Broken Oars Podcast

Broken Oars Podcast Boat Race Sherlock Holmes Special: The Mystery of the Murdered Bow - Part Four

Dear Listener, thank you for your attention to our podcast, which, unlike many and most activities on the internet is not free to make. Should you be enjoying the podcast and wish to help us make more episode please consider buying us a coffee or purchasing one of our digital downloads at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd. Thank you again for listening.

Welcome back to Part Four of the celebration of Head of the River and the Boat Race that is our exclusive all-new Sherlock Holmes adventure, the first and only one to feature that noblest and greatest of sports, rowing.

 

The Mystery of the Murdered Bow - Part Four.

 

 

Called from 221b Baker Street by Inspector Lestrade's urgent summons, Holmes and Watson have made their way by train to Cambridge.

 

 

A young man is dead.

 

 

Self-murder is suspected.

 

 

On arrival, the evidence initially suggests that the facts fit Lestrade's conclusion: Mr Martin was found alone in his room, with a single gunshot wound to the head. But there is no pistol. And as Holmes examines the room, he finds a priest's hole and single button. 

 

 

Do they mean anything?

 

 

Lestrade thinks not, but Holmes is not sure. His investigation leads him to the college boathouse where a conversation with Mr. Pitman and Mr. Muttlebury, both rowers and crewmates of Mr. Martin, provides new information.

 

 

But is it relevant?

 

 

Get some!

Broken Oars Podcast Boat Race Sherlock Holmes Special: The Mystery of the Murdered Bow - Part Three

Dear Listener, thank you for your attention to our podcast, which, unlike many and most activities on the internet is not free to make. Should you be enjoying the podcast and wish to help us make more episode please consider buying us a coffee or purchasing one of our digital downloads at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd. Thank you again for listening.

In celebration of Head of the River and the upcoming Boat Race, the team at Broken Oars have put together a Boat Race special - an all-new Sherlock Holmes adventure:

 

We give you:

The Mystery of the Murdered Bow - Part Three

 

 

The year is 1886.

 

 

A young man has been found dead at King's College, Cambridge.

 

Self-murder is suspected.

 

 

Holmes and Watson have been called from 221b Baker Street by Inspector Lestrade.

 

 

When Holmes and Watson arrive, the evidence suggests that Lestrade's conclusion fits the facts.

 

But as Holmes begins to investigate, is there more to what otherwise appears to be an open-and-shut case?

 

 

Listen on to find out!

 

Long drive to HORR? Training tomorrow? Spectating tomorrow? We've got you covered!

 

Get some!

Broken Oars Boat Race Sherlock Holmes Special: The Mystery of the Murdered Bow Parts One and Two

Dear Listener, thank you for your attention to our podcast, which, unlike many and most activities on the internet is not free to make. Should you be enjoying the podcast and wish to help us make more episode please consider buying us a coffee or purchasing one of our digital downloads at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd. Thank you again for listening.

Broken Oars Podcast, the original and best podcast about the art, practice and people involved pushing a boat backwards down a river, returns with ...

 

'The Mystery of the Murdered Bow.'

 

A new Sherlock Holmes adventure written especially for and just in time for Head of the River and the Boat Race.

 

The year is 1886. All is well in 221b Baker Street. After a long winter, as February slips into March, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson are called to Cambridge by Inspector Lestrade one morning ...

 

The reason?

 

An apparent self-murder at one of the oldest and most venerable colleges of one of the world's oldest and most venerable universities ...

 

... but is all truly as it seems?

 

With new episodes building up all of the way to Boat Race Day, follow each twist and turn and find out ...

 

(No Coxswains were hurt in the making of this story. This might not be the case in real life).

Broken Oars Podcast, Episode 51: The End-of-Year Review.

Dear Listener, thank you for your attention to our podcast, which, unlike many and most activities on the internet is not free to make. Should you be enjoying the podcast and wish to help us make more episode please consider buying us a coffee or purchasing one of our digital downloads at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd. Thank you again for listening.

