River Rat - Entry 11

D11.M5.Y19.
Cherry Beach

Writing Challenge - entry 11

My friend had decided that he wanted to become a rower. There was one rowing club in town and he was going to go there for a tryout. He brought me with him to keep him company and provide moral support.

From what I remember, it was a beautiful warm day towards the end of the summer. on the dock, there was a contraption that included a sliding rower seat and an ore that was full of holes. This was a shore-side rowing sinulator. There was a lineup of about twenty or thirty people. Two coaches were standing by the simulator and bringing one candidate at a time to show them what they've got. While providing only minimal instructions and feedback, the two coaches mostly only observed and took notes. After seeing a few people give it a try, I was bored. My friend was closer to the end of the line than the beginning so i wandered off. I came back when it was his turn and saw him do exactly as all others: get in the seat, pull on the ore several times and then get up. He was in.

As the last person in line had their go, the coaches looked at me and asked if I wanted a go. I wasn't interested. Their argument that it doesn't hurt to try swayed me to take a seat, strap my feet in and proceed to row the entire dock closer to the shore. Impressed by my strength, they asked me to join. Again, I politely expressed my disinterest in the sport, but I was back there first thing on Monday morning for the first practice anyway... What's the point? It is drag racing of the water sports except that you don't even look where you are going. You mostly only get to see where you've been. I was far more interested in kayaking. Kayakers negotiate turns and rapids. They do tricks and barrel rolls. Most importantly, they see where they were going. Sailing is even more interesting. It uses wind power instead of manpower and, again, you see where you are going. Yet there I was, a pioneer(class/title) in the rowing club. This was because there were no kayaking clubs around and sailing was too expensive.

I started out in a quad and the octet and, thanks to amazing coaches, I trained very hard. I got into a single for the first time early the following year. From then on, I usually trained in a single or a double but mostly competed in the quad. These times included several mishaps, capsizing, edge of hypothermia, completely ruined palms - lots of fun, blood, sweat and tears.

Eventually, taking a swim in a poisoned river few days before the nationals resulted in blood poisoning. It took a while to diagnose it because early symptoms resembled a bug bite more than blood poisoning. Nevertheless, this didn't stop me from participating in the nationals and winning. My three quad mates, our steering midget and I won by a long mile over our contenders. Only after that did I go and get proper treatment and had four days of rest.