Here’s the link to iTunes.

Happy rowing!

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Anyway I found this book in the back of her car. She says she hasn’t really read it that seriously yet but is hoping to. Has anyone read it before? Can you let us know if it’s any good by posting in the comments?

Rowing Faster by Volker Nolte

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While there’s nothing like getting up at the crack of dawn to get out on the water and row with your crew, sometimes you just can’t row outdoors. This could be due to weather, or scheduling, or even just because you’re working on some drills or technique with your coach and he/she needs better access to you. When rowing indoors we use the Indoor Rowing machine, or Ergometer (shortened to Erg).

There are a few common Ergs on the market these-days, that vary in style and cost. By far the most common erg is the Model D or Model E, made by Concept2.

The Concept2 erg operates mechanically, and simulates the rowing stroke very accurately using a wind-resistance flywheel attached to a chain. The seat slides backwards and forwards on its railing, just like your seat does in your boat. Concept2 ergs are highly reliable and used all round the world by some of the best rowers out there.

The major differences between the Model D ($900) and Model E ($1260) are to do with the construction – the Model E is slightly more sturdy, but the Model D is also near-indestructible. Another difference is that the Model E is slightly taller, meaning the seat is higher, making it possibly easier to get on and off if you have a tough time bending down.

They are connected to mini-computers and LCD screens which provide instant feedback on your stroke, with very detailed information, including 500m split, distance, stroke count etc. There are even some cheesy but fun games built into the mini-computers, such as The Fish Game, which make your tedious rowing piece a little more fun.

There are two types of monitors (computers) available, the newer PM4 and the older PM3. I’d suggest getting the PM4, although I’ve never used one myself (the PM3 still being quite common). As I understand it, it has more advanced networking capabilities than the older one.

Regular erg practice can improve your technique, stamina, speed, and possibly help you lose weight.

They’re both available direct from the manufacturer, Concept2, and also on Amazon.

Here’s a link to the Model E on Amazon:
Concept2 Model E Indoor Rowing Machine

And here’s a link to the Model D:
Concept2 Model D Indoor Rowing Machine

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RBL National Rowing League Germany RCGD Image Film 1. Ruder Bundesliga Düsseldorf from Tim Neiser on Vimeo.

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Halloween Rowing Costumes

Yesterday our club had heaps of boats in the Head of the Marina race down here at Marina del Rey. This year it was particularly spooookkkkyyy since it was Halloween. I’m proud to say that we had about 40 medalists from our club, including three boats with first place medals! We had the Mens’ Masters 8+ A and B, Womens’ Masters 4+, Womens’ Masters Double, Womens’ Open 8+ and the Mixed Masters 8+.

Our home court advantage really came across when our boats managed to execute the course’s hairpin turn like Michael Schumacher while the other boats continued on towards the breakwater. Note to next year’s crews: Robert’s tip of ‘Ports Out, but not holding’ was shockingly effective and needs to have a solid place in your playbook. See forthcoming ‘Robert’s Tips’ book.

It was the usual hilarious hang down at the beach beforehand, some great team spirit and cheering, and afterwards a scrumptious buffet-style banquet put on by the race organizers, the California Yacht Club. Thanks everyone for coming out and rowing and/or cheering.

Here are the photos.

And, here they are as a slideshow.

Here are the official results:

MM8+ A
Place: 1st
Elapsed time: 17:58.0
Final time: 17:55.50

MM8+ B
Place: 4th
Elapsed time: 21:03.00
Final time: 20:54.90

WM4+
Place: 2nd
Elapsed time: 23:54.00
Final time: 23:47.09

WM2x
Place: 1st
Elapsed time: 23:22.00
Final time: 23:03.75

WO8+
Place: 1st
Elapsed time: 19:45.00
Final time: 19:45.00

MxM8+
Place: 2nd
Elapsed time: 19:05.00
Final time: 18:48.10

Well done, champs!

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Don’t forget to make friends with the team’s Facebook profile by going here!

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by Mark May

I recently heard that you will be moving on to a new club. It is with heartfelt sadness to see you go. You have provided us with many years of valuable service transporting our boats to the various regattas in California and the Southwest. Remember the good times we had crashing on the shores of Los Gatos with Robert B. or transporting our boats to the many races in SD, LB and at Lake Merritt. I must say that you have contributed to the many medals our club has won over the years.

It is true that for the last several years we have neglected you. Left you to rust in the elements and become vandalized. But we have much renewed motivation to continue using you now that our club has recruited many a new rower, beginner and advanced alike, seriouly interested in competing in races. But alas, it is not to be.

What I don’t understand is why you didn’t let us know earlier. We have a wonderful system of communication called LA Rowing Groups. We could have put out a poll to the club to see where the current membership stands on the issue or at least post a message. Or perhaps you did and I just didn’t see it during my daily checks of postings over the last year. Needless to say, once I heard that you were considering leaving us for another club there were those who diligently tried to justify your existence. We offered FREE storage. Members rallied to repair you and maintain your registration. There were those even willing to eventually purchase a vehicle with a tow package to help you transport our boats. But alas, the powers to be thought you were a waste of time, a money pit.