Despite being the world's best rowing podcast (after Martin Cross, anyway) and having had stellar years so far in terms of amazing guests and people annoyed, Broken Oars Podcast have never done an end-of-year review.

 

Well, that stops now.

 

Here is is, just in time to keep the twelve days of Christmas going and set you up for the New Year. As usual, we throw ourselves into it with our usual gusto, so on this episode, we talk about:

 

Free speech, the Northern One's alcohol tolerance levels (so small as to need a microscope to view them), and how the development of the pocket Jezz Moore App is going. Then we got onto our best pod moments, best rowing moment, best workout, best outing, best race and best events of 2022.

 

Oh, we cover them all. Don't let our usual back-and-forth style fool you into thinking we haven't thought about any of our answers. We do research on this pod - often while we're in the middle of recording it. We talk about our favourite guests (our guests are always our favourite guests); Small Ergs, Big Dreams falls off our Christmas list for the crime of being young, good-looking, unfeasibly talented (and young, did we mention young?); the virtues of pudding are discussed; and ultimately, although it's nice to see the British Squad return to winning ways, we choose Claire Court's victory over Redwood Scullers at Henley 2022 as our race of the year.

 

Because that, ladies and gentlemen, was rowing as it was meant to be done.

 

That's right.

 

In a sculling boat.

 

GET SOME!

 

-----

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Broken Oars Podcast, Episode 50: The Great Head Races Of Our Time and The UK

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We return as strangers from foreign lands with tales of wonder and woe - or, to be more accurate, like two people who've been incredibly busy and decided to use the excuse of recording a podcast to catch up and check that we're both still alive.

 

Are you all still alive?

 

Good.

 

Keep it that way.

 

In this episode, we discuss that most fundamental of rowing experiences, the Head Race.

 

Giving the historically accurate defintion of a Head Race (literally, a race for Heads (ahem)), we try and identify what makes a great Head Race, talk about some of the ones we've done, give shout out and honourable mentions to those we've also done or would like to. I (Northern One) sing the glory that is Rutherford Head, the best HR in the country by a mile; Lewin (Souther One) makes a strong case for Bedford, and we give props to HORR 2010 as it was one of the most glorious, brutally physical performances we've ever been involved in - and we rowed for Agecroft: brutal physicality is where we lived.

 

Feel free to tell us we're wrong and nominate your favourite Head. Remember, the judging criteria are:

 

1) It needs to be a real waterman's or waterwoman's course. No drag racing. It has to be challenging.

 

2) It needs an element of danger. Seals, polar bears, tricky bends and bridges ... all considered.

 

3) It has to have scenery - we've all done (insert name here), and the only thing worse than rowing through a flat, featureless landscape is living in one.

 

4) Has to have an element of being able to win something or scalpability (claim scalps).

 

5) Sure there was a five, can't remember what it is, though.

 

Perfect listening on the way to the boathouse, or on the long drive to the next race on the calendar in these cold, dark winter days.

 

Enjoy!

 

Stern four. Start doing some work, please!

 

-----

Try listening to us with a coffee - and if you're feeling generous, stand us one.

 

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Broken Oars University: Module One: Infinite Stories - Narrative in the Age of Constant Content Creation

Dear Listener, thank you for your attention to our podcast, which, unlike many and most activities on the internet is not free to make. Should you be enjoying the podcast and wish to help us make more episode please consider buying us a coffee or purchasing one of our digital downloads at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd. Thank you again for listening.

'Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends, we're so glad you could attend, come inside, come inside ... '

 

A new branch of the Broken Oars tree, Broken Oars University was dreamed up over the summer as an occasional series for your two stalwarts to explore some things other than rowing ...

 

... 'What?' I hear you cry. 'There are no such other things!

 

Well, ordinarily we'd agree with you, but the Northern One is working through some projects at the moment that mean that the subject matter of this one is pretty close to hand and heart ... and the best way to learn anything is to try and teach it, because then you're forced to break it all down.

