SLRC NEWSLETTER

We’re Looking for Volunteers

• Travel coordinator
• Merchandise Coordinator
• Regatta Supervisor
• Food Team

Please reach out to a parent board member if interested:

Brook Palanca – jrboys@stlouisrowingclub.com
Mandy Luke – jrgirls@stlouisrowingclub.com
JD Miller –communications@stlouisrowingclub.com

Each month we’ll use this space as a sounding board for our coaches. This month, coach Julia Burroughs has some pointers on light hands!

Our hands are one of those things that we don’t really think about a lot while we are rowing. We’ve usually got more important things to think about: the catch, timing, pushing hard. But our hands, whether we are sweeping or sculling, can make a big difference in our bladework.

Most people tend to grip the oar pretty tightly. This makes sense! We are rowing hard, pulling on the handle hard, so we have to grip hard. However, we actually have more control over our blade if we loosen our grip. To pull the handle towards our bodies, we only need grip on the front of the handle. To change the height of the blade, we only need to be able to push down on the handle. This means that in order to row on the square, we only need our hands on top of the handle with our fingers wrapped over the front. This allows us to pull the handle towards us and change the handle height with ease, and we don’t have to wrap our hands tightly around the handle at all!

When we add the feather, things get a little more complicated. If you have ever looked closely at your oarlock and the green sleeve on the oar that sits inside the oarlock, you may have noticed that they are almost square shaped. This is by design. In order to effectively get the blade into and out of the water without catching a crab, the blade has to be at a specific angle. Similarly, when the blade is feathered, it has to be at a specific angle so it doesn’t catch on the water. The oarlock and sleeve work together to put the blade at the correct angle, both when the blade is feathered and squared. Now, consider if the oarlock was circular, and the oar didn’t have that green sleeve on it. The oar could just spin around freely. If I told you to put your blade at 4 degrees less than vertical, could you do it? Would you be able to do it perfectly every stroke while rowing hard at a 32? Not a chance. You might be able to get close, but close isn’t nearly good enough when being off by a couple degrees means you could catch a giant crab every stroke. So now we are very grateful for our square shaped oarlocks and sleeves. But what does this have to do with our hands? Have you ever accidentally squared up and rotated your blade a little too far? When we are gripping the handle too tightly, we tend to override the function of the oarlock and sleeve. If we aren’t careful, we can’t feel when the blade is fully squared, and may go too far, or not far enough. If we loosen our hands up, when we square we can just give the handle a little nudge in the right direction, and the blade will fall into place at the perfect angle. This is also far easier on our hands and forearms! If you have ever come off the water after practice and noticed your forearms are sore, you’re probably gripping too tightly.

Keeping our hands light also helps us feather and square more efficiently. If our hands are light, we can roll the handle away from our palm using our fingers to feather, and then roll it back towards our palm to square. This takes a lot of the burden of feathering and squaring away from our wrists and puts it on our fingers, making it a much more delicate and small movement. Our wrists get less tired, our handle doesn’t change height when we square, and we don’t run the risk of undersquaring or oversquaring.

Next time you get in a boat, try keeping your hands very light and loose on the oar handle! It may help improve your rowing more than you think!

What do you love about rowing?

Competition, Fitness, Community, the opportunity to play outside in nature and be on the water. I love being on the water.

How did you get into rowing?

My husband and I lived abroad in Hamburg, Germany from 2015 to 2017. Living abroad gave me many gifts, the best being the confidence to try something new. I had succeeded in living in a foreign country, had learned a foreign language and had adapted well to the culture. As I entered my 30s, I found myself frequently injured with sprained ankles playing soccer.

I was searching for something that would allow me to take care of myself and prioritize my well-being. I was missing my soccer team, but knew that my body couldn’t handle soccer anymore. My gym had 10 ergs, and they were frequently integrated into our workouts. I knew I was strong on the erg, so learn-to-row seemed like a natural fit.

What has been your favorite rowing experience/memory?

1. Head of the Hooch 2022. Our intermediates crew took bronze against collegiate novice crews. Our boat had women in their 20s all the way up to their 50s. Many of my teammates met up and bonded Saturday night in an AirBnB. We had such a great time just being around one another.
2. US Rowing Rowfest aka Masters Nationals 2022. Our women’s crew and our mixed boat races swept every event with a gold medal. The men had a strong performance, too. It was just an all around amazing experience on and off the water thanks to everyone who participated.

What is your favorite regatta and why?

Head of the Hooch is my favorite. It’s the most well-attended regatta that we go to. It just has an electricity that others don’t, and Chattanooga has a great food scene and natural scenery. I love driving over the lake on the interstate on the way into Chattanooga. That’s when the excitement for the weekend truly begins.

What do you like to do when you’re not rowing?

When I’m not rowing, I like to hike, bike, go camping, walk our dogs, read and travel. Table Rock Lake is our second home and I can park myself on the dock or boat with a book and spend the day in the sun. I also love a good music and good food, so I’m always looking to attend a concert or find a good spot to go out for dinner. I’m also supportive of my husband playing hockey and my kids and their sports/activities.