Summer in the pair

Now, I'm not suggesting that everyone should go out, get themselves some sexy unisuits and race some national team guys at big regattas over the summer. I'm suggesting something much more terrifying for some of my athletes: go and row the straight pair.

One boat, two rowers, one oar each. No coxswain and no room for mistakes. Training in the straight pair has been all the rage for the last few years. Much like the single, if you can row the pair well, the thinking goes that you can row anything well.

The boat is tiny. I routinely pick up pairs alone in the boathouse when I'm working on them. It's bigger than a single, but not by much. After an entire season in fours or eights, most people react the same as a single when they get in the first time. Pushing off the dock brings a deer-in-the-headlights look of I'm about to flip.

And pairs do flip. Miss the catch badly enough, and you're going in. Catch a crab? Swim time. Heck, pairs sometimes flip when practicing racing starts. If the coach screwed up the rig, hope your heels are tied in well. Nevermind that steering is an adventure, with two power applications every stroke. A rudder many times does more harm than good, with the steersman so distracted by trying to go straight that their rowing suffers.

The pair is simply not like any other sweep boat. It requires absolute concentration at all times. The stroke must be consistent in everything they do, not just the rowing, but from how they push off the dock to how fast they come up the slide to do a start. The bow must (usually) steer the boat, call the race and somehow perfectly match the stroke. Unlike an eight, where body positions can be all over the place and slightly different hand levels can be overlooked, the pair forces bow to match everything, even what the stroke is doing wrong.

Rarely does the pair look good out on the water. Emily likened them to watching a duck with a broken wing flap along the top of the water, trying to get airborne. But when they are right........like nothing else.

Some of my best memories of rowing happened in pairs. Every summer I was involved in the sport, I found a partner to row a pair with. At Yale, HVT and I rowed every summer, most mornings of the week. After a few days, the pair just felt good. We rarely did anything very hard, and only had a coach out with us a few times. We would race at the Canadian Henley in August, but mainly we were just rowing around, staying in aerobic shape and enjoying nice mornings and smooth water.

And I know it made me a better rower. I believe it can do that for anyone who can spend the time in the boat. The pair in the summer is a sweet way to chill out, get better, stay in shape and go swimming from time to time.

Categories: Rowing, Memories