A Rower’s Perspective – by Wayne Lysobey
Whaleboats were floundering in the wind. At least the one with kids was having difficulty getting pointed in the right direction after they rounded the island. Fixed seat workboats were having trouble making headway. Stable Echo rowing shells flipped over. A Little River (I think) Double rowing shell was swamped, and managed to lose one of its’ seats. Kayakers who were used to being the rescuer were being rescued. Kayakers were rescued by Marine Police Personal Watercraft. Winds were clocked in the area at 37 mph that day.

Arthur Kuckes, in his custom designed and built forward facing, sliding rigging rowing canoe was blown into the weeds. Quite a boat. Quite a character. Arthur is no spring chicken. He is a veteran of some tough open water races. Only rower I know who faces in his direction of travel! He engineered and built his forward facing, sliding rigging setup. Quite a contraption. He was in “my” race, the Lighthouse to Lighthouse race a couple times. I put him in his own separate class one year. He is indeed in a class by himself!

Hero awards were given out that day to competitors who had rescued other competitors. Hero awards were given to at least three different people. Tom Hill had three rescues just by himself. Tom was in a fixed seat Adirondack Guideboat. One more rescue would make him an “Ace” I would think. Or two more? How does that tradition work?

And there I was in my Peinert Dolphin rowing shell, 13” wide at the waterline, sometimes wondering if my speedcoach was too wet to work or my speed was indeed zero.

It was out the river and counterclockwise around the Island. My left arm got tired of taking, it seems like, twice as many strokes as my right arm in order to keep on course and stay out of the weeds.

There were a couple kids rowing fixed seat single workboats. I had helped them taking a couple of those boats off the top of the truck. I think they were brothers. Dad was there somewhere in his fixed seater also. They had trouble making headway with all their windage. I was next to one of them, or maybe each of them, for a while. We all had trouble keeping out of the weeds before the Island.

A couple strokes with two oars. Another 30 mph gust of wind, and you were headed for the grass again. Another 8 strokes on left oar only. Repeat this process a dozen times. Ever wonder about “rowing with one oar in the water”? You should have been at Essex.

Should I head back now I wondered? Was it safe? Well the water wasn’t that cold. Wouldn’t kill me, at least not quickly, if I flipped. I kept going.

Friend Bill was ahead somewhere. I heard his voice once or twice warning me to change course.

“I figure I owe you for a bunch of times on that score” he said later. Bill, former protégé, seems like the one I am chasing now. It’s a tired old plot, the student becomes the teacher. Bill was worried for me about my back problems this winter. He wants his favorite competition I think. He was worried he would just hear excuses this year. Any of you out there think you can’t be competitive, well, that’s what Bill used to think too.

My back is back 100% now. Sort of. My fitness is making progress, but has a ways to go. If that wasn’t the case I think I would never again erg from 1 to 1 ½ million meters during the winter season, like I have in past years. Not this year though. Bad back. There. There it is. I have my excuse now. “Row Hard, Some Excuses” one of my shirts ought to say. Next year I will be 60. I will use that as an excuse. I don’t care about the 60 plus crowd that can whup me either. At 60 I’m using excuses.
Speaking of my 100% back, I went to the chiropractor today. All that one arm oar yanking was a strain. Short lived problem hopefully, though. Should be just a couple days. Any of you other competitors out there- any sore backs from Essex 2010?

I managed to get to the back of the island. That’s where the aforementioned whaleboat was having trouble, oars going every which way. Boat pointed in some odd direction. Lots of the “touring class” rowing shells were passing me now. The Echo 18’s were a pretty good boat for those conditions. The Echo Ace on the other hand, I wasn’t so sure of. Afterwards I saw the photo of Rich K using his back for a backsplash, getting pelted with spray. Must have been a cold, wet ride.

One of the things about open water is in different conditions different boats have advantages and disadvantages.

Gary P and Jim G were there. I noticed they pulled up in an Alden van with a trailer with multiple boats. They had two Alden Whitehall 16’s. A new boat for Alden. Based on an old and classic design. They were fitted with sliding seats. They were in sliding seat touring class.

I am pretty sure it was Gary I saw catch up to me and pass me on the back side of the Island.
“Hi Gary. Hey, when do we start having fun?” I asked. I felt like I was rowing in place at the time and was starting to wonder how much fun I was having.
Gary paused, and then said “When we get up in the morning”. I hadn’t expected such a philosophical answer. It encouraged me to have a more positive attitude.

A little further around the Island I noticed a yellow double sliding seat, a Little River Seashell I think, had pulled into (or blown into? the island and was re-launching. They may have gone into shore and bailed or dumped out the water from the boat. I hear they lost a seat to boot. There is a photo of them with the “stroke” sitting backwards. You have to see it. Looks like they were playing tug of war with the boat.

A little further and Gary was ahead somewhere. Soon Jim was catching up in his Whitehall. The Whitehalls are much slower boats, in calm water anyway. They looked a little faster to me in the day’s conditions.
“Hey Jim”
“Hi Wayne”

Then finally rowing got easier for a few strokes and I put on some speed. Got ahead of Jim and stayed there. At least I think that is what happed, not sure. The results have Jim ahead of Gary, so likely I am wrong. Funny what you forget when the other boat is out of sight. Past the island and there was some almost downwind, downwave rowing. For at least a few minutes I was indeed having the fun I had pondered. Picked up some distance on some of the touring class boats then.

Before getting back in the river there was some more difficult rowing. Back to the river, flat water and a little breeze. Seemed like a breeze then. I don’t think anyone else passed me then.

Got to the finish. Got back to shore. Got the boat out. Now it was starting to feel more and more like a fun day. Got the chowder. Later tried the gumbo. Good stuff.

“I had a blast” said Dan G, the days sliding seat 1x winner and fastest boat of the day(?). I recall other races me being the one to say that. Not today though. It was only a blast for me on those few occasions when I could crank it up and run with the wind and waves.
“I thought about our conversation about shortening the stroke when it got rough” said Dan “I just try to keep it long all the time. I find it works better to speed up the stroke rate up to a 29 or so instead.”
“Yea, I thought about that conversation too, when I was rowing half stroke to just try and keep moving.” Says me. “Dan. I don’t know if you know this, (I said conspiratorially), but you are better than most of us. I can keep the stroke long only up to a certain point only…”

“Heh Ted, how was it?” asked Dan of Ted Van Dusen.
Ted, rower, paddler (he kayaked today) and boat builder extraordinaire said –
“I went for a swim. First time I’ve ever been the ‘victim’ in a boat to boat rescue!”

I would like to make it clear to rower and non rower alike. It’s not so easy racing a skinny boat in 37mph gusts with two foot waves on your beam. It’s not easy to get all the way up the slide, the least stable part of the stroke, and get a long stroke. And do it 24 times or more a minute.

My results? I made it! I was ahead of at least one boat in my class. Other boats were DNF. (no- that is not dirty nasty fellow!)

Winds over 30. Waves up to 2 feet. In the future those numbers will grow.

Long Live Open Water

Wayne Lysobey
5/20/10

Photos by David Jones