|
Steering
Committee
Bill
Lovis (Chair)
Bruce Miller
(Treasurer)
Sharon
Bradley (Assist Treasurer)
Marco Meniketti
(Membership Development and Fund Raising)
Sheila
Masters (Novice Rowing)
Erin Lynch
(Open Rowing)
Glen Till (Boat and Equipment Maintenance)
Mike Koot
(Competitive Rowing)
The
Robert L. Ryden Boathouse
Unlike canoeing and kayaking, rowing requires
a boathouse for storing the long shells used by most rowers. In
the Fall of 1991 the Rowing Committee members contributed funds
to build a new boathouse in Grand River Park. Up to that time we
shared a quonset building with Michigan State Crew, and it limited
both groups from expanding. In the Spring of 1992 the boathouse
was named in memory of Bob
Ryden, a founding member of the Club, following his death
in January of that year. By 1994 the 32 feet by 52 feet boathouse
proved too small and a 44 feet by 54 feet addition was added. This
was paid for by funds left to the Rowing Committee by Bob Ryden.
The old quonset building was destroyed in a fire, and Michigan State
Crew built a new boathouse in 1993.
Boats
There are two kinds of rowing: sculling
and sweep. In sculling each rower has two oars and in sweep each
rower has one oar. The basic body movement of the stroke is the
same; the use of arms and hands differs. College competitions focus
on sweep rowing in fours and eights. The most popular boats for
recreational and non- collegiate competitive rowing is in single
and double sculling boats. The Club owns thirteen single sculling
boats, three double sculling boats, and two fours - one sweep and
one which may be rigged for sweep or sculling. There are three singles
owned by members of the Club.
Physical
Qualifications for Rowing
Women and men should have the capacity for
moderate exercise and reasonable swimming skills to take up rowing.
Beginning rowing does not challenge ones physical capacities; it
takes a considerable amount of time in boats to master the technique
well enough to get a significant workout. Women do just as well
as men in learning to row; some coaches believe women learn faster
than men because they are less prone to the error of trying to muscle
the boat with upper body strength. Once a rower has learned the
basics of the rowing stroke and is comfortable in a boat, rowing
is an excellent all-around form of exercise. But a person does not
have to be an aerobic genius to row well, as Homer said of the rowers
in Greek war boats, "Tis more by art than numerous strokes."
In addition to aerobic conditioning, rowing works just about all
the major muscles. The power part of the rowing stroke has three
distinct segments: first, the legs drive the rower toward the bow,
then the back swings toward bow and lastly the arms pull in. The
recovery part of the stroke is just the reverse: hands away, lean
to the stern, and compress the legs. When done well it is one smooth
motion and looks easy to do. Repeating 18 or more times per minute
for an hour will do wonders for legs, back, abdomen, shoulders and
arms.
The
Experience of Rowing
There is no one feel to a row. A long steady
row on a cool and sunny Fall afternoon following the blaze of color
all the way to Creyts Road is quite different than a hurried dash
to Waverly on a rainy, windy morning, which is different from "power
10" interval training on a hot and muggy Saturday in August.
Still, striving for the combination of grace, rhythm, balance and
power that is a perfect rowing stroke is always part of a row, and
when you get close, or think you are, each stroke asks for one more.
General
Activities
The rowing season runs from early April
to the end of October. The floating docks used by rowers are usually
launched the last Saturday in March and pulled out early in November.
The rowers in the club can be divided into Novice, Intermediate
and Advanced. Each Summer the Club offers a Novice Program, those
who complete it and stay with rowing become Intermediate and eventually
Advanced. There is no strict demarcation between these categories,
nor does the Club officially assign persons to one of them. However,
the policies and practices of the Club are designed for the safety
and enjoyment of the rowers and the preservation of equipment. The
Advanced rowers who do the coaching make sure that Novice and Intermediate
rowers are adequately supervised and use boats that are suited to
their level of competence. Novice rowers, whether in singles or
multiple person boats are coached by someone on the water in a motor
launch or, on some occasions for singles, in a rowing boat. Many
of the experienced rowers row on their own early in the morning.
There are supervised sessions for Novice and Intermediate rowers
in the evenings and on Saturday mornings. Most of our rowers see
themselves as recreational rowers, as opposed to competitive rowers.
However, several of our rowers travel to regattas in the midwest,
e.g. Detroit, Toledo, Grand Rapids. Competitive rowing will increase
as more of our Novice rowers move to a level of skill that makes
them want to see how just good they are.
|
