Open Water

We left the dock today!

And rowed.

Kind of.

Eight of us get in the boat. Mind you, this is not a big boat. It is small, narrow, and round though it weighs a ton, as I've mentioned earlier. You don't have room to stretch out much, or if you do then you better make sure you're stretching at the same time other people are stretching. Plus, you are pretty close to the water, like three inches from being in the water.

Narrow boat. Small boat. Especially when the person in back of you starts rowing and if you are not--you're going to take an oar to the kidney.

We rowed in pairs today. The other folks who weren't rowing had to keep the boat level. That is harder than rowing. You have to constantly adjust the handle of your oar so that you rest the blade flat on the water.

Then when we row, it's first arms and back, then with the legs. I was in seat 5, which means I was just about in the center of the boat. It also meant I didn't get a lot of time rowing--seems like the people in seats 7/8 and 1/2 do the most, just for steering purposes, mainly? I wanted more time rowing. Peter says that we'll rotate seats, which is good.

The class is mainly women, with 1 guy, now 2, as of today. This is my bone to pick, which I will get to in a sec.

At first I messed up. I was backing, instead of rowing. So I was pulling the boat backward, not forward. I don't know why I spaced this; I suppose it will be good when I have to, uh, back out of somewhere. Why did I do that? I don't know.

Then it was 5/6 turn (6 is in front of 5; so, as 5, I have to watch what 6 is doing and go in #6 rhythm. This is fine, and woman in front of me and I soon do well and are at a good rate, and the oar pulls through the water and there is that kind of...delightful pull, where you smooth through and there's like a fluid resistance but a yielding, cooperative resistance. I like that.

And then, because there are 8 people + the cox in the boat (Juanita, back again), and we had 9 people today. One person hangs out in the launch boat with Peter. This time, it was the new guy. And here is where I begin my "huh?":

Dude missed first 2 classes. You know, the ones where you learn how to row? So unless he took 2 other classes in a previous series and missed the rest and is making it up now, dude should have waited until the next go-round. I am surprised that they let people do that--join when they missed the classes that showed you how to do. You can't sit in a boat and watch other people row and then be assured you know how to do it.

But hey, maybe he got some classes on the side, or is a former rower, right?

Not so much. At least not in my opinion. Dude swaps out seat 5 with Heather and I have to watch him and his technique is awful and it's not consistent and it's just way, way too fast. It's not like I row like creepin' jesus, but OMG. Ungraceful, bad, lame, and of course seated in front of me. It was like, weirdly frantic or something. I couldn't do what he was doing, and yet, I had to! At one point I accidentally nudged him in the back with my oar. Serves you right for being such a flail, dude. Cox and Peter, I think, tried to get him to slow down, but by that point I looked like a bad rower, and you know what? I don't think I am a bad rower. I know it's not a competition, but I want to do a good job! And that's the thing about rowing; you can't do a good job if the person in front of you is doing a bad one. You have to copy. You have to copy it even if they are doing a bad job.

I'm an only child. You can imagine how well this sits with me!

No reason for a rant, really. I am feeling mean and sorry for myself. I hope it passes; I spent much of this weekend in a fugue state and I can't blame it on a hangover. I've been prone to depression all my life, am going through some stuff basically unrelated to 12Tries and which I don't feel much like discussing (J and I are fine and I have my health and all that, so blah blah blee), and I fear that will tip me over into something I've been trying to avoid for about 12 years or so--the return of the Sad.

But getting back to rowing: It was fun. I just wish I would have gotten to row more. It's hard!

J asked me when I came home this morning: "So what are you going to do with it?"

I don't know yet. I still have 7 more days in the water. Then there's an intermediate class if I want. But the thing is, you always need a group. I was never much for group sports; I like the solitude of running--sure, it can be better with a partner, but at the same time, you have to get it done, partner or not, otherwise you'll be a real bitch until you are able to do it.

Kind of like sex in that way.

I'm just learning, right now. That's all I got.