On my bike ride yesterday, as I coasted past green fields and golden-orange leaves, I thought, wow, early September, the leaves are changing! Then I remembered that it’s going to be October on Thursday. Changing leaves and changing weather remind me that, contrary to how I’ve felt for the past six months, time is passing.
I learned to scull this week! I’d only ever rowed sweep, which is with one oar. To allow for physical distancing, the coaches are renting singles, which require rowers to use two oars. The general stroke is the same, but sculling feels so different. For one thing, you’re alone or with one other person in a boat. You don’t lean to the side that your oar is on since you have an oar on each side. And there’s no coxswain to steer and call out drills. I’ve always been a bit of a backseat coxswain, so the freedom to look behind me and decide where I go is exhilarating.
So far we’ve had two beautiful mornings on Lake Waban. I’m in the latest practice shift—we’re divided into three groups of nine or ten—so by the time I got on the water on Wednesday and Thursday the sun was up, warming my skin and blinding my eyes. Swans floated by and geese padded around Green Beach. Rows like those are what made me fall in love with the sport.
In an eight, there are so many factors affecting the boat, but in a single, I know it’s just me. Steering toward port? I’m not pushing equally on both sides. Leaning to starboard? I need to level my hands. I love the instant feedback.
Sports competitions are canceled, but we’re so lucky to still be able to row. Teams are practicing three days a week this semester, spread out and wearing masks. I miss doing shout-outs on the bus ride back from the Charles and marching into the dining hall for team breakfast, but I appreciate the lower intensity and later wake-ups of this term. I’m so grateful that I get to go out on the lake and learn a new skill, which will help when I get back in an eight. It’s also incredibly fun.
I was giddy! (Thanks, Tessa, for the photo!)
Three new scullers were made during my shift on Wednesday