River vs Coastal Rowing
The pentagon of blogs has reached its final form. This week is
fight night, the tale of two cities.
River vs Coastal rowing.
Over summer I tried out coastal rowing. Giving me experience
in both types of rowing; this week’s blog explores their differences and which
I prefer!
Technique
A successful boat in river rowing relies on technique – I say
this to make me feel better about pulling weak erg splits (they don’t float!). Handle
heights, catches and rushing the slide are fundamental in the boat’s speed.
For coastal however, there is no technique. To win is to pull
like *insert profanity here.
Racing
River rowing has a simple format for both head races and
regattas. In head races you row off one boat at a time on a stretch of river
roughly 3-5k and the crew with the fastest time wins! In regattas you row in
lanes down a 2k straight and the first crew to cross the line wins. Simples!
Coastal rowing however makes any river rower contemplate
life. Composing of 2300m in which you spin the boat around a buoy at full speed
not once, not twice, but three times! They call it a buoyo, I call it madness.
Boats
River rowing boats are elegant, aerodynamic masterpieces
which glide through water. With a seat on sliders to help build your strokes as
you follow the person sitting directly in front of you.
Coastal boats are a different ball game. I’m talking about
the majassive universal boats which don’t have seats, but instead a flat
plastic surface to slide on and give scabs in areas I’d rather not discuss in
front of the kids. To “help” this you wear a piece of cloth known as a “nappy”,
yes they call it that… The boats are heavy, difficult to row at speed but at
least they don’t capsize!
Final Thoughts
Coastal rowing is a great sport and provides many challenges
that river rowing cannot. However as I have spent more time on rivers and
actually started out in that form of rowing I cannot deny it is my preferred
choice.
Thank you to all my readers, maybe I’ll see you again in the
future!
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