 

The Broken Oars University tag was inspired by so many of our friends on Twitter et al heading off to University - which is an expansive experience, not just in terms of the teaching and the course, but also the new perspectives and understandings it can bring.

 

We (he, Northern One) hopes that the Broken Oars University will be a similar experience, giving fresh perspectives on some things that perhaps you already know, but which might also be new to some. An occasional series, we'll introduce things we're working on or thinking about in our professional and other lives that might entertain, inform, tickle or make you throw things at the screen.

 

Sound like it might be fun ...

 

It might be.

 

So, to kick it off, Module One sees the Northern One exploring how stories work in an age where narratives no long end but instead roll into the next content output.

 

In his usual fashion, he will self-deprecate his expertise in this area to the point where you'll think 'who the hell is this person', but essentially this opening episodes touches on the following points:

 

 - Expertise: what is it, why is it more defined by knowing what you don't know rather than what you do.

 

- Polymaths: what are they, why he isn't one, and neither is Stephen Fry.

 

- Narrative: why stories have a beginning, middle and end, and why it doesn't matter what order these elements come in.

 

- Why this isn't a discussion of the pathetic fallacy of individuals and their output.

 

- What Netflix buying up Roald Dahl's Intellectual Property means and why they've done it.

 

- The 'Exploring the x Universe' idea: why it's a nonsense and a fallacy.

 

- How the reality that stories have a beginning, middle and end is important for structure, motive drive, engagement, immersion and imagination.

 

- What happens if you disregard this and start endlessly colouring in the map.

 

- Tricks, licks and conceits - how and why they don't work if the narrative's motive force are lost, or the internal logic and consistency are lost.

 

- Why platforms need content, but content doesn't need platforms.

 

- Why we now live in the age of the never-ending story as a reaction to market mechanics. We're looking at you, MC universe / DC universe / Tolkien Universe / never-ending everything universe.

 

- How a never-ending story leads to audience disengagement, a fall off in quality, and diminishing returns in all senses.

 

- Why stories that have a beginning, middle and end (in whatever order) are more emotionally and intellectually satisfying and more culturally representative - and why, as I work through my projects, I'll be keeping this very much in mind.


And if you're thinking 'wtf!', don't worry. There'll be some rowing along soon.

Get some!

 

Try listening to us with a coffee - and if you're feeling generous, stand us one.

 

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Broken Oars Podcast, Episode 49: The Technogym Skillow Review - The World’s Best Rowing Podcast Returns

Why is Broken Oars Podcast the world's best rowing podcast (Crossy's Corner excepted ...)?

 

Because no other podcast can move from grumping to an analysis of the status statement piece that is the Skillrow to the emancipation of rowers in the South East of England to the Wombles to the Second World War and escapism for wounded minds with such grace, elan and diablerie. 

 

And we would take the time to point out that whilst not exactly unbiased this is a genuine review, based on the posh Southern one paying to go to a gym that has a Skillrow, and giving it a thrash a couple or three times.

That's why.

Get some !

Podbean review of Indoor Rowing YouTube Channels

Dear Listener, thank you for your attention to our podcast, which, unlike many and most activities on the internet is not free to make. Should you be enjoying the podcast and wish to help us make more episode please consider buying us a coffee or purchasing one of our digital downloads at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd. Thank you again for listening.

 

Probably best viewed on YouTube but...

 

The Posh Southern one heads out on a journey to examine the biggest winners and losers in the Indoor Rowing and Rowing channels on YT, on YT. Amongst theses luminaries are Cam Buchan , Scots Sculler Extraordinaire, Austin Hendrickson's Training Tall, Shane Farmer's Darkhorse Rowing, British Rowing's own criminally underinvested in Go Row Indoors videos, The Awesome Asensei, and the even more awesome RowAlong from John Steventon.

