row2k Features
Life is a Metaphor for Rowing, by Peter Mallory: Ch. 6: An Out-of-Boat Experience
April 16, 2022
Peter Mallory

1989 SDRC Masters B Coxed-Four, on the cover of my first effort at reminiscing . . . Coxswain Kristin Bailey, Bow Peter Mallory, 2 Rick Lopez, 3 Glenn Schweighardt, Stroke Tim Waterpaugh

As I continue my time tripping, it's now August 20, 1989, a lovely, sunny California day on Lake Merritt in downtown Oakland, California. I'm 44 years old. It's 500 meters to go in our semi-final at the U.S. Masters National Rowing Championships, and I am racing in the San Diego Rowing Club entry in the Men's Masters B Coxed-Fours, for crews over 35-years-of-age. As we had in our heat, we are open water ahead of the field, cruising along at maybe half-pressure.

From my lofty position in the bow-seat I am surveying the race as it unfolds behind us, and I am very, very pleased with myself. At 5'10" with 184 pounds honed by nearly fifteen years of coaching from a single shell followed by a solid season of renewed weightlifting, hill running and rowing for myself for the first time in two decades, at my advanced age I am just about the fittest I have ever been in my entire life. Oh yes! And I am closing in on my life-long quest for the Holy Grail. After winning more than fifty National Championships as a coach, I am finally in position to win my first U.S. Championship as an athlete. And it has been a very, very long time coming . . . and look who I'm rowing with! Look at my family!

1977 San Diego State University Men’s Eight, Tim Watenpaugh in the 5-seat
1977 San Diego State University Men’s Eight, Tim Watenpaugh in the 5-seat

My stroke-oar is Tim Watenpaugh, 6'4" 210 lb. and SDRC captain. I coached him many years earlier to a couple of medals at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National Championships for San Diego State University before he went on to a 1979 Pan American Silver Medal with Penn Elite Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In 3-seat is Glenn Schweighardt, president of our esteemed club, 6'2" 195, who started his rowing career at San Diego State. Fourteen years ago I was coach of the inaugural Mission Bay Rowing Association crew in which Glenn won the first two of his basket-full of U.S. National Medals. No, seriously, he really keeps them in a basket . . . like they were Easter Eggs!

These two guys are the heart of the boat, and, truth be told, Glenn and Tim both wanted to be the stroke-oar this summer.

Now each guy in a four-oared shell has one oar. In order to make the boat go straight, obviously two guys have to have their oars on the port side of the boat and the other two on starboard. At San Diego Rowing Club, all the serious rowers can row with one oar, called "sweep rowing," which we're doing now, and they can also row with two oars, called "sculling". And most can wield their sweep oar on either side, on port or on starboard. I can. Glenn can. Tim can . . . but he doesn't. He has a tricky back, and he tries not to throw his body any unnecessary metaphorical curve balls. He stays on starboard. And so to balance off Tim, Glenn's rowing on port this year in our four.

The metal outrigger at each seat is bolted to the boat on a particular side. The sport of rowing is loaded down with ritual, and boats have traditionally been built so the stroke-oar rows on port. In Britain they even call port "stroke-side" and starboard "bow-side". But our shell is a magical stripped-down zebra-striped carbon-fiber beauty, custom-made for us by Kaschper Racing Shells in Lucan, Ontario, Canada. Readers time-tripping with me on row2k will soon discover that this magnificent shell has just won for me as a coach four National Championships in three years. Oh my!

Get this! Our Kaschper shell can be rigged any which way . . . port-stroke, starboard stroke . . . standard rig, Italian rig . . . even as a quad! Well, in the last few months we'd show up at the boathouse, and it seemed our boat was rigged differently every week, and either Glenn or Tim would be stroking it, depending on whether Glenn or Tim had last touched it. It was really funny . . . and about the closest we could get to conflict in this wonderful boat.

