this turns out to be my closest rowing club, and a bizarre club it sounds to
be too, everything seems to be run on a system of classes, which I suppose
could work out quite well for beginners, but looks like it could turn out to
be an excellent way of being a low performance rowing club!
I'd be interested in opinions.
Cheers
Anne
ROFLMAO.
<open>can of worms</open>
Take it, Paul....
(I can't stop laughing)
To be fair, if you come down my way there is a choice of
two other 'low performance rowing clubs' you can
row at!
http://srarowing.smugmug.com/photos/17644543-M.jpg
-K. "Chicken Little" C.
Very expensive!
--
E. Dronkert
Well, with Alfred E Neuman on the coaching staff...
(Sorry - absolutely no offence intended)
Dave H
What, me worry?
On Nov 15, 10:27 am, "david.hender...@aea.be" <david.hender...@aea.be>
wrote:
> Anne Rogers wrote:
> >http://www.srarowing.com/
>
> > a bizarre club it sounds to be tooWell, with Alfred E Neuman on the coaching staff...
>
> (Sorry - absolutely no offence intended)
>
> Dave H
> What, me worry?
Read on - they do offer regular membership at $250 per year. It seems
a well-run outfit as far as I can judge from the website.
Caroline
The guy in the foreground is the SRA rower, the picture is at a race on
Greenlake, and the 2x in the background has nothing to do with the
club. Not sure of the cause of the flip, but I think it had to do with
the avoidance of the tin skiff, and lack of awareness.
One of the rowers I coached from the learn to row on up, just won the
Head of The Charles (4 years from her beginning, Sue Dandridge),
passing 12 boats worth of traffic to do so, but I still enjoy the
implied insults I get in this community.
The lake can be a very nice place to row, when the docks are once again
above water, and some of the nicest water will be over the next several
months as the motor craft will have been tucked away for the winter.
A member, once they go through the club orientation and skill check, is
able to use club equipment that fits their skill level. It's quite a
good deal in that sense.
As far as the performance level, well, that's sort of up to the
individual themself now, isn't it?
Sue was a good example of this, she was at SRA for about two years,
while I was coaching, and then had to go somewhere that had space for
her boat, as SRA did not. I think she rowed out of at least three
different clubs over the last 2 years, and worked with none other than
Frank Cunningham during some of that time. The most recent affiliation
with Greenlake Crew is something I had not been aware of until seeing
the results at HOTC.
- Paul Smith
www.ps-sport.net
Yes, that was obvious by the caption to the photo... which apparently is
absent in the link I posted. ooops. I was actually posting that just
because it was funny, esp. considering the current discussion of
oarlocks being potentially deadly in a capsize. No commentary on SRA
there.... implied or otherwise.
> but I still enjoy the implied insults I get in this community.
I don't know about anyone else, but I've never implied an insult toward
you. If ever I insulted you, it was either inadvertent/unintentional,
or direct. Never just "implied". ;-)
> A member, once they go through the club orientation and skill check, is
> able to use club equipment that fits their skill level. It's quite a
> good deal in that sense.
Sounds like most clubs with which I've been associated. The annual fee
varies, but usually you get full use of club-owned equipment with the
club fee. Is that unusual in your experience?
-KC
Well, I'm sure that's not completely accurate, but it is more accurate
than not.
> > A member, once they go through the club orientation and skill check, is
> > able to use club equipment that fits their skill level. It's quite a
> > good deal in that sense.
>
> Sounds like most clubs with which I've been associated. The annual fee
> varies, but usually you get full use of club-owned equipment with the
> club fee. Is that unusual in your experience?
>
> -KC
I can't claim to have wide enough experience to call it unusual or
usual, in fact, I own my boats and rarely had use for the equipment at
SRA. The policies seem like they would be a good model for clubs
anywhere, so I'd suspect that it is more likely to be usual. Not sure
why you asked, I was just making a concise summary for the original
poster. Or was it the ~$20/month that seems excessive? If there are
clubs with smaller fees than that, then they are very cheap indeed.
- Paul Smith
Thanks Paul, no the fees don't seem excessive, in fact they seem very good,
it may actually be a US/UK difference, this whole class thing and I can see
why it may well work quite well. Though as you progress further, a lot is
going to depend on what type of rowing you want to do, so if you want to
scull, then yes, it is your own individual motivation that's going to be the
biggest issue, but if you prefer to row in eights, then you're going to be
looking for something different. The website mentions nothing about coxes,
do you need them? I may enroll in a learn to scull course in the spring.
Cheers
Anne
well I had no idea there was someone from there on here, but that is a good
thing, means I can ask questions!
I'm not even sure if I want to go back to rowing, sometimes, I don't feel
like I miss it at all, but other times, I'm itching to get out on the water
and deep down, I really love to compete!
Cheers
Anne
There seem to be very few specific coxes throughout the adult program,
I can think of two in the 5 years I've been around. The classes deal
with this on a "rotation" schedule of class members. Not the best
situation, not the worst, but at least everyone gets a chance to know
what the cox goes through, and coxes are treated very well from what I
see. So the short answer would be: Yes, of course.
