Living through an historic weather event brings the opportunity to tell stories of suffering and survival around some future fire. It also brings the comfort of knowing that history is not likely to repeat itself, at least not soon.
But in the wake of last year's Head Of The Charles, where Sunday temperatures hovered in the 30s for most of the day as racing concluded in an uncommon October snowstorm, racers at this year's Regatta would be mindful to remember that New England in October is not always cerulean-blue skies and russet, yellow and orange leaves. It is sometimes leaden gray skies and an icy, windblown rain. And for ill-prepared crews out on the open water for an hour or more, that can be more than uncomfortable; it can be downright dangerous.
"We had people last year that were woefully underdressed," said Maura Conron, who was co-chair of Dock Operations at the finish line in 2009. "In some cases they had on just a cotton tee-shirt and it was soaked through from the rain. We had to literally help people from their seats. One high school rower had to be carried from the boat; he couldn't move, and was so cold he had lost his judgment."
And it wasn't just high school crews; some of the rowers in the Championship Men's Eights also came in underdressed and dangerously chilled. "They weren't moving very well either," said Conron. Surplus Mylar blankets from the Boston Marathon helped a bit, as did a warming bus that the Dock Ops people were able to call in.
Northeastern University men's coach John Pojednic has long experience dressing crews for a full spectrum of, as he puts it, "cold, colder and coldest" rowing weather. His crews are on the Charles River into December and are back on the water as soon as the ice clears in February. Good rowing in bad weather, he knows, starts with dressing right.
"You want to wear clothes that will optimize performance while you row," he said. From 60 down to 35 degrees that means a tight-fitting dry-fit base layer, with a vest that covers the neck and back, all the way down to the lower back. "A specialized rowing vest with a long tail keeps the wind from blowing up the back, and that's important," he said. "It's also easily shed and stored in the boat if you need to take it off." Pojednic is not big on overdressing for the warm-up and then stripping down for the race. "You should be able to put something on in the boathouse that will be comfortable and efficient to race in," he said. "You don't want to get to the start line and take a lot of things off and crowd up the boat with clothes."
As the temperature falls towards that 35-degree mark, a polypropylene hat will keep core heat from being lost through the head. Below 35 degrees, a hat is a must, as are other concessions to the cold. "Below 35 degrees you want to have as much of your body covered as possible," Pojednic said. "Hat, tight-fitting running pants, a vest. It's also important to have a pair of dry socks. I like to carry the socks and not put them on until I'm in the boat. That way they're not going to pick up water from the dock while you're carrying down and launching."
And don't forget the poagies. "The old rowing lore is that if you wear poagies, you're a wimp," said Pojednic. "That's crap. You're not a wimp, you're smart."
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