The GLRF View

By Brian Todd and John Olbrys

The United States is undergoing a marked shift in its political ideology as individual states enact a number of laws affecting both the LGBTQ+ community and the broader population.

Florida’s “Parental Rights in Education” bill, more commonly referred to as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, took effect on 01 July 2022. At least a dozen states proposed similar legislation: Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

An 08 July 2022 article in the New York Times examines the explosive rise in book bans across the United States, mostly targeted at LGBTQ+-themed books. The article cites challenges and protests in New Jersey, Arkansas, Illinois, California, Virginia, and North Carolina. At least five states have passed laws that support removing books (that have received complaints) from libraries.

Bans on transgender youth sports participation are codified in eighteen states: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas , Utah, and West Virginia.

These issues point to a geographic landscape that is becoming less and less friendly towards the LGBTQ+ rowers, coaches, and their families who travel to the biggest rowing venues around the East Coast, South, and Mid-West of the United States.

In response, the DC Strokes Rowing Club called for a boycott of the USRowing Masters Nationals Championships at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota County, Florida due to the recently passed “Don’t Say Gay” law. They also implied that USRowing should avoid holding major national regattas, to include championships and trials events, in states with laws unfriendly to LGBTQ+ people to help guarantee their safety and comfort during these events. Boycotting or avoiding holding a regatta in one state, such as Florida, with anti-LGBTQ+ laws would necessitate corollary similar actions for all other states listed above. This would mean that USRowing would not host events in or on: Oakridge, TN; Chattanooga, TN; Harsha Lake, OH; Sarasota, FL; Oklahoma City, OK; and Austin, TX.

A multi-state boycott is a problem for a few reasons. First: USRowing would no longer hold races on the only purpose-built, World Rowing class A course in the country, Nathan Benderson Park. Second: the untenable position would alienate rowers in all those states affected by the boycott. Third, even as a boycott may steer money away from state coffers, it also deprives local LGBTQ+ and LGBTQ+ friendly organizations from revenue they might otherwise receive from the regatta-associated tourism. These businesses are on the front line in local communities, helping to support and promote LGBTQ+ visibility.

A boycott also hands the conservative agenda a victory by removing the presence of LGBTQ+ rowers and supportive rowing community allies at local regattas. It is our view that having a visible presence in a repressive cultural environment challenges people to confront their personal bias and hatred as they interact and discover that the LGBTQ+ rowing community and their allies are their friends, neighbors, and respected, valued members of the larger community.

As an international individual membership organization, the Gay + Lesbian Rowing Federation (GLRF) currently counts 1,747 members in 43 countries of which 1,012 members are located in the United States. Those members live in 46 states and the District of Columbia. While GLRF respects the right of every member to support the DC Strokes call for a boycott, we as an organization must reflect our broader membership by supporting the rowers where they row. Acceptance and inclusion are the most important issues that LGBTQ+ rowers face at clubs, programs, and at regattas. LGBTQ+ youth in particular needs visible examples of their futures selves at rowing venues across the country.

Brian Todd is the Executive Director of the Gay + Lesbian Rowing Federation and he rows out of the California Yacht Club.

 

John Olbrys is a member of the Gay + Lesbian Rowing Federation and he rows out of the Potomac Boat Club and serves as the Club Captain.

The Gay + Lesbian Rowing Federation has formed a promotional and marketing partnership with the Aviron Club Lyon-Caluire, the club behind the 2015 naked rowing calendar, Les Dieux de l'Aviron (The Gods of Rowing). The partnership supports the efforts of GLRF to further the acceptance and inclusion of gay and lesbian rowers, coxies, coaches, and race officials within the broader rowing community.

GLRF serves as the exclusive marketing partner for the calendar in North America. The calendar was on display at the GLRF booth for two of the largest fall head races in North America, the Head of the Schuylkill and the Head of the Hooch, and is available online at http://shop.glrf.info

GLRF hopes its sales efforts in North America will develop a greater awareness for the impressive calendar which features several elite rowers who have competed and won gold and silver at the French National Rowing Championships. Proceeds of the sales help to raise funds for the Aviron Club Lyon-Caluire as well as the Gay + Lesbian Rowing Federation.

In turn, the Aviron Club Lyon-Caluire has pledged their support for the Gay + Lesbian Rowing Federation by affixing the GLRF logo directly on the calendar, along with highlighting the three main goals of the organization:

• Provides a worldwide online community to connect gay and lesbian rowers, coxies, coaches, and race and regatta officials
  
• Seeks to achieve the open acceptance [beyond tolerance] of gay and lesbian rowers in the broader rowing community
  
• Promotes rowing in the global lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender population.
  

On the Dieux de l'Aviron website, they have stated their support for GLRF:

"... pour la saison 2015 c'est avec GLRF (Gay + Lesbian Rowing Federation) que nous nous associons. GLRF est un club d'aviron voulant faire reculer l'homophobie dans le sport, cause qui nous tient à cœur."