Cam Buchan - https://www.youtube.com/c/CameronBuchan

Training Tall - https://www.youtube.com/c/TrainingTall

Dark Horse Rowing - https://www.youtube.com/c/DarkHorseRo...

British Rowing - https://www.youtube.com/user/britishr...

asensei - https://www.youtube.com/c/asensei

RowAlong - https://www.youtube.com/c/RowAlongFre...

These are all good, the last two are awesome Oh and Ame in a Van, only has 175k subscribers. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMoX...

Its Isabel Paige, who spends a lot of time looking "Wistful" in the wilderness on a very hi def camera that has 3/4 million subs. https://www.youtube.com/user/pinsandn...

 

Broken Oars Technique Clinic: An Alien’s Guide to Rowing Well - Part Three

Your Northern correspondent returns with the third and final chapter (and last word on rowing technique and rowing well). What some are calling a work of timeless genius, others are calling how you move a boat and yet more are calling what happens when you let a Northerner on the mic without the calming presence of a Southern Overlord, this is the third instalment of the original two-part series.

 

Another writer might have titled it 'Concerning Rowing and Rowers ...' but Tolkien was never much cop on the water and had a crap 2k score, so let's only refer to Tollers when we have a question about Beowulf or Asterisk Realities in Philology.

 

So, never, then ...

 

This final episode kicks off with a mea culpa. Having played the cheerful and moronic Northern One to Pip's scientific genius, your correspondent has finally grown a set. No-one knows a set of what, but they're currently being biopsied and we're hoping for something edible. However, in Part Two, I said something to the effect that it doesn't matter what you do in a boat the most important thing is that you do it together.

Now, that episode was posted in summer, and I've been considering that statement since. And now I'm rowing back from it (see what I did there?) - because ...

 

It's just plain wrong.

 

Here's the thing: it doesn't matter how together you are if you're learning or reinforcing bad habits. That's point one. Point two is that after saying there is room in rowing for different stylistic approaches, I was wrong. There isn't. There's only one way to row a blade (and thus a boat) and that way is hard, skilfully and with reference to the actual physics and mechanics involved.

 

As I've been saying all along.

 

The point is that if that's the case, the technical approaches we take and language we use is all about getting us back to the point where we move the boat well.

 

And that's where this episode comes in. Rowing is a feel sport. We all know what it feels like to move a boat well, either for one stroke, or ten, or one hundred, or one outing, or race, or training block.

The technical calls and drills and language only exist to prompt us to make changes and develop the skills that get us consistently back to that feeling.

 

So, with that in mind, we go back to the importance of clarifying technical calls and drills to identify what they mean and what they are supposed to do rather than playing coaching and crew mood music.

Talking about the importance of precise language and understandings in a feel sport; we move onto boat physics; why talking to your boatman is vital (Hullo Duncan ...); set up; first principles; only changing one thing at a time; giving those changes time to work through; arcs and angles; and then we look at some of the fads and fashions that have come and gone in rowing ... and why mileage, ultimately, makes champions: 

 

It isn't because it makes you fit enough to row well (although it helps). It's because mileage allows us to identify the feeling of moving the boat well, learn it, remember it, chase it, and become more and more efficient at doing it.

If you listen to these three episodes, and then do the work, you'll never, ever have to watch another Youtube video again promising to make you a better rower; and you'll be able to call bs when your coach is talking bollocks.

Always a win in our book ...

Get some!

Broken Oars Podcast, Episode 48: Harry Brightmore: From Chester to World Champion ... and Beyond.

Ladies and Gentleman,

 

When we're in the presence of greatness, we sometimes do one sentence introductions, like this:

 

Harry Brightmore - World Champion, GB Men's Eight.

 

And to be honest, we could leave it there and we'd be justified in doing so.

 

But we can't, and it isn't just because the Northern One who writes our episode descriptions has a tendency towards sesquipedalian logorrhea (Leave him alone! He's bought these words! He's going to use all of them!).

