2020 – Virtually Yours

2020 was definitely an “outside your comfort zone” year.  I’m not going to digress into areas that have been covered by thousands of others, but will focus instead on the rowing aspect that I experienced.

The year started off well with a SteeringUWright rowing camp in Tempe, Arizona.  I actually rowed with just one oar for an entire weekend, working on my sweep skills and remembering how to row in an 8.  At the end of the camp we got to race in the Desert Sprints Regatta on Tempe Town Lake.  The weather cooperated and I had three good races that day.  I was stroke in the women’s 8, and we took second!  I won my lightweight single event, and following that my doubles partner (Jeana) and I won our lightweight 2x event.  It was an awesome start to the year and things were looking great!

Back in Seattle, I practiced in a double for Green Lake Regatta due to happen in mid-March, and took out my new Fluidesign 2x on Penn Cove.  Next row I would christen it!  

Alas, that second row is yet to happen.  Because after that things got really weird.  

All the boathouses shut down.  We had to stay 6 feet away from anyone outside our household, which meant no rowing in anything except a single.

Fortunately for me, my boathouse consists of the fence in our backyard.  For the first time, being a single sculler with no club close to home was an asset.  I could cartop my boat to the beach as I have done at home for 2 years, where I wet launch and row alone.  I was able to keep rowing my boat, and maintain social distancing protocols.  

I also began to discover some silver linings to this cloud.  Without the hours of travel commuting to Seattle to row in team boats, I had extra time to start doing other activities (on my own). I got my bicycle back in regular service, and put in 100’s of miles exploring the roads around home – working up to regular 25-30 mile rides.  I went back to the woods and began trail running again.

Boathouses figured out how to implement sanitizing and distancing protocols, classes restarted, and people could see each other across the dock or at oar’s length away on the water. But due to the logistical difficulties of bringing my boat 2 hours each way to launch at a clubhouse where launching times were already in short supply, I stayed home. 

As the restrictions on team boats and regattas continued, the rowing community began to explore other means to stay connected. Virtual regattas – both live and participatory – were developed.  Software was created to provide rendered race locations so you could row your erg and watch your boat go down a race course.  You could even race against other people live with announcers.  

Being a little competitive – OK, very competitive, I signed up for the Weekend Trials (Buffalo Scholastic Rowing Association).  The rowing event was 1000m piece on the water.  The format gave you 2-3 days to do your pieces and turn in your time.  This gave me the opportunity to find some good weather, and a high enough tide. 

This first race meant I had to do all the planning I usually do before a race;

• Practice race starts
• Decide what to wear 
• Get enough sleep

At the beach, and on the water:

• Assess the wind and tide, pick the direction to race the piece- I have a 1000m pretty straight stretch between two piers, so can race it in either direction
• Do a race warmup, being sure to be ready at the chosen start line
• Set the speed coach for the right distance
• Start…
• Follow my race plan
• Realize around 600m (or just past halfway of a longer race) that my competitors are invisible.  I didn’t know how fast they were going, so there was no letting up.  I had to keep the gas on the whole way.
• Do my cool down.
• Go home and wait for all the entries to come in so I can see how I did.

I had the fastest time in my event (and the cycling event) and received two pint glasses a few weeks later in the mail! (The pumpkin was for winning the Head of the Buffalo Regatta in my age group.)

I learned that these virtual races gave me an opportunity to connect with people and practice the mental aspect of racing.   So I entered as many as I could.  

Besides the on the water races, there were also erg races, of two types.