"...for the 2015 season, it is with GLRF (Gay + Lesbian Rowing Federation) that we have partnered. GLRF is a rowing organization that seeks to reduce homophobia in sport, a cause that is very close to our heart."

GLRF is literally on the front lines striving for acceptance and inclusion of gay and lesbian rowers at all levels of the sport within the broader rowing community. GLRF hosts vendor booths at the largest straight rowing regattas in North America, creating a visible presence to the chief influencers within the rowing community: parents, coaches, teammates, and race officials.

In 2014, GLRF hosted 8 booths at some of the largest rowing regattas, including the San Diego Crew Classic, the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships, the Southwest Junior Rowing Championships, the American Collegiate Rowing Association Championships, the USRowing Junior National Championships, the Head of the Charles Regatta, the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta, and the Head of the Hooch Regatta.

At first, it was civil war. Then a tentative diplomatic cease fire was reached, although skirmishes have continued outside the official channels among more radical elements of each organization's members. Finally, an athlete spring uprising, if you will, has begun to emerge, calling for a One World Event.

What are we talking about? The Gay Games and the World Outgames, two international multisport events that take place every four years, at intervals that border by one year the other event. So, the 2013 World Outgames took place in Antwerp and the 2014 Gay Games took place in Cleveland. In 2017, the World Outgames will be held in Miami, and in 2018, the Gay Games will take place in Paris.

If you're new to this saga, you're probably doing a huh, an eye-rolling whatever, or a total face twisting whattttt? It can all be traced to money. These events are expensive to host and their success depends on sponsorship, athlete attendance, and often times, support from the regional or local municipality. The Gay Games began in 1982. The first sign of money problems arose when a Winter Gay Games was attempted in 1986 but was canceled due to a lack of sufficient funding and logistical problems. In 1998, in Amsterdam, the event almost got canceled at the last minute (we are talking athletes arriving at the airport close ...) due to a funding shortfall . A similar problem arose in 2002 when the organizers of the Sydney Gay Games declared bankruptcy before the start of the event. In 2006, the licensee of the Gay Games, known as the Federation of Gay Games, could not reach an agreement with the then hosting organizing host, Montreal, because of disagreements on the size, scope, and budget for the event. Negotiations failed and the license was revoked and awarded to Chicago. Montreal responded by creating an independent event called the Outgames. To be fair, the Outgames have also encountered similar funding issues. The 2006 World Outgames filed for bankruptcy several months after the event, and the 2013 World Outgames had to be repeatedly downsized in scope due to costs.

Why is this drama showing up within the Gay + Lesbian Rowing Federation blog? Rowing is a sport that has been a part of all of the World Outgames and a part of some of the Gay Games As an organizational member of the Federation of Gay Games from 2002 - 2006, GLRF was one of only two organizations that voted against the withdrawal of the license agreement with Montreal. GLRF members can read the recap of that pivotal meeting here. Our concern has been for the rowers and the athletes. With the costs to attend the event continuing to escalate, rowers cannot afford to fly hither and thither, two years in a row. The result are regattas that are not well subscribed and a waste of volunteer and race officials time, and a regatta that is less than competitive.

After several failed attempts over the last three years to bring the two licensees of these two events together and create a One World Event, a new survey has been created to gauge the opinion of the most important players involved, the participants.

If you are keen to read the latest diplomatic treatise that both organizations have carefully worded to meet each organization's need to keep the high ground, here it is:

OneWE-Status-Report-05AUG14v4.pdf

Today is National (International) Coming Out Day. For some, it gives them a chance to muster the courage to make their sexual orientation a little or a lot more public in a celebratory and accepting manner. For the politicos, it is an opportunity to raise awareness of the gay community and point to the high profile 'inductees' as proof that all famous and high profile closeted politicians, media celebrities, and athletes need and should come out to serve as role models for society.

We might as well call this National Coming Out Week or National Coming Out Month. On Wednesday, 10 October 2012, the United States Anti-Doping Agency published a scathing report of the rampant and coordinated doping that took place on the US Postal Service cycling team. As the report went public, eight or nine high levels athletes were forced to or felt obligated to come out with their complicity. The admissions sometimes flew in the face of previously steadfast denials of doping.

All of this points to one essential fact: coming out is very often a painful and uncomfortable process. As human beings, we can't help but think or worry what others will think. We are very often in denial about our own suspicions about other's sexual orientation. Not knowing or acknowleding the truth is easier. As rowers, a decision to go public with our sexual orientation might and can cost someone a seat in the boat (yes, it happened this summer in Southern California, when a rower told his boat that he was gay). It can result in isolation at a club (as relayed by a female GLRF member who came out at her club in the San Francisco Bay Area, of all places). At all levels of the sport, there might and will be the uncomfortable silence in the locker room and in the showers.

