Rowing on the Ohio River gains popularity as a pastime
Business First of Louisville - by Susan Mcdonald
Although the Ohio River is better known for barge traffic and a certain steamboat race, a growing number of people are navigating its waters under their own power. If membership in the Louisville Rowing Club is any indication, rowing has grown dramatically in popularity in just a dozen years.
Part of the sport's attraction is its versatility, said John Hale, a founding member of the local club.
"It really is the ideal sport," he said. "You can do it alone or with a team, recreationally or competitively, casually or very intently.
"If you want to make it a serious training program, there is no sport more demanding. It works every major muscle group in the body. Only cross-country skiing comes close to that, and yet at the same time it's completely low impact. You can't even pull a muscle unless you're doing it wrong."
While the Ohio River isn't ideal for rowing, club president Roselyn Tomasulo said it isn't all that bad, either.
"You need flat, calm water without a lot of current or debris," she said. "We have a great sheltered area between Towhead Island and the shore, and Harrods Creek is also good. Also, because our weather is usually milder than in the northeast, we have a longer season of rowing."
Local rowers can choose from a wide array of options, including single or double sculls and larger boats carrying teams of four or eight rowers.
Rowing in teams is called sweep rowing. Each person uses only one oar and must be balanced by someone else rowing on the other side of the boat.
"In sweep rowing, you are utterly dependent on the other person. It builds wonderful friendships," Hale said.
Each four- or eight-oared boat usually also carries a coxswain who does not row but serves as a guide and coach. Since the rowers face backward, the coxswain looks ahead, gives commands and steers the boat.
For loners, single sculls are available that hold one rower using two oars. Single sculling is "very solitary and meditative. It's more personal because you're trying to get the best out of yourself," Hale said.
The cost of boats -- $1,500 for a sculling boat and $5,000 to $20,000 for a four- or eight-oared shell -- has given rowing an elitist label, Tomasulo said. Membership in rowing clubs, however, makes the sport affordable for everyone.
Although serious single-scullers typically invest in their own equipment, many Louisville Rowing Club members take advantage of the club's boats, Hale said.
For an annual membership fee of $200, members have access to the club's two boathouses and docks as well as club-owned equipment. That includes four four-oared shells, one eight-oared shell, and several single and double sculls.
Some boats specifically designed for beginners are broader and more stable than the extremely narrow, easily-tipped sculls used by experienced competitors.
To give prospective members an opportunity to try rowing, the club offers three free outings before joining.
The Louisville Rowing Club was formed in 1986 by Hale, who became involved in the sport 30 years ago while a student at Yale University, and about a dozen other former college rowers.
By 1990, however, membership had dropped to just two people, Hale and Steve Rauh, owner of Creekside Landing marina.
Then Hale offered a course called The Art of Rowing at the University of Louisville, where he teaches liberal studies. About half a dozen of his students became interested enough to join the club. At the same time, several former college rowers gravitated to Louisville.
As interest and membership began to grow, Rauh offered the club a corner of his marina property on Harrods Creek. Members designed and built a boathouse and docks in "sort of an Amish barn raising that lasted all winter," Hale said.
By the end of 1992, membership had grown to more than 20. Today it stands at about 80 and continues to increase annually.
In addition to the Harrods Creek boathouse, the Waterfront Development Corp. has allowed the club to use a building on the Kentucky shore near Towhead Island, offering easy access to a half-mile channel of protected water that rowers can use virtually year-round.
Beginners often are taught basic stroking techniques on one of the club's ergometers, or high-tech rowing machines. Once in the water, Hale said, newcomers must learn that a good technique is more important than brute strength.
Latest News |