 

No, it's because after a difficult last cycle culminating in Tokyo and lots of people, not all of whom were qualified to do so, pointing fingers in all directions (and you'll notice that yes, we did some finger-wagging, but as athletes we came down heavily on the side of supporting and backing the people who actually put their bodies on the line rather than getting involved in managerial flame wars), British Rowing has bounced back in some style. 

 

The entire squad basically used the recent World Champions in the same way rock stars use a sold out arena venue - as a stage and a chance to show off the performances they've been working on in private: The British athletes put in stellar displays across the board, capped by the GB Men's Eight storming to Gold.

 

Now, anyone who has ever rowed will tell you that an Eight is only as good as its Cox. Seriously, try getting eight strong-willed, opinionated driven individuals to get the boat off the rack together (let alone send them down the track like a scalded cheetah) with a drafted in bored junior who'd rather be elsewhere and then come back and tell us how long it took you to get on the water and how crap the outing was as a result.

 

As we continue to be allowed to make episodes, Lewin and I realise with every passing conversation how lucky we actually were at Agecroft - not just in terms of facilities, culture and oustanding coaches and rowers, but in terms of having Coxswains like Maddie, Lucy, Valerie and Liz as part of our crew. Their word was law, their calls were actioned without question (on the water), their outings were meticulous, so were they and we were and became better rowers and crews as a result.

 

Believe us: Thanks to them, we know that coxing is an art, and a science - just like moving a boat.

 

And great as they are, with Henley medals in sock drawers, Harry Brightmore is next generation and next level.

 

Now, we're always guilty of saying that our latest episode is the best thing we've ever done ... because usually it is.

 

However, this one is a must for any rower, coach, manager or individual who is really genuinely interested in maximising themselves and those around them. It's a truly fantastic deep dive, not only into Harry's evolution from promising young footballer to World Champion cox, but also the pressures and practices that drove and shaped that development.

 

We talk about how early disappointment was translated into inner drive; how that became passion when we found rowing; and then how a clear-eyed assessment of his own personal psychology and identity helped spur his development and coxing practice.

 

Lewin and I have occasionally cavilled about British Rowing's lack of transparency about certain things, but Harry takes us through the processes and paradigms that inform the life and work of a GB elite athlete - resulting in a frank, insightful and illuminating conversation that really is essential listening.

 

Get a pen. Take notes. We did.

(To follow Harry and GB's journey, catch up with him on:

@brightmoreharry

@harry_brightmore

www.britishrowing.org/athlete/harry-brightmore/ )

 

All Eight. Meet Harry.

Get Some!

 

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Broken Oars, Episode 47: Tony Larkman - ’Everything is Difficult Before it Becomes Easy.’

After the doom and gloom of the Doping in Rowing episode, Broken Oars Podcast returns with a spirit-lifting, life-affirming perfect episode and a spirit-lifting life-affirming guest to accompany the start of a new season - a time of new resolutions, new energy, and new adventures.

 

Tony Larkman is one of the best coaches currently working - as well as being a fierce competitor to boot. His training plans are legendary for delivering results; and his own history as a rower and coach, frankly, put Lewin and I in the shade.

 

We caught up with Tony while he was visiting his folks for a fascinating, in-depth chat. Delving into his start in rowing back in the good old days (pre-Jurgen), we talk about the importance of mentors and environment in our rowing journeys; old school training methods (pull - now pull harder); being within touching distance of the squad; balancing training and being young; winning and balancing life and goals.

 

Covering Tony's shift towards Indoor Rowing (and yes, we at Broken Oars think that if you indoor row you're just as much of a rower as anyone who gets on the water. We're in the twenty-first century here. Let's get with the programme lads and lasses ...), we get into the nuts and bolts of targeted training.

There are a lot of people offering training plans online and working as personal trainers - and without naming names (hullo 99.9% of instagram influencers!) there are a lot of shysters and BS artists out there.