October is also National Breast Cancer Awareness month and that illustrates a more poignant fact. Your teammates in your boat and at your club are grappling with a myriad of difficult news in their lives: their boyfriend/girlfriend or partner has left them, their parents are getting a divorce, they just found out their HIV status has changed, or that they have been diagnosed with cancer.

The whole process of coming out is awkward for everyone. Straight friends and club acquaintances can feel uncomfortable, either not knowing what to say or not wanting to suddenly give off the wrong cues or be seen by others as having 'suspicious' tendencies if they are 'too accepting.' Maybe what we need in rowing at least, is an International Acceptance Day.

Share your stories of how or when you came out to your crew or boathouse in the GLRF All Oars Network Member Lounge Forum.

Backwards, a 'rowmance' movie starring Sarah Megan Thomas and James Van Der Beek, opens nationwide this month in the United States. Rowers everywhere will enjoy the story of an Olympic athlete struggling to find her place after losing a seat on the national team. Set in Philadelphia, there are great shots of Boathouse Row and rowing on the Schuykil River.

Best quote:

Rowing is an art. You don't see the work that went into creating it but it should be beautiful.

http://www.glrf.info/gotchagallery/data/thumbnails/300/Abi.Instense.jpgCheck out the movie poster, movies stills, and some of the production images at the GLRF Gotcha! Gallery. (For those who notice ... check out how we labeled the movie stills ... hope you enjoy the image titles!).

Want to put a group of rowers together to see the movie? What better excuse to blow off your next morning practice? .... Use GLRF's new Calendar RSVP feature to find out how many are interested in seeing the movie and as a tool to determine a count for group tickets (see below for more information).

Want to get notified of a new event in your regional calendar? Now you can 'follow' both a GLRF regional calendar as well as a particular calendar event and receive notifications when new events are added or updates are posted for one event!

Here is a list of the cities screening the movie and their opening dates. We'll update the list if we get any theater information for outside the United States:

Ambler, PA - Ambler Theatre - opens September 21

Bala Cynwyd, PA - Bala Theatre - opens September 28

Beverly Hills, CA - Music Hall 3 - opens September 21

Boston, MA - Boston Common 19 - opens September 28

Bryn Mawr, PA - Bryn Mawr Film Institute - opens September 21

Jacksonville, FL - AMC Regency 24 - opens September 28

Manhattan, NY - Cinema Village 3 - opens September 21

New Haven, CT - BTC Criterion Cinemas 7 - opens September 28

Oklahoma City, OK - Crossroads Mall 16 - opens September 28

Philadelphia, PA - Ritz East Twin - opens September 21

San Francisco, CA - Sundance Kabuki Cinemas - opens September 28

Seattle, WA - Oak Tree 6 - opens September 28

Washington DC - West End Cinema - opens September 28

West Newton, MA - West Newton Cinema - opens September 28

If you're just naturally a Type A organizer, add a calendar event for your city and date, and of course, click 'RSVP' in the 'create event' feature block selection.

Here is the 411 on group tickets:

Each theatre chain sets their own group rates and group rates usually begin at 25 people or more and some have assigned seats and some don’t and some have group rates that vary by showtime. If your group is smaller than 25, you can probably still arrange for a block of tickets but you may not be able to get a group discount.

Contact (email) Jackie Papier to arrange group tickets. We recommend going through her rather than dealing directly with the theater because she has more pull.

Over the past year, we've noticed more and more of the GoPro-produced rowing videos appearing on the GLRF Rowing Videos page. They are amazing to watch since they really give the viewer a sense of the joy and serenity in rowing.

We can see why they videos are exploding on YouTube - they don't hide any faults and coaches can use the videos to give their rowers immediate feedback. Sure, the videos from the launch are helpful but cameras mounted on the boat, using different rigs, can really put the spotlight on not just the stroke but any rower in any seat.

For those who don't know, the GoPro is the camera of choice for outdoor sensory video experience, be it mountain biking, surfing, or rowing, just to name a few. More and more rowing retailers like New Wave and JL Racing are providing kits for rowers, including the camera, the mounts, and the wiring.

This video of the French national team, Les Bleus, shows some of the many possibilities for camera angles:

Here is one of the most recent videos from the GLRF Rowing Videos web page, of some US juniors. We're not here to make fun of their technique but to show how immediate the feedback can be for the stroke in this quad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK_ALsYJb8g

The cameras are not inexpensive but wow, what a public relations and advertising tool, an incredible coaching tool, and even a race preview tool. Just mount the camera on the bow and row the course!

We certainly hope the current web management practices at British Airways are a result of sloppy query code in blocking websites and not a pervasive attitude towards the gay and lesbian community.

At a recent visit to the British Airways North Lounge, Terminal B, London Heathrow Airport, GLRF team members were surprised to find the Gay + Lesbian Rowing Federation website was blocked and labeled as "adult content."