1. Participatory.  On your own time, within the time frame given: Do the prescribed distance (or time) and submit your results, with a screenshot of the monitor, either through regatta central, something like google docs, the ReSport program, or through the NK Logbook app which connects to the NK Speedcoach.
2. Live.  These were pretty wild, and really got you feeling like race day.  There were a few formats to race live:
   1. Zoom. The simplest was a zoom meeting, where you had an announcer tell you when to start, and when you were done, you turned your phone around to show your erg monitor with the result.
   2. HereNow. Your Concept2 monitor connected via Bluetooth to a Beta version of a HereNow app, and included a rendering of the race venue.  The announcers would also have a zoom meeting, and they would watch the competitors sign on and connect the app.  They could see your time, and you could watch your progress along the race on the app.  They gave you race start instructions via a zoom meeting.  You saw the warm-up area and all the singles gathered, then saw your boat move to the start and along the course as you rowed.
   3. Time-Team. Your Concept2 connected with a cable to your laptop, where the announcer could see your time, and you could see your competitors’ times on your erg monitor and on the laptop.  There was no live announcer for these, unless there was a zoom or livestream also part of the race.  The PM5 monitor showed the race start sequence, and your progress through the race compared to those leading and closest to you.  The screen on the laptop showed symbols for each boat as they progressed.

The live erg events meant you had a start time for your heat (and for head races, for your bow number).  You needed to be fueled properly, hit the bathroom (at least there was no line), be warmed up in time, and be dressed and ready to go.  Along with this preparation came the usual jitters. You couldn’t pick the time or the day to do your piece.  My Head of the Charles live event was at 6am my time.  

Results sometimes came in through pdfs accessed through regatta central, and some even were in HereNow! Now that felt like racing!  And who likes race bling!  Some events had shirts you could purchase, some had medals for participating, some had medals for the winner, or the top three.  

As the year went on, more and more clubs offered virtual events, and USRowing put together a Virtual Fall Challenge.  Many clubs rely on their annual regattas as a major fundraiser for the year.  Since I wasn’t spending money to fly, stay overnight, rent a car, rent a boat, take time off of work… I entered as many as I could, and purchased shirts for each one that offered them, in the hopes that this might help them out, even if just a little.

By the end of the year, I had competed in 16 regattas, with the following results:

Date	Regatta	Event	Format	Placing
3/1/2020	Desert Sprints Regatta (in person)Tempe Rowers Association	8+1x2x	IN PERSON!	211
6/20-21/2020	Weekend TrialsBuffalo Scholastic Rowing Association	1x (1000m)Bicycle (road, 5k)	Part.	11
9/19-27/2020	Charlie Butt Scullers HeadPotomac Boat Club	1x (4500m)	Part.	4
9/14-20/2020	Virtual Half MarathonUSRowing	1x (21,000m)	Part. ReSport	6/10
10/1-4/2020	Head of the OhioHead of the Ohio Regatta	1x (4200m)	Part.	22/51
10/3/2020	Head of the OklahomaRiversport	Live erg (4000m)	Live: HereNow	8/10
10/17/2020	Head of the BuffaloBuffalo Scholastic Rowing Association	1x (4000m)	Part.	1
10/1-5; 10/2020	Race Against the ClockUSRowing	Erg (10 min; 5 min)	Part.Live: Zoom	2/5
10/9-17/2020	HOCR Global Remote EventHead of the Charles Regatta	1x (4702m)Live erg (4702m)	Part.Live: Time-Team	29/67 (1x)3/5
10/18-24/2020	Head of the SchuylkillHead of the Schuylkill Regatta	1x (4150m)Live erg (4065m)	Part. NK LogbookLive: HereNow	10/122/3 (LW)
10/30-11/1/2020	Head of the FishSaratoga Rowing Association	1x (3200m)Erg (3200m)	Part.	9/133/18
10/1-31/2020	Pink the Boathouse ChallengeRow for the Cure	1x (5000m)Run (10k)	Part.	14/203/6
10/31-11/1/2020	Head of the PortRiver City Rowing Club	1x (2x2500m)	Part.	5/7
11/7/2020	Head of the HoochAtlanta Rowing Club	Live erg (5000m)	Live: HereNow	6/13
11/14-15/2020	Row to TokyoUSRowing	Erg (2000m)	Part. ReSport	7/14
1/1-3/2021	Rowing from 2020Regatta Central	Erg (2021m)	Part.	28/84