The skill levels across, and within, the classes can vary quite a bit.
The indoor training season is just starting and would, in my
estimation, be a nice time to become introduced to the group you
select. During this time, if the weather permits there is still rowing
to be had, and it can be under quite nice conditions.
- Paul Smith
> Well, with Alfred E Neuman on the coaching staff...
> Dave H
> What, me worry?
Dave, Dave. You (and I) understand the reference, but how many other
regulars in this group do? Plugh?
--
Henry Law <>< Manchester, England
I get it but I thought it pretty rude.
If he was talking about the face of Mad magazine, I got it too, and
share Sully's sentiment.
-Kieran
Man is so necessarily mad that not to be mad could only be another form of
madness.
Or do we have a law against madness?
ack, I can imagine the frustration in classes if an outing is hampered by
poor coxing, but maybe that doesn't happen often, I'd also be concerned
about safety, but maybe that means you have to draw the line sooner in poor
weather conditions. Ideally early in every rowers career they'd get a few
outings in the coxes seat, but ultimately have access to a dedicated cox.
>
> The skill levels across, and within, the classes can vary quite a bit.
> The indoor training season is just starting and would, in my
> estimation, be a nice time to become introduced to the group you
> select. During this time, if the weather permits there is still rowing
> to be had, and it can be under quite nice conditions.
a good idea, but realistically not going to happen, we're moving shortly
from temporary accomodation to a house we've bought, so lifes going to be
chaotic for a while.
What kind of racing schedule to you have, I want to compete, but I've also
got to balance family.
Cheers
Anne
Race schedule is whatever you want to commit to, quite a bit to select
from. There is a lot of family balancing going on in the masters
group, they will help you out.
Since you must be in the area, how about that Saturday?! We looked at
the glass and decided the beach launch would be worth enduring, it was.
We almost had the lake to ourselves, but one ski boat decided that
wrecking the water needed to be done, they couldn't even stick to
parallel courses, opting for running about in all directions. Maybe
it's some sort of mental disorder they have which says, "See smooth
water, wake it."
Cheers,
Paul Smith
yeah, gorgeous day, first one for ages, we drove up to Snoqualmie summit for
the first time, we need to get hold of a sledge, our oldest is desparate to
go sledging, he was begging for it on Saturday, it's looking good today too,
the weather over the last fortnight has been horrendous. I'm currently
ridiculously close to SRA, it takes about 90secs, we're moving and it's
going to be more like 10mins, but that looks appealing compared to heading
to one of the clubs on Lake Union, though one of them has a very appealing
coxing program.
Cheers
Anne
10 minutes? Heck you might be the folks moving in down the street.
(Anywhere near Grass Lawn Park?) I've visited a number of the other
club around and they are very nice. I can take the SRA boathouse
mostly because it is nerly identical to what we had in my University
days, That has even been replaced with a very spiffy facility. SRA is
right in the middle of a building project for a new boathouse that will
be quite impressive by any standard, though with the hoops of
environmental issues to work with, wonderful State Bureacracy, it will
probably be the final 1/4 of the entire project that see's a foundation
hitting dirt.
- Paul Smith
nope, but same distance in a different direction (nr Crossroads Mall)
> I've visited a number of the other
> club around and they are very nice. I can take the SRA boathouse
> mostly because it is nerly identical to what we had in my University
> days, That has even been replaced with a very spiffy facility. SRA is
> right in the middle of a building project for a new boathouse that will
> be quite impressive by any standard, though with the hoops of
> environmental issues to work with, wonderful State Bureacracy, it will
> probably be the final 1/4 of the entire project that see's a foundation
> hitting dirt.
I've used a mixture of boathouses, I have to say that when choosing a club
in Cambridge, the one with the nice boathouse won, but that wasn't the only
reason, but then ended up doing a lot of rowing at Ely, with no boathouse at
all!
If you ever need a cox, feel free to contact me, my email is correct in the
headers.
Cheers
Anne
Ah, we lived over at Main and 157th prior to our move a couple years
ago. Seemed quiet most of the time, nice and convenient access to most
anything needed.
> > I've visited a number of the other
> > club around and they are very nice. I can take the SRA boathouse
> > mostly because it is nerly identical to what we had in my University
> > days, That has even been replaced with a very spiffy facility. SRA is
> > right in the middle of a building project for a new boathouse that will
> > be quite impressive by any standard, though with the hoops of
> > environmental issues to work with, wonderful State Bureacracy, it will
> > probably be the final 1/4 of the entire project that see's a foundation
> > hitting dirt.
>
> I've used a mixture of boathouses, I have to say that when choosing a club
> in Cambridge, the one with the nice boathouse won, but that wasn't the only
> reason, but then ended up doing a lot of rowing at Ely, with no boathouse at
> all!
>
> If you ever need a cox, feel free to contact me, my email is correct in the
> headers.
>
> Cheers
>
> Anne
I guess that would make it the closest to Ely, at the moment. [;o)
If you email the Director, she would certainly put you in touch with
the class coaches.
- Paul Smith