

You can watch a clip of the crew winning gold at the World Cup here.

NYT Rowing Article On Michelle Guerette

2008-05-22T14:14:00.000-04:00

The NYT has a great article on Michelle Guerette (pictured above) and her quest to win Olympic Gold.

"No American woman has ever won a gold medal in the single scull event at the World Championships or the Olympics, and no American single sculler, male or female, has won an Olympic medal of any kind since 1988."

The piece runs through a lot of the drills Guerette uses, as well as discussing her training (two to three on-the-water sessions a day, plus ab and back sessions, pilates and yoga) and there's a great video on technique from Harvard rowing coach, Charley Butt, embedded in the piece.

One of Guerette's other recommendations for rowers looking to improve their technique is to watch previous World Championship races. If anyone has any personal favorites, let me know, and we can stream some through the blog.

Top Five Most Irritating Erg Habits

2008-05-21T21:44:00.000-04:00

Have you ever been peacefully erging away when suddenly a newcomer selects the rowing machine next to you and proceeds to row, grunt and grimace in a way that completely distracts you from the enjoyment of your own sweat fest?

I think this is more of a rowing-in-the-gym phenomenon than a boat club problem, but still - we'd love to hear the things that really wind you up about fellow rowing machiners.

In the meantime, here's my top five most irritating ergo habits:

1. Canoeing.

Have you ever had the misfortune to erg next to someone who thinks the Concept 2 - quite often covered in stickers marked 'ROWING MACHINE' - is some sort of land-based canoeing device designed to work their triceps? They waggle the handle, and themselves, from side to side, often only just missing swiping you in the process. And don't get me started on the people who pull the handle over their heads....

2. The Noises.

Those nasal noises that can be heard through your headphones at top volume. Oh, I know you're making an effort - and believe me, if your mom was here, she'd be proud of you - but there's no need.... Admittedly, I'm turning shades of purple on my ergo - but at least I'm going purple QUIETLY.

3. The Chatterers.

Yes - the people who spy you, in solitary rowing machine isolation, and assume you must be interested in starting a conversation. Because, of course, the reason you're sweating your guts out on the torturous machine is because you go to the gym to make friends. Why me, I have to ask? Why not the guy slumped over the bench pull machine? Or that nice looking lady doing her hair while reading a magazine on the recumbent bike?

4. Elbow Wagglers.

Yes, scullers. That could be you. I'm talking about the people who draw their elbows out at the finish, rather than pulling through, thereby sticking their elbows in the ribs of the unfortunate person next to them...

5. Drag-Setting Heavies.

Just because you have the drag setting at 10, and mine's at 6.5 precisely, neither makes you cooler nor fitter than me, ok? Actually, geekily, this really bothers me. I hate to see tiny girls in the gym hurting their backs with the drag setting at 10, literally about to be sucked into the wheel at every stroke, or, even worse, gym instructors putting fresh victims on Concept 2s with the drag setting at 10.

So now you know that you would never like to sit on a rowing machine next to me, how about sharing your pet ergo peeves? And while we're sharing, I'll confess the real reason you don't want to erg next to me - I have a terrible habit of head banging when really 'good' (for head banging) songs come onto my iPod.... unfortunately, there are no mirrors near the Concept 2s in the gym that I go to - so I have yet to be cured of this problem...

Welcome To Nereid's Blog

2008-05-21T13:03:00.001-04:00

This is a blog - under construction - for Nereid members and interested others. If you are looking for information on the boat club, you'll find the official site here. If you have thoughts on the information, pictures, updates and stories you would like to see on this blog, let me know.