The day after..
4 july, 2021
Yesterday we succeeded our fist rowing challenge. The Rotterdam rowing marathon of 54 km. We have had a lot of fun and we learned a lot of techniques.
Most of all, rowing requires intense concentration. Once you push off, you can’t think about what your boss said to you this morning, or what you’re going to have for dinner, or whether you left the oven on. The slightest lapse in your attention shows itself in your stroke and in the boat. The great paradox, of course, is that you have to stay relaxed at the same time – something we are still working on. It’s the greatest distraction from your worries, the ultimate escapism, the perfect balm for the soul.
Call it harmony, call it grace and power, call it serenity, or flow, or zen. Whatever you call it, until you’ve experienced it you’ll never really understand what it is. Rowers talk about it in almost mystical terms – the mysterious lifting-off when a boat is running well, when you have that blissful, magical feeling of rhythm and movement and elegance, of power and grace.
We only row for a few weeks now, but we feel it. And once you’ve been to that place and heard and felt the boat singing, you won’t rest until you’ve found the way back.
This rowing marathon, there’s nothing quite like it. The adrenalin, the rush, the white heat of pain, the feeling of your mind narrowing down to just one thing, the sight of the other crews in your peripheral vision, the attention, the start, the lengthening, the stroke after stroke after stroke, the pulling away, the last ten strokes, the finish, and the sweet joy or bitter disappointment of the result. It reduces life to simple, black and white terms. Just don’t ever tell a rower it’s all about the taking part. It isn’t.