It’s a pity LARC Trailer. Our club has come a long way from being mediocre recreational club to a club respected and admired by many in the rowing community. You leaving us is like the proverbial one step forward, two steps back.

Anyway, I wish you the best of luck with your new club. Perhaps we will cross paths again as you proudly transport your clubs boats on the highways and byways to your next regatta. Better yet, maybe you can spare some space to transport our boats. You can’t be any more expensive than the $40 a seat rental LMU charges.

With Fondest Regards

Mark

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It just so happen that my vacation to visit the family in Richmond Va. coincided with the dates of the race in Camden, NJ. Joining me was my son Nathan. My original flight plans were from Burbank to NY with a connecting flight to Richmond. Deciding to change the plans to enter the races was an easy one. All the other logistics of renting a boat, transporting oars, finding a place to stay, etc. wasn’t so easy. So, the plan was to cancel my connecting flight to Richmond, meet my friend Gerry in NY, spend the day touring, after which we would grab the NJ transit train to Camden for the races at the Cooper River Lake. From there my sister would meet up with us at the races after which she would drive us the rest of the way to Richmond for the rest of our vacation.

I was fortunate enough to be able to rent a boat from Dave Trond from Vespoli and have my oars transported by A.C. Dupont of LB Rowing Association. The boat I was rowing was a Vespoli M27XL (205-260), a little too large for me but all they had at the time. Gerry made arrangements for us to stay in a residence hall at Rutgers University in Camden. This wasn’t your typical dorm room. It was a two bedroom suite with a full kitchen and living room. All for $75 bucks a night!

After meeting up with Dave Trond and rigging the boat I set off for a practice. The row was actually pretty good considering I hit a couple of logs submerged just below the surface of the water (oops, sorry Dave). The next day was my first race, the Men’s D 1x.

There were 21 entrants in this race requiring 4 heats. I was in the last heat with 6 boats, lane 2. Clearly my starts were of the greatest concern so I decided to take it real slow building up the rate throughout the start. I had no real start strategy, just keeping the boat set. While I was last out of the start I quickly pulled up to 2nd place in the first 250m. I and kept that position to the 500m mark. I had a tendency in past races to tense up, trying to pull ahead and then tiring myselfbut forced myself to keep the pace to the 750m mark. Doing this caused me to fall to 3rd place. But at the 750m mark I brought the rate up, started cranking on the oar and went from 3rd to 1st, winning my heat. The crowd went wild (Or at least my son, sister and friend did). I was totally drained but made it to semi finals which were less than an hour later.

Needless to say Semi’s didn’t go as well. It seemed I was good for only one race. Ended up 5th out of 6 boats but made an effort at least. We spent the rest of the day touring a haunted prison in Philadelphia and visiting the residence of Edgar Allen Poe.

The next day was Men’s C 1x. I wasn’t expecting much in this race. There were 23 entrants with 4 heats. I was in the first heat lane 2. Used the same strategy but just didn’t have enough to make the semi’s. Not much to say here except I didn’t come in last and that’s always a good thing.

It was a great two days of rowing. We met rowers from all over the country. Share experiences, cursed the hot, humid weather of the east coast and pigged out on chili dogs after the race. My son seeing the excitement of racing decided to give it a try. He’ll be joining the next LTR class. It was an honor representing our club at Master’s Nationals.

See you on the water!

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Exploding from the blocks at the start, our stroke rate ascended dangerously over 40 strokes per minute. The Paul Varga barreled down the course, unstoppable, with no intention of letting-up; legs bursting at the seams heading into the final sprint with every last ounce of life we could muster…

LARC Women's 8+

This was the ninth race for my LARC Competitive Women’s 8+ team: The 2009 USRowing Southwest Regional Championships at Lake Merritt. Loading up on carbs in San Francisco’s North Beach district the night before, we were unsuspecting of what would be required from us the following day.

The Master’s Women 8+ (AA-B) was nicely executed with a quick time of 3:43. We felt good, yet felt like we could do better.  For the Women’s Open 8+, our coxswain Beth rounded us up and told us what she needed us to do. I dare not disclose the secrets here. It was big and ballsy, but necessary. We understood what we were about to do and that it would hurt. After a quick round of the warm-up area, passing by our fellow LARC teammates who were cheering us like mad from the shore, we took to the stake boats.

Off the blocks we attacked the start like a machine, sending it off at the finish

Beth defining the plan.

every single stroke. Beth cracked the whip on us the whole way down the course and we didn’t hold back. Crossing the finish line we were overcome with exhilaration (or rather, an awesome endorphin high). We raced our race, and it felt great. Our reward: a beautiful shinning bronze medal to hang on our necks.

What a fun weekend to travel to the Bay Area! It was fantastic having another crew from LARC be there to share the experience and the fun. GO LARC!