Tony is one of the best in the business, with a track record of success with clients from the couch to the elite level as well as personally showing the proof in the pudding. It was fascinating and deeply informative to hear him break down how to use goals and targets to backwork a training plan; and then how to structure that training plan.

 

Highlighting the importance of using fitness tests to establish baselines before designing a programme that progressively builds, Tony was insightful in explaining how training in blocks builds over time to create successful gains and results. Breaking things down into building the base (using weights and training to build muscle and correct imbalances, establishing a strength base, looking at minutes rather than distances to put the foundations in) Tony explains the shift to pre-competition and increasing intensity. Talking about the vital importance of keeping it mentally and physically fresh and using cross-training, Tony explains why although you might be slower in tests following a periodised training plan early in the season, the science and progressive loading of this approach means you're more likely to hit your target in the event that matters - whether that's doing your first 5k Park Run; nailing a 2k PB; or making Henley.

Speaking as a Northern Monkey who thinks 'a little bit of slow, a little bit of fast, a little bit of throwing heavy stuff around = fitness' it was and eye-opening and insightful deep dive with a coach and competitor who truly knows their business.

Catch up with Tony here:

 

@tonylarkman

 

www.tonylarkman.com

 

All eight? Prepare for 16 weeks of pain ...

 

Get some!

Broken Oars, Episode 46: Christopher Bailey, His Positive Test, and Protecting British Rowing’s Culture

Usually Broken Oars Podcast returns with a spring in its step and a song in its heart - we love doing this podcast, because we get to do what every rower everywhere does when they're in the company of another rower: talk about rowing, and rowers, and water, and boats, and training, and racing, and cake, and seals, and otters, and ... when we were at Agecroft ...

 

When we were in the war ...

 

Shut up, Granddad. Get hep to the new sounds going around, Daddio!

 

However, we're returning with somewhat grim looks as World Rowing has returned a positive drug test for an indoor rower called Christopher Bailey and sanctioned him to a ban.

 

This is in itself a major blow for our sport.

 

If you're an indoor rower you're just as much a rower as a water rower.

 

However, what made the blow doubly depressing is that Lewin got in touch with Christopher Bailey - and the long and the short of their conversation was that Christopher Bailey doesn't feel he did anything wrong as he wasn't using the PED's he tested positive for at the time that he failed the test.

 

Not that he didn't didn't use them.

 

That he wasn't using them at the time he was tested.

 

That Christopher Bailey was up front and honest about the fact that he used the PED's; and that he was upset that he has been labelled a drug cheat because HE WASN'T USING THEM AT THE TIME HE TESTED POSITIVE is significant.

 

It's significant because it highlights the chilling cultural difference between sports that take PED use for granted and accept it, like body building, power lifting and fitness influencing, which is Christopher Bailey's background ... and sports that say if you take PED's AT ANY POINT you are a drug user and drug cheat ... like, well, like every other sport really, but especially rowing.

 

So, in this episode, Lewin and I get deep into the weeds about Christopher Bailey's positive test. As well as talking about how to make an otter by taking a seal, some dog hair, and some Pritt Stick, we get into the science behind what Christopher Bailey took (Masterone); we talk through the effects of Masterone; what it's used for as a PED; and what it means in terms of performance - in body building, physique training, and endurance sports like rowing.

 

We discuss Christopher Bailey's position (I'm not a cheat, because I wasn't taking them at the time I was tested and competing) and tease out what it means for rowing if sportsmen and women from sporting cultures that accept, encourage, condone or support drug use, whether tacitly or explicitly cross over via the gateway of indoor rowing competitions to rowing itself - and what that means for a sport whose culture is explicitly and tacitly that 'we don't take PED's. Ever.'

 

We look at how the narcissism of the screen age fuels PED use; and how that has fuelled an the acceptance of PED use among influencers and related sports; before expressing our fears about how this acceptance can potentially cross over into all sports - and what that means for rowing, where the culture depends on acceptance and trust in the collective and the individual.

