Gondola/Comfort Day

To become more comfortable in a single shell, Walter and I, along with some of the other Small Boat Training Center athletes and Green Racing Project athletes hit the water in some durable Peinert singles for "Gondola Day." Troy Howell, managing director at Craftsbury, showed us an assortment of drills and tricks to do in the boat. The purpose of these exercises was to get more used to being in a tippy boat. Some of the drills included chop-chop, letting go of one handle (and if we were brave, letting go of both), "use-the-force" drill, flipping the oar all the way around the oarlock 360 degrees, trying to row with the blades in our hands, and many more. The culminating drill/trick was gondola rowing. We had to stand up in the boat, put one oar handle under our foot, undo the other oar and then paddle with loose oar. With the one oar there for stability it was easier than one might suspect.

These drills along with a few falls into the water helped us realize that there is no reason to tense up just because we're in a tippy single. We hope to apply these things to our rowing in the double and look to keep smoothing out our stroke.