In a tersely worded reply to the British Airways IT Administrator, GLRF Executive Director Brian Todd did not mince words in his view of the actions by the British Airways Information Technology department:

To the attention of the IT administrator,

 

It has come to our attention that the Gay + Lesbian Rowing Federation website is being blocked on the wired computer terminals at the North British Airways Lounge, Terminal B. The reason listed for blocking the website is ‘Adult Content.’

 

The blocked url is http://glrf.info

 

The subject and content of the website is entirely about rowing and serves to benefit both gay and lesbian rowers as well as the broader rowing community. The website promotes a worldwide online rowing community and the focus is entirely about sport. To exclude a website simply because it has the words gay and lesbian is unconscionable and it is blatantly homophobic. Such selective internet filtering seems to assume that any and all subject matter with the label of ‘gay’ and ‘lesbian’ is deemed immoral and therefore only appropriate for adult viewers. It would seem by these restrictions that British Airways condones the bullying of gay and lesbian youth and that their suicidal acts as a result of public hatred are “acceptable” losses.

 

We kindly request that you review the GLRF website and remove it from the list of “unacceptable” urls in the browser filtering programme.

Of course, British Airways can take comfort in its societal views about the morality of gay and lesbian people, since the GLRF website is also blocked at all United States Apple Stores .... and at all Gold's Gym franchisees

The corporate world might do well to review their blocking and filtering programmes that deem their core customers and audiences "immoral" and "unacceptable" in public life.

http://www.glrf.info/gotchagallery/data/media/302/Rowing04_Photo_Eric_Lanuit.jpg Paris-based photographer and former rower Eric Lanuit has profiled rowers at a regatta in France in a 87-page photo essay in his online magazine, Character. The magazine, which is only published online, is almost entirely focused on the images and the emotions they create and the stories they tell.

The rowing photo essay borrows from the German rowing retailer New Wave’s clothing line ‘Rowing Nothing Else.’ The images share a vivid sense of the feeling of the dedication and gritty reality of rowing. Any rower looking at the images will instantly relate to the feeling of camaraderie and closeness that rowers feel, in an almost remote and unknown connection from the perspective of an outsider.

If you’re looking for lots of skin, massive muscle, and revealing shots of junk, you won’t find it here. Rather, the essay gives a peek behind the curtains of the reality of rowers, http://www.glrf.info/gotchagallery/data/media/302/Rowing02_Photo_Eric_Lanuit.jpg their body language, and their often scruffed appearance and their focus on rowing while not preening and posing for the camera.

The title of the essay is perfectly chosen and the images depicted are just that. The images were shot over the course of one day on Sunday, 15 May 2011 at the Régates de Masse (Masses Regatta) in Mantes-la-Jolie (approx. 34 miles or 55 km west of Paris), at the Stade nautique international Didier-Simond de Mantes en Yvelines.

The rowers featured in the photo shoot vary in age: some are juniors, some are university, and some are senior rowers from a number of teams and clearly more than one country! French photographers have the luxury of being free of the American legal system and can more freely capture their subjects without fear of liability or retribution. They don’t have to get signed waivers …

Rowing Nothing Else appears in the 4th online issue of Character, issue 2, Fall 2011, Volume 2. To find the photo essay, you need to jump to page 60 (look for the 4th bar at the bottom of the flash player). If you prefer, you can page through from the beginning but you'll have to thumb through the essay of drawings on Bambi and The Bears ... (again, read the warning above).

For those who are not fluent in french, the text of page 63 reads: (and if our translation is lacking, then please help us refine it for other viewers!!!)

Hello to you .. young rower!

 

You chose a beautiful sport ... that predates your lifetime! It not only develops many athletic abilities but it also is a life lesson.

 

The fact of being in a boat, with 1, 3 or 7 other rowers to form a single team, with one goal, that of winning a competition, forces you to excel not only for yourself but also for your teammates. In celebrating your victory, it is because of your team that you were able to push yourself to win.

 

Know that it's a constant effort to produce such a difficult technique, so precise and so wonderful once mastered. Keep in mind that it is the water that surrounds you and it is the point of all your efforts. It is fragile, so do not attack it with brutality or sheer force. Rather, take it in and embrace it with eagerness, precision, flexibility, and a covered blade. With the water as your point of support, your legs can relax, your body can recover, your torso straight and with your arms extended but not stiff, they will speed up your blade in the water, bending your arms without running out your elbows or making your shoulders lift.

 

As you begin to stroke, your efforts magnify, helping to make your strokes grow further, faster, and the drive becomes harder and harder. Your blade comes out of the water sharply, effortlessly, and with no splash of water, just clean. With your legs remaining stretched, your hands come back quickly, smoothly passing above your knees. During this time, your body has recovered, the head straight, and bends forward without stiffness at the waist, ready to the begin the next stroke.