Made no difference to me, port stroke or starboard, Glenn or Tim. I took my seat in bow, thanked God for my good fortune, and rowed whatever side my rigger was bolted on. Finally it came down to me, as everyone's former coach, to break the news to Glenn that the boat seemed to go just a scooch better this year with Tim stroking. And so, finally just a few weeks ago Glenn settled into the 3-seat, and the boat stopped being rerigged every few days.

In the 2-seat is Rick Lopez, 6'2" 190, Annapolis grad, quiet guy, thoughtful guy. Lake Merritt is the first time we see him in person all year. I had taught him to scull while he was a Navy pilot stationed at Miramar Naval Air Base in San Diego back in the 1970s, but now he's a copilot for Delta Airlines in Atlanta and a multiple National Champion . . . and he likes the port side. (Navy guys seem to prefer consistency.)

"No problemo! All my life I have been preparing to row in this boat. Port? Starboard? I'll take whatever is left . . . and starboard it is!" So says Peter Mallory.

You know, I had even coached our coxswain, Kristin Bailey. To maintain a low center of gravity, she's lying down and steering from the section of the shell between my seat in bow and the bow ball. If you look carefully, you can see her in the earlier photo. Yes, that's the back of her head. And Kristin isn't just a passenger, isn't just along for the ride. Nosirree! Our coxswains have a lot of responsibility besides steering. They are the brains of the boat. And Kristin has experience! She's also a fine junior sculler, so she knows both sides of the sport, and when she says something, we trust and respect her judgment. Oh yes!

Yes, indeed. Look at my boat! In the past decade and more, I had sown these dragon's teeth, and now I am harvesting the fruits of a lifetime of coaching effort. I am Argos, the architect and ancient mariner of our boat, and these are my Argonauts. Ancient to be sure. Our B Masters Age Category requires each oarsman to be over 35. Hell, I'm 44. The others might as well call me Grandpa. Despite me and my advanced age, it's a fine crew, strong, competent, fit, experienced, a genuine joy to row in, and how often can you actually say that of a boat? I'm so proud . . . and so honored to be invited to be a part of it. I cried when Glenn suggested the lineup a few months ago.

But as we are racing, my mind wanders as it does so often in my life. I look back on the other boats arrayed behind us. Our opponents' colorful jerseys, their painted oars glinting in the sunlight. See how bright they are! How they scramble! The other five boats on the course with us are all neck and neck with each other, straining to be among the remaining two semi-final qualifiers for tomorrow's six-boat final. I listen with amusement to all the coxswains. They have come from all over the U.S. and Canada just to entertain me. Some coxswain over to the left somewhere attempts to spur on his crew by telling them that San Diego might be tiring. "Pour it on, guys! I think San Diego might be tiring!" Us? You must be kidding.

"You don't frighten me, English pig dogs! Go and
boil your bottoms, sons of a silly person!"
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail

But silently I give the coxswain permission to fib a little if he thinks it will help his team.

I float overhead. I observe the race and my boat and my teammates and myself from far above, from a great distance . . . I'm having an out-of-boat experience . . . unstuck in time, and I realize I've felt this way before, the first time in 1965, in fact. How many years ago is that now, from 1989 all the way back to 1965? Twenty-four? Long time. Almost a quarter century, more than half my life, for Heaven's sake! I can see it, smell it even, the very first of my oh-so-many trips to the U.S. National Championships.

To be continued...

SUPPORT ROW2K
If you enjoy and rely on row2k, we need your help to be able to keep doing all this. Though row2k sometimes looks like a big, outside-funded operation, it mainly runs on enthusiasm and grit. Help us keep it coming, thank you! Learn more.


Comments

Log in to comment
There are no Comments yet

Rowing Features
Rowing Headlines
ADVERTISEMENT
row2k media is not responsible for external ad content
Get our Newsletter!

Support row2k!

Tremendous thanks to our
row2k supporters!

Get Social with row2k!
Like row2k on Facebook Follow row2k on Twitter Follow row2k on Instagram Follow row2k on Youtube Connect with row2k on LinkedIn

Get the row2k app!

row2k rowing store!

Get our Newsletter!
Enter your email address to receive our weekly newsletter.

Support row2k!


Advertiser Index
Advertise on row2k