 

We can usually find the good in most things and generally there is very little that we can't make a quip about. But on this occasion, we definitively state that although we want people to come into rowing and stay in rowing, if you take PED's to make yourself fitter, faster, stronger, more muscular, or for other personal internal pyschological reasons ...

 

Find a different sport.

 

(And in case you think we've gone all serious, we also invent Anna Bolic, a steriod-addled fitness influencer who keeps crapping her liver out. It won't go in The Beano, so dear Viz, please get in touch. We've got ideas for storylines. We also talk about meeting things with a plum and the Battle of Richmond).

 

All eight? Don't get some!

 

Our trial period with Manscaped continues, so you can still get 20% off all Manscaped products by using the promo code 'brokenoars' at the manscaped website. Get smooth and smell beautiful with Manscaped and Broken Oars.

 

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Broken Oars Technique Clinic: An Alien’s Guide To Rowing Well, Part Two

The Northern One, or as we like to call him when he's writing the podcast blurb, the technically flawless one, returns with Part Two of An Alien's Guide to Rowing Well - The Revenge. This Time He's Back, and He's Read the Manual.

 

You know the premise - if aliens capable of travelling interstellar distances in spacecraft capable of warping our perceptions of space and time ever came to Earth and wanted to get in a boat and pull hard on an oar, this primer would take them through the basics, breaking down each element of the rowing stroke to its fundamental pieces, and talking it through with conceptual ideas, spatial triggers and technical drills that would help them beat us in a winner take all 2k race.

 

Yeah. We're rooting for the aliens ...

 

In this episode, we recap the key points of the first, and then get right into it:

 

In this episode, we talk about:

 

1) The stretcher / footplate - and why it's vital to understand what it does, and what you do to it.

 

2) Talking to your boatman, and the tears that may ensue when you do.

 

3) Squaring, and why squaring early and positively is a good muscle memory habit to get into.

 

4) Raising the hands to the catch and why your partner's kidneys are a good thing in this case.

 

And now we've compressed down, everything is in the right position and we're poised, we talk about the catch, how it should feel, how it should look, we talk about why having Great Apes in our ancestry is a good thing, and why half slide rowing rate up twos until it falls apart are one of the best things you can do to sharpen it into a thing of lethal beauty.

 

5) Learned responses vs. stimulus responses and why hard, harder, hardest ideas of loading up lose out to everything all at once when you look at the realities of the blade in the water vs. the moving boat when it comes to the legs ...

 

But then, dear listeners, we go further, and in doing so we totally destroy our self-curated myth that we're a bunch of chancers who know nothing about rowing, because we go on to talk about:

 

6) Why rowing isn't, in fact, all about the legs, but about how the power of the legs sets up the use of the body and the body's weight to drive the oar hard against the pin, creating boatspeed and why the draw to the finish contributes to this when done properly.

 

We reach the finish, but not the finish of Broken Oars Technique Clinic, as next time, we'll get into extraction, recovery, ideas about gearing and rigging, watermanship and some of the fads and fashions that have come and gone. 

 

As we always do, we emphasise that however you choose to move a boat, the best way to do it is by getting everyone on the same page doing the same things - whether you're a GB profile advocate, a Spracklen devotee, or a Fairbairn apologist. So, feel free to get in touch with us and tell us where we're going wrong.

 

Like you always do!

 

Stern Four? I said, 'play the piano! Do it now!'

 

Get Some!

Broken Oars Technique Clinic: An Alien’s Guide To Rowing Well, Part One

For your delight and delectation, the Northern One of Broken Oars Podcast offers a from the ground-up look at the basics and essentials of moving a boat well.

 

Given that every rower who as ever rowed knows exactly how to row a boat and it isn't what everyone else is doing but them, this represents Broken Oars creating a hostage to fortune ...

 

... but given that hostage is Northern, he is therefore expendable, as many Northerners have found out to their cost in things like two World Wars and the 1970's scramble for North Sea Oil.