 

Bend your legs, letting your knees rise higher and higher. We say “dig with your heels!” Above all, without stopping or resting, remain flexible, calm, relaxed, and you are ready to once again surprise the water. Think about breathing in and breathing out, even with exaggeration, because it is essential.

 

To bring all of this to perfection, you will have to row kilometers, many kilometers ... in a location that I hope for you, is beautiful!

 

Never stop making holes in the water since the pleasure of rowing will always remain even as you get older .. . you will only go just a little slower! And your friends will be lifelong. What is good for you will be good for them!

For those reading page 61, and who are unfamiliar with the Tour de Leman, it is a 160 km rowing endurance race that circles Lac Leman, otherwise known as Lake Geneva. The annual race is held at the end of September and can last up to 17 hours, depending on the weather. The best time recorded is 11hours:55minutes:19seconds.

Just across the wire: the Florida Rowing Center (FRC) has just posted the boats that will be available for sale at the end of the 2012 winter rowing season.

The idea behind the boat sales list is to encourage rowers to head down to FRC, enjoy some sweet sculling while trying out a variety of shells. Then you can put down a $500 deposit for the shell you want and pick it up or have it shipped to you in May 2012.

For those who are unfamiliar with the Florida Rowing Center, the boathouse is located on Lake Wellington in Wellington, a small village-like community 12 miles west of West Palm Beach, Florida. In case there are any rowers who don't fly in for weekends of caviar, champagne, and wild naked jacuzzi parties, the City of West Palm Beach is 48 miles north of Fort Lauderdale, 70 miles north of Miami, and 180 miles south of Orlando.

Perez Hilton recently reported on a new rowing movie currently in production, featuring Sarah Megan Thomas, James Van Der Beek and Glenn Morshower.

http://www.glrf.info/gotchagallery/data/media/300/sarahandjames_backwards.jpg

Perez gives a quick synopsis:

... the movie sounds interesting. It's called Backwards, and it's actually about a character who doesn't make the olympic rowing team for a second time, so she takes a job teaching it — a job where her boss is her ex!

The article goes on to say the film is on location in Philadelphia. No doubt this has the Boathouse Row in an uproar. What we want to know is who is cleaning up the goose poop on the docks every morning? Certainly not James ...

IMDB shows the film is now in post production and is scheduled for a 2012 summer release.

Check out some of the pics and videos of the movie on the GLRF Gotcha! Gallery

There are few words that can truly express the experience and the feel of rowing in a setup boat. We found this video in our Rowing Videos feed page and thought it might be useful for those looking to jump into the sport as well as coaches hoping to show crews some of the technique they want to achieve. The video takes you through an entire 2000 m. race in a coxed four, and allows you, the viewer to experience a “start” as well as the settle and the sprint at the end.

The video cam is mounted on the rower’s head so you can instantly see how much or how little he moves his head in the course of this race. Most videos are taken from the coxswain’s vantage point, from the shore, or from a coaching launch. Notice how smooth the boat moves, as the catches and releases are all in synchronization, and you’ll see the good posture of the rowers and the turn and reach at the catch. We’re not sure if it is the wide angle of the lens but it seems to show the oars bending in the drive (the stroke). This is truly a unique chance to experience rowing in a rower’s shoes ….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK5mC8HZ5TU

Credit: YouTube video by cyclebikes taken on 5/21/2011: Merrimac River Rowing Association Men vs. Narragansett Boat Club Men, Open 4+. 2000m.

We hope cyclebikes will keep his video available for all to enjoy. It seems that the minute a rowing video is featured or referenced on the GLRF website, the video publishers scream “ahhhh, gay people, run away” and they take their videos down … Our reference to this video does not imply any type of sexual orientation.

Although rowers are not the only ones who are mobile hands-full challenged, the environment that surrounds the rowing community can make owning and using a fancy smart phone just that much more treacherous. In the GLRF booth, we have seen first hand the effects of 3 hours of afternoon sun on our credit card reader, our Nikon CoolPix camera, and our mobile phone. The screens go dark and the electronics become sketchy. Now throw in some Royal Canadian Henley rain and wind blowing everything off the table, some Marina Del Rey beach launch sand, a few minutes calling the coach while your mobile is (securely?) held in a shoulder/head cradle while unloading a boat from the trailer at Oak Ridge, the requisite nudge and fall from the resting position on an erg, or a slide off the dash of the launch boat because Coach Nick’s Miami Beach Rowing Club phone is on ring and vibrate, and and you’ll soon agree that rowers and mobile phones are not meant for a lasting same sex marriage.

So it was by chance that we came upon the perfect rower smart phone. As we prepare to launch a mobile app for the GLRF website, we’re spending a lot of time online looking at mobile phone forums and tech sheets. One banner ad in a forum we visited caught our eye, the Casio GzOne Commando. We clicked the ad and were amazed to read the ‘toughness‘ capabilities of this phone: withstanding 30 minutes submerged under 1 m. of water, operating in a 4″ of rain per hour deluge in Washington DC, 1 hour of vibration riding in the back of Tom Gallagher’s flat bed truck, 24 hours of continuous salt water spray, … well you get the idea.

