As I see it, there are
several aspects of steering, each of which I’ll discuss in turn. First, you’ve GOT to know the traffic
pattern on the body of water you row on, or whether there isn’t one. This can be tricky to figure out – for
example, if you aren’t already a member of the rowing community in Boston, it
would be hard to find a copy of the River Rules,
and there are sometimes conflicting versions. For example, a commercial enterprise that rents canoes and
kayaks on the Charles has this to say about traffic on the river. While factually completely accurate and
exceptionally well written, they clearly don’t realize that the rowing
community on the Charles has created its own set of more detailed,
rowing-specific rules. If I were
to travel to Washington, D.C., say, I would have no idea what the traffic
pattern was on the Potomac – though I’m sure I would be colorfully informed
were I to violate it.
If you take even a cursory
glance at the rules document, you’ll see that the rules are fairly
detailed. Fun! But you have to know them anyway. This is not like knowing that in
Massachusetts, if there is no speed limit sign then the limit automatically
defaults to a certain number that depends on the type of road. That’s pretty much arcane, if you ask
me, unless you get pulled over by a cop.
Knowing (and following) the rules of the river really can mean the
difference between having your intestines floating in the water or not. Ask this guy. (Sorry I can’t link to the actual PDF.
Copyright, you know.)
But there’s more to it
than just knowing where you’re supposed to be. There’s also knowing where you want to be, and what your personal course is, at any one given time. On the Charles, the main rowing traffic
pattern is to stay to your port side – just like on the roads. Slower boats stay toward shore,
generally; faster ones toward the middle of the river. As I row or coach, I imagine each half
of the river as being like a two-lane highway (or three lanes, if it’s really
crowded). I want to stay in the
“right-hand” or shore-most of these lanes unless there is some compelling
reason not to be there. And
sometimes there is: Someone could
be pulled over for a drink, or the main traffic pattern might actually put me
through a center arch instead of a shore arch. Or the authorities could be having men fix the bridges, and
their barges could be parked in an arch we would otherwise use. Aside from those times, however, I have
a very clear idea in my head of just where on the river I want to be and where
I am pointed.
Each time before I start
rowing, I check where I am pointed and “get my point” so that I’m already aimed
where I want to go. Once my course
is established, there are several methods I use to keep on that course or to
monitor where I am and where I’m going.
First, and most saliently, I make sure there is at least twice as much
river to my starboard as to my port.
If I’m not in one of those spots where the natural traffic pattern takes
me toward the center, and there are equal amounts of river to starboard and
port, I feel like my fly’s unzipped.
Cultivate this
feeling. It may save your
intestines.
For the most part, I steer
by peeking over my left shoulder at the shore. That’s because I mostly just maintain a distance of about
the length of a single (say, 30-40 feet or ~10 meters) off shore. Exceptions are where the usual course
is farther away than that from shore (like in the Basin), where the shore forms
a sharp cove (like at Magazine Beach), or where there’s a dock (like by
Cambridge Boat Club). Generally,
though, about every 5-10 strokes I just look over my left shoulder to see how
far away I am and adjust if I’m too close or too far. Crucially, though, I’m not just looking at how far my oar is
from the shore or other object.
I’m looking to make sure my bow is pointed in a course parallel to the
main line of the shore.
This brings us to a little
bit of how-to. First, in most
cases I wait until my blades are in the water to turn my head. Once they go in, I press with my legs,
let my arms stretch out a little, and turn my chin to my shoulder. Out of the corner of my eye I peek at
what my hull or bow is doing. On
the next stroke is when I adjust course if I need to (assuming I’m not about to
run into something). I adjust if
the imaginary line connecting my stern and bow isn’t parallel to the imaginary
line of the shore.
To adjust my course for
the places on the river where the traffic pattern carries me away from shore, I
mostly use a “connect the dots” approach.
Shore forms a cove like it does just after Magazine Beach and before
Riverside Boat Club? Easy. I make my imaginary lines skim the
edges of the cove, like this:
Sometimes I’ll look for
landmarks, too. After I get enough
around the corner near Riverside (depicted above), I look for the shore arch of
the next bridge and put my bow right on that. Then, all I have to do is peek left as I’m skimming by
Riverside’s dock to make sure I’m not going to hit anyone. I adjust my point as I near the
bridge. At sharp turns like the
Weeks Footbridge or the Eliot Bridge, I have stern points that I use to tell me
when to stop turning, or other landmarks that tell me when to adjust
course. But mostly, it’s the
shore.
When I’m connecting my
dots or in a straightaway, I try to make sure that my course is pretty even so
I don’t oversteer or drift. To do
this, I just either pick a random stern point and try to keep my stern on it,
or I watch my wake to see that it’s straight.
There are just two issues
left: Watching out for stuff, and
how to turn on the fly.
DON’T FORGET TO WATCH OUT
FOR STUFF.
‘Cause there’s always
stuff: bridge abutments, couches,
and kayakers who just sit there wide-eyed and mystified as you row steadily
toward them are all objects that have been found in the Charles. To notice stuff, you have to ask
yourself, “What’s ahead of me?”, then check, and then memorize it. To notice moving stuff, you have to
also ask yourself, “How fast is it moving and in what direction?” You have to check by looking over BOTH
shoulders. Memorize what you see and
check again after a stroke or two to see if it’s still in the same place,
adjusting your course as needed to avoid it. (Unless, of course, you are tired and think that a rest on a
nice waterlogged couch is just the ticket.) To avoid large immovable objects, figure out where the
object is and where your bow is headed by taking a peek over each shoulder and
averaging. Then adjust as
needed.
Finally, a quick how-to,
part of which will be review.
Looking over your shoulder when your oars are in the water will give you
more stability (though of course you should look whenever you need to, in a
pinch). To angle your boat, reach
out farther at the catch on the side opposite the way you want to turn. So, if I want to turn to starboard, I
reach out farther on port at the catch.
This makes a longer arc on the port side, which will bring my bow around
to starboard where I want it. You could make a longer arc on one side by lengthening at
the catch end or the finish
end, but it’s more efficient while rowing to push your bow by getting more length at the
catch rather than pulling your stern by getting more length at the finish. Since you’ll have a longer arc on one
side than the other and the same amount of time to get through both of them,
it’s going to feel like you are pulling harder with the outside arm than the
inside. And if you need to turn very sharply, you can even increase the difference in
the arcs by keeping your inside arm bent or by not squaring the blade that’s on
the inside of the turn as you take a stroke.
The astute reader will
note that I haven’t said anything about mirrors. This is because I don’t use one. I keep expecting them to act like the rear-view mirror in my
car, and they don’t – they keep moving around when I move my head to get a
better look. Since I’m already
used to looking around by moving my head, I figured I’d save the money and stay
with what I knew. I like it
marginally better in a theoretical way because while you’re craning your neck
around, you catch sight of stuff you might miss if you’re peering into your
mirror. But it doesn’t seem to me
that one method or the other consistently results in more accidents – it seems
to be that NOT using one method or the other consistently results in
accidents. So use what works best
for you, and:
Don’t forget to check
for stuff!