 

Rowing is not a matter of life and death in that regard. No, it's far more important than that.

 

So, here we talk about basic and complex concepts, breaking them down and looking at things we can do to improve every part of our stroke profile so that when we put it all together we create the beautiful, flowing motion that is good rowing. Think of it as an alien's guide to rowing well - if aliens who can travel across the galaxy using gravity propulsion engines that warp the laws of space and time ever decided that what they really wanted to do was to get in a boat and pull hard on an oar.

 

In this episode we talk about:

1) Moving a boat - how an oar actually works.

 

2) Getting a Grip - learning to feel the difference between holding the water and weight on the face and ripping or slipping it.

 

3) The Best Kind of Stroke (and this is where the arguments start, but I've got physics and rowing on my side).

 

4) Creating the Unbroken Sequence: understanding how each part of the stroke profile informs the next and the whole.

 

5) Sitting at Backstops: why sorting this out starts sorting everything else out.

 

6) Posture: Kev was right - sit up, head up, airways clear, push the small of your back towards your belly button and ... relax!

 

7) Hands: relaxing the death grip and learning to play the piano.

 

8) The Importance of the Centre Line: learning to control your sack of potatoes.

 

9) Balance: can help in life; is essential in a boat.

 

10) Why Lateral Pressure is your Friend.

 

11) Controlling the Slide: Stop crashing frontstops and slamming backstops, ffs.

 

12) Why the Knees are Important - and not just if you want to do the Charleston well.

 

13) Compression: or why the 'length is good = more length is better' idea is absolute bollocks.

 

14) Shoulders: why everything is dictated by your shoulders.

 

In Part Two: if i haven't been lynched by angry coaches, rowers and broken oars listeners, we'll be talking about the catch, the drive, and GETTING YOUR BLOODY BLADE OFF THE WATER BY SORTING OUT ALL OF THE ABOVE!

 

So, if aliens ever come to earth, and they by some strange chance watch or listen to this, they'll be able to take us on in a winner-takes-all 2000 metre race for earth. And if you prefer to watch, we're now on Youtube:

 

https://youtu.be/SXuu0Y_BXmo

 

Get Some.

 

Stern Four? Bow Four? Listen to this. All of this ... ? This is what you're not doing.

Broken Oars, Episode 44: Of Mice and Men - Rowing as Sense-memory, Saying Goodbye and Clearing the Stour

We return with a quick one after the wonder and glory that was Small Ergs, Big Dreams.

 

Did you really think that we'd quit?

 

We're rowers. The word 'quit' is not in our dictionary. In fact, owing to a tragic accident any words between 'twizzle' and 'zygotic' are not in either of our dictionaries. We possess, in fact, highly selective dictionaries.

 

In this episode, Lewin takes the coastal shilling and argues that going nautical is the future of community-based rowing activities, offering, as it does, a damned fine day out for the entire family, plus racing where everyone gets points and medals.

 

We then ponder our mortality as Lewin says goodbye to an old friend, and ask why it is that rowing, of all sports, can define points in time, enshrining and encapsulating moments, experiences, sensations and emotions in a way that not only shapes us but stays with us throughout our lives.

 

That tomorrow is not guaranteed is not simply an Instagram slogan but a cold, hard and awful reality. Seize the day, squeeze the day, and tell those you love how much you love them.

 

Finally, for the first time Broken Oars Podcast puts out the begging bowl, as Lewin asks for help to clear the Plucks Gutter river of encroaching willow trees before their stretch of water is overgrown, impassable and colonised by Eurasian beavers. If 150 Broken Oars listeners put £10-00 each into the below link, rowing will stay in Kent, and Lewin won't have to go coastal again until the next time he wants another piece of silverware. I'll start off by putting the Northern equivalent of whatever 10 pounds is in Southern money.

 

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/tree-clearance-on-the-river-stour

 

Middle Four, rowing on. Bow four, load for beaver.