It’s like the mobile phone engineers rowed for 10 years. Aside from the toughness factor and the hyper masculine look (for those on the DL), here’s a pretty objective review for those who just have to have every Android app out there.

Amazon Wireless, using Verizon, is offering the phone in “CDMA” mode for North America but some of us aren’t at the highest salary levels and it was great to discover the phone can be ‘adapted’ to MetroPCS. What about the rest of the world? We googled the phone under GSM and couldn’t find any reliable links but we’re sure that if enough rowers contact Casio, they will bring out a GSM version.

We’re in the process of designing a new GLRF t-shirt which involves some french words. We came across this site, Aviron DameDeNage, that is entirely in French but offers the most cool desktop images that are updated monthly. Find it here.

What’s even better is the system senses your desktop settings and guides you to select the file that is most suitable for downloading.

The September image is spectacular and for those of you who don’t speak french, the photo credit reads:

“This month, it’s the Swiss who have the honor, shown with André Vonarburg et Florian Stofer who compete for the Swiss national team in the double. The location is Sarnen which is the location for the Swiss national training center.”

Merci Félix Dieu pour la photo

For those who are Firefox browser fans, check out the new ‘personas’ which allow you to personalize your browser tool bar with color and themes.

If you search for the term ‘rowing,’ you’ll find several of these themes. We searched under rowing, rower, sculling, and crew. Found several under rowing and one under crew.

These personas add a little rowing flavour to your web browsing experience. Yeah, sure there are other personas, like male models, gay, and lesbian but we focused on the rowing themes.

We missed the mention in the April issue of Rowing News and a quick look at the USRowing website doesn't give any indication of the event but the 2010 USRowing Collegiate Championship Regatta is the most important new regatta event to emerge in a long time.

2010 will be the first year for this regatta but USRowing is committed to supporting this event moving forward.

The 2,000 metre event will be held at Mercer Lake near Princeton 22 - 23 May 2010. What makes this event so important is the wide variety of boat classes that are available for competition, and the open entry classification. We had to use the old index finger word counting out loud trick to make sure we got it all: 11 men's events and 10 women's events. Yes, there are events for singles, doubles, coxless fours (NICE!), pairs, quads, lightweights of all manner, and yeah, eights... Beyond the attraction of the huge number of boat classes is the fact that any university rower with any program, varsity, club, or even unaffiliated, can compete. That's unprecedented, and it also, finally, puts the United States on the same competitive field with Europe.

Now a set of twins studying at Occidental College in Pasadena and rowing out of Marina Del Rey can compete at a University Championship and then go on to compete in Europe. It means a 12-year old US sculler can continue his focus through high school and at university, and then be competitive with the powerful Slovakians at the World Championships and the Olympics. It means Europeans studying in the United States have a chance at continuing their training in boat classes that are otherwise ignored at most if not all US collegiate rowing programs before they return to their native countries to prepare for elite training.

We're looking at hosting a booth at the event for the simple reason that the regatta will attract rowers from so many rowing programs, and because we like the underlying meaning of the regatta: it's inclusive. That and USRowing sent us an email and said we'd like you to be there! :)

The Florida Rowing Center sent out an email reminding those of us on the mailing list that they still have some sculling sessions available through 02 May 2010. Once the season ends, you can pick up a great shell at incredible prices as the Rowing Center jettison’s their season demo boats.

Find the list of boats for sale here.

The Center is located in West Palm Beach on a lake that has no other boat traffic. Take a look at the GLRF visit to the Florida Rowing Center in 2006:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aworldwidecommunity/sets/72157594322713235/

Putting nationalistic politics aside, we have to cheer for the selection of Rio de Janeiro as the host of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Our GLRF Brasil members will be whooping and hollering since their rowing venue, Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, will be host to the rowing competition.

Talk about picturesque! The venue is located right in the heart of the city and visitors will be able to watch the rowing races from a number of vantage points.

The other cities bidding for the Olympics were Tokyo, Madrid, and Chicago. No doubt our GLRF United States members in Chicago will be forlorn at their city’s site selection loss but we have to wonder about the proposed rowing venue on Lake Michigan. Critics had assailed the plan as windy and exposed. To cap it off, the venue was to be temporary. The entire breakwater placement was scheduled for removal after the Olympics. How does that benefit the local rowing community? Whatever happened to using Crystal Lake as the rowing venue? Sure it would have needed some major excavation but after the Olympics, the Chicago rowing community would have had a world class rowing facility. All of us in the gay and lesbian rowing community could have taken smug satisfaction that we led the groundbreaking path for an Olympic rowing venue when the 2006 Gay Games featured rowing at Crystal Lake.

Parabéns Brasil!

