Spring 2010
Get Started:
Sculling
A sport as old as antiquity, sculling is a natural fit on Vermont lakes and waterways
By Sky Barsch Gleiner
Photographed by Alden Pellett
LEARNING CURVE
- You can try to figure it out on your own, but it takes time to get the knack and the boat is very tippy: A few start-up lessons are well worth the investment.
- The Craftsbury Outdoor Center (www.craftsbury.com) is a mecca for learning and training in the Northeast Kingdom (for more, see page 66).
- The Upper Valley Rowing Foundation provides instruction and other support in the Connecticut River Valley (www.uppervalleyrowing.org).
- Type "sculling" into the YouTube search engine to get an idea of how sculling looks in action.
BASIC INGREDIENTS
- A scull, which is a lightweight, narrow vessel with a sliding seat, oarlocks and straps to hold your feet.
- Close-fitting clothing that won't catch on the oars or tracks for the seat.
- A calm lake or river, free of obstacles.
POETRY IN MOTION
"Rowing is like any other physical pursuit that involves rhythmic locomotion," says Troy Howell, fleet manager and a coach at the Craftsbury Sculling Center. "It's the runner's high without the pounding; it's the fluidity of swimming without the water in your nose and ears; it's the near-silence of skiing well; the feeling of speed over a horizontal surface like you get in cycling; the beautiful rhythmic arc of a perfect golf swing.
"Why do I row? In a pragmatic sense, I row for the same reason that runners run, swimmers swim and so on — fitness, the satisfaction that comes with pushing the limits, and all of that. More rhapsodically, though, why do monks meditate and birds fly and fish swim? After 22 years, it's hard to imagine doing otherwise."
