Get wet => Relax! => Row fast

A new group of 5 sweep rowers (aged 25 to 57) is transitioning into sculling.

Thank you Peter Shakespeare for your beginner’s list of drills. All our “novices” made it to “standing in the boat - let go of the oars” before they dipped in the water for the first time.

Everybody had so much fun challenging each other that we forgot to take pictures. Andy mastered the Swiss challenge of 12 re-entries - record for the evening - might have some bruises to show for it next Thursday.

Here a selection of the the few pictures we have - thank you Laura for sharing them!

OUR "Yoga for Rowers" opens US Rowing convention 2020 Thursday December 10th

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Please join Laura Terry and the rest of “Yoga for Rowers” for a morning workout at the virtual US Rowing convention on December 10th. Your flexibility, mobility, and core strength will benefit and your boat speed will thank you.

More details here YogaforRowers.org

The US Rowing session is paid for by CHaOS Rowing.

Please join us every Tuesday at 6 PM EST for our virtual “Yoga for Rowers” session - it is free to participate thanks to our generous day sponsors. Thank you Very much!

Hope to Yoga with you soon!

1x Novices Graduated

Mighty proud of our CHaOS 1x Novices who all graduated with honors

Mighty proud of our CHaOS 1x Novices who all graduated with honors

In July, CHaOS faced the challenge to either hibernate for the pandemic or transition all our (die hard) big boat rowers into the 1x. 12 rowers accepted the challenge.

In true CHaOS style, we developed a plan called “Get wet => Relax!!! => Row fast” - described in detail in this Riverside Chat Webinar - thank you Jessica. For once, the best plan did not end in chaos.

We defined the criteria for success (= graduation) to be consistency: can rowers average 12 meters per stroke at rate 12?

Challenge was: 720 meters in 60 strokes.

All 12 novices ACED this test. CONGRATULATIONS!

Here is just one example, W1x: average of 13.9 meters per stroke at rate 12 - total of 834 meters:

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Of course, there also was the more macho like criteria: can they race in challenging conditions.

At the Lake Wheeler scrimmage the odds were staked against them - unknown territory, all slower rowers started ahead of them so that they had to row through them, two 180 degree turns in the course.

They did well. Brian even won - almost maintaining speed on the headwind stretch- not bad for a guy who had his first outing in a 1x three months ago:

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The dips in rate are other rowers overtaken - means all of the novice now have to learn to row with mirrors - or at least look on the drive rather than the finish.

The CHaOS plan for the winter: work on rhythm to get 13 meters per stroke at rate 13 (and maybe 14 at 14).

Hope to see you on the water soon!

Last big construction done!

The new oar and rigger rack is completed.

It is stable enough for Dan(e) to stand on it and Felix to do a pullup on it.

Whether the Danish roof construction is strong enough for a North Carolina snow event remains to be seen. However, Dan(e) has promised that he will repair the roof all by himself if it crumbles under snow - and that we all should bring a lawn chair to supervise him doing it. Let’s hope it will not come to that.

Thank you Dan(e), Felix, Joe, Reid, Richard M., and Tim for building it, putting your life and fingers at risk.