Our news alerts caught this item: rower Spencer Duhm was written up as the youngest gay member of the lastest installment of the CBS show ‘Survivor.’ Now in its 18th season, the show is shot in Brazil where 10 contestants battle it out to see who is the last man or woman remaining. The article says Spencer, who is openly gay, rowed for the University of Florida. He had to drop out of school and off the team (obviously) to compete on Survivor.

Spencer has since returned to Florida and is back in school. No word yet if he has rejoined the rowing team. If anyone can get in contact with Spencer, please tell him we’d love to have him join the GLRF communuty (and do a rower’s perspective interview). Hey Spencer, great smile!

We just received an email announcing the launch of a new rowing poster design service, Brush Strokes Fine Art Rowing Posters. If your club is planning their upcoming regatta, consider creating a fine art rowing poster for the event. There is nothing more memorable than a framed fine art rowing poster to put on your wall to show your participation. With the advent of the electronic age, the practice of printing rowing posters has gone by the wayside as costs have escalated for design, printing, and distribution. As much as medals or trophys may be interesting, a rowing poster really helps anchor those memories and shows your friends your rowing addiction. A poster also helps build teamwork by allowing the entire crew to sign the poster, forever memorializing your boat.

For a limited time, owner Joseph Brin is offering free poster design services to GLRF member’s clubs.

Does GLRF get a commission from mentioning this? Nope. We just think it is part of what makes rowing a special sport and what sets it apart from the rest of the sports community.

If you have never experienced the Oartec Rowing Simulator, it is definitely worth the time to give it a go. Many in the rowing community say it is the best land-based replication of the full sweep and scull rowing movement.

The machine made its North American debut last year at the Head of the Charles. Since then, it has garnered critical acclaim and gained distrubtion agreements worldwide. What makes the machine so unique is its three-in-one capability to simulate bow side, stroke side, and sculling movements. It is the first machine to offer realistic land-based technical training for rowers and coaches.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubPVig8rWbw

The first thing you notice is that the machine is massive. It has LOTS of metal tubing and support. But don’t let that dissuade you from giving it a go. After one stroke, you’ll feel the familiar rowing movement from catch to release. Add some cameras, mirrors, and the guiding hands of a coach, and you’ll be able to feel and comprehend real-time that which you can’t understand in a boat.

Australian Matt Roach, the inventor, designer, and owner of Oartec, will be on hand at the Wintech booth at the 2008 Head of the Charles to provide information and give hands-on demonstrations.

We just got an email from Anil Lamba of Ankaa Shoe Exports. If you don’t know the name, you probably know his shoes since they are featured in so many rowing shells. We make mention of this offer not only because it is beneficial to the GLRF community but also because Anil is one of those people whose eyes show pure honesty, acceptance, and absolutely none of that discomfort that some of the other vendors exhibit as they pass the GLRF booth at regattas.

He is offering a special promotion price of US$37 per pair, delivered (yes, you read that correctly, shipping included) with a minimum of an order of 8 or more pairs. Now, if you truly want to look fabulous, you can add your club/team logo to the shoes for only US$1 more per pair but the minimum is higher – 24 pairs.

This promotion applies to any model and any size, and runs through the end of December, 2008, that is 31 Dec 2008.

Given the state of affairs with the US Dollar, many of you will probably want to know what kind of deal can be had for rowers down under, across the pond, below the equator, and all that sort of thing. We’ll give Anil a chance to reply directly on here but you can also email him directly.

Ah, the things you learn at regattas booths…

They’re back, the FISA racing shells. For those whose memories might have faded, FISA started an initiative in the late ’80′s to standardize raching shell hull designs worldwide. The idea was to eliminate ‘variations in performance’ due to various hull shapes and equipment. This was also probably a result of the sliding rigger boat design introduced by Empacher in 1981 which was banned by FISA just three years later, on 01 January 1984, because of the decided speed advantage it gave to all who raced in that boat.

The FISA racing shells were developed by the FISA materials commission and were offered to all boat manufacturers. Although the standard was never formally adopted, apparently many boat manufacturers did avail themselves of the designs. Some of the shells built from the mold specifications did in fact earn gold on the world racing circuit. Subsequent manfacturing innovations led to variations in hull design and construction as each boat manufacturer sought to distinguish their brand as the fastest boat. As a result, the FISA shells fell out of favor and disappeared from the brochures.

Now Chris Oxner of Mission Rowing fame and H20 Composites, has brought the design back as a way to provide a low cost, comptetive product for North America. Using their state of the art carbon kevlar construction processes, Chris is able to offer a remarkably low cost club racing shell in both the single and double categories.