LARC Women's 8+

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This year’s SW Regionals took place at Lake Merritt in Oakland California. This is the month that the Lake Merritt Rowing Club typically has their annual Lake Merritt Sprints which our club usually enters (emphasis on usually) but this year was replaced with the SW Regionals.

It was nice to see the club rowing again on beautiful Lake Merritt. LARC had 5 entries 3 of which I will provide some details on (hopefully someone from the Women’s 8+ will share their race experience with the blog).

The races are in order based on the Schedule:

Men’s Master’s B

Women’s Master’s AA-B

Men’s Master’s D

Women’s Open

Mixed Master’s 8+ A-D

Mark

The first race was the Men’s Master’s B. I entered this race fully aware that I would definitely not win but I hate driving 389 miles for one 4 minute race, so I told myself, “what the hell, go for it”. There were five entries in this race ranging in age from 35 to 50; Humboldt, Dolphin, LARC, Long Beach, Bair Island. I recognized the name of the guy from Dolphin but couldn’t remember where. Then I realized he was a former member of the infamous Kent Mitchell Rowing Club. For those not knowing the club, it is made up of ex-national and Olympic Rowers from across the nation. And of course Long Beach Rowing has a history of pumping out National and Olympic Rowers as well. Both were on either side of me. For a start I did a ½, ½, ¾, lengthen and full and went into a high 10 to a settle. I was told that the Long Beach guy jumped the start but that I caught up to him (woo hoo). All five were tight at the 500M mark when the others took off and left me in their dust (or spray). Only about 15 seconds from the first place to last place finish Final Result: DFL but with a good feeling of accomplishment.

Go LARC!!

The next race was the Men’s Master’s D. I was really hoping to do well in this race. There were four entries; LARC, Rio Salado, San Diego and Marin. I raced the guy from Rio Salado at the Desert Sprints back in March beating me by only a few seconds so as far as I was concerned he was going to be the guy to beat. I had no idea how the other rowers were but both clubs have a history of winning races. By this time the wind started picking up a bit coming in from the NW pushing our bows to port so the line up and start was quick. Maybe I can call a “do-over” since I was totally unprepared when they called attention, ROW. Dug a little too deep on the port side but quickly recovered. I stayed with Rio Salado for most of the course but somewhere between 500 and 750M he pulled ahead (maybe it was due to me bouncing from buoy to buoy like a pin ball in my lane). Final Result: 2nd Place.

The third and final race was the Mixed Master’s 8+ A-D. Forgive me if my recollection of the race is a little off. It’s hard to remember when you’re rowing your guts out so Beth, feel free to chime in. This was a full race with 7 boats; Bair Island A, Deep Water, Lion’s, North Bay, Lake Casitas, LARC and Bair Island B. Our lineup was Claire, Tamara, David, Mimi, Arthur, Gary, Rebecca, yours truly and one of the best cox’ns I’ve had the pleasure of rowing with………Beth.

LARC Mixed Masters Crew, medalists!

This was a race to remember. Not so much the race itself but the line up. Imagine seven 8+’s lining up with a fairly strong wind. Then think log jam. We started the line up well but after that it was a nightmare. Before I tell what happened there are two important lessons to learn here: 1. Always listen to the cox’n 2. Know how to scull a sweep boat before a race.  Need I say more? We backed up to the lane 6 stake boat, the kind ladies held on to our stern, the bow started to drift to port, Beth called to scull but before we knew it we were perpendicular to the course with bow touching the lane 5 stake boat and no way to right ourselves even after several attempts. Fortunately the good people in the chase boat made like a tug boat pushing a cruise ship away from the dock and pushed our bow straight into our lane (thanks Lake Merritt).

The start was a countdown. We planned on a start of ½, ½, ¾, lengthen, full, a high 20 to a settle at 30. During practices we were having some difficulty with settling from the high 20 but although we didn’t settle to the 30 we had good run and was moving the boat. Our start was pretty close to a 40 (I think) to a 34 settle. The Bair Island “A” boat took off right from the start but the rest of the boats were tight right up to the 500M mark including the Lion’s boat which I knew we had to beat. The Bair Island “B” boat was in the lane next to us and was pretty much bow to bow. It seemed like there was no moving on them. Beth called it good though. We did a power 15 cranking really hard and started pulling away. I thought I heard Beth say we were pulling up on the 1st place boat which motivated us to pull even harder. At 750M Beth called a rate increase and we pulled away even farther. At the 500M mark we were bow to bow, by the end of the race we were cox’n to 5 seat. We crossed the finish line second. With a handicap we came in 3rd. Final Result: 3rd Place Races like the one at Lake Merritt are made for a club like ours. We have proven how competitive LARC can be and hopefully this experience will motivate others to enter races in the future. All who raced this weekend came home with a medal, some never having raced before others who have never won never won a race before, but all leaving with fond memories. Ah the things we do for a .99 hunk of metal.

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