It’s that season again, when the straight and gay media go crazy over ‘out’ Olympic athletes. They are heralded for their courage in the face of public and team scrutiny. They are lauded for their public statements criticizing public officials or public policy. When a national rowing team roster was announced recently, we spotted a couple of familiar names. Undoubtedly there are more ‘family-iar’ rowers, on many teams around the world. Should we be especially proud of gay and lesbian Olympic rowers? The quick answer might be yes, because these athletes supposedly have had to endure super closeted lives, hiding their feelings and enduring the agony of living a lie. The real answer is that in today’s sports environment, most everyone on the team probably already knows and doesn’t care. The real focus is on winning, something that every athlete has had to prove every day and every hour for months if not years. The agony for many rowers, gay and straight, came in the last six months, when the Olympic lineups for each country’s rowing team were announced. For those who didn’t make the cut, thoughts of could have, should have, and would have flash through their minds as they compare and measure themselves against others and wonder why they weren’t selected. We doubt very much that being gay or lesbian is at the forefront of those thoughts.

As the rowers ramp up for the Olympics in these final days, they’re rowing upwards of 60,000 meters a day, and they are on the water three times a day. The last thing they are thinking about is their own sexual orientation or someone else’s. Their thoughts are a mixture of self-criticism, team criticism, extreme body awareness, hunger, thirst, and sleep.

These rowers, selected or not, have sacrificed their lives, their families, their relationships, and their careers for a chance to win. If you’re a rower, you know the hours of erg time invested, the endless pieces on the water in freezing rain and howling wind, and the physical pain to push harder in the last 500 meters on the course. Lets give everyone the same attention, the same respect, and the same awe for their Olympic orientation.

If you’re a rower, you have probably had “some” interaction with an erg, aka ergomoter – as in a rowing machine. Most in the community are familiar with the industry standard, a Concept2. Almost every rower groans when you mention the erg. Competitive rowers have spent hours and hours and hours on the machine, building their endurance and proving their mettle to the coach and team. The essential measure is your split, meaning how fast you can row in minutes in 500 metres.

I recall GLRF member @adtan, a one-time Danish national team member, relaying that his split time for 20 minutes on the erg was really slow, at 1:49…. Such a humble guy…

Recently, I stumbled upon a WaterRower for sale that was just too good to pass up. I had tried GLRF member @steveo25 aka Den Mother and Kapuna Steve WaterRower at his place in NYC and loved the smooth feel. I discovered that my uncle was also a devoted WaterRower user. But I always thought a piece on the WaterRower was just a nice walk in the park. Little did I know how brutal the workout can be. A 30 minute piece at a stroke rate of 24.5 not only whipped my ass but provided a new awareness to every major muscle group in my upper legs.

The biggest drawback to the WaterRower has always been the monitor. It was cumbersome and unrealistic. The new S4 monitor offers every conceivable workout you or your Lucifer-like coach could ever devise. So now you can really track your whipped ass progress (in my case) in excruciating detail. So what makes the WaterRower so different than the Concept2? The simple answer is the feel. It is sooooooooo smooth, and for a sculler, it really replicates the feel of the drive of the legs into the footrests. While the Concept2 uses air resistance, the WaterRower uses water resistance. The enclosed container takes advantage of the principles of hydrodynamics to create continuous and increasing resistance the faster you row. It also helps to fill the tank to the maximum recommended level if you really want to feel the ‘boat’ at full power.

Apples and oranges: I’m not sure that the split times easily equate between the Concept2 and the WaterRower but if you’re just focused on an excellent endurance workout, give the WaterRower a go.

We receive a fair number of inquiries from members looking to row as they travel abroad. Our usual response is to suggest a posting in the country forum of the member’s destination. We in turn send out a message digest email to the GLRF members in that country, letting them know there is a posting and suggest that they post a reply. Those digest emails can be very helpful when there are a lot of GLRF members in a given region of the country. But what about those countries where we don’t have members or where there aren’t many members…? Then it can be a little more of a challenge.

Part of the value of GLRF is the existence of a connected community. For those others who don’t have a “family” (huge smile here), they are left to their own devices – referrals, and research on the web, and thumbing through the Rower’s Almanac . Most rowing club members attempt to contact clubs at their destinations. That requires advance planning and more work, along with the hope that the club will check their email, and be open to welcoming outside rowers. Here are some other tips:

• share your experiences with us so we can expand our knowledge base as Anna did when she visited Beijing ; for you web savvy among us, what do you suggest as a medium to share the repository of knowledge?
  
• contact boat manufacturers – we did this with Carl Douglas Racing Shells and with Cucchietti Racing Shells in Argentina. You can almost guarantee getting a nice row on a new boat!
  
• contact your local boat manufacturer reps for your region – they may have some connections abroad. Drew Harrison, the North America NW Region Rep for Wintech Racing offered this advice for a GLRF member headed to the pacific rim: ” There is a terrific rowing course outside Shanghai where the provincial team lives and trains. It’s as nice as any man made course in the world and was the site of my first visit to China, the 1993 East Asian Games. We stayed in lodging at the course, but I don’t know how to describe how to get there or the names of any current key people there. Our manufacturing facility is 3 to 4 hours drive from Shanghai in the Hangzhou region.”