Rowing is a funny sport. It looks peaceful and smooth. Go walk along the Tampa Riverwalk on a weekday evening, and you’ll see a variety of rowing crews out for practice. Every boat will make you think it is a simple sport and you just paddle gently away while gliding along the water.
It feels very different in the boat. Especially as a new rower, there are a million things to think about. Swinging your body, positioning your arms, sliding your seat forward and backward, turning the oar, all while keeping in time with the person in front of you. And of course, you do all of this backwards! Which is fine if you are in a boat with a coxswain (that’s the usually smaller person that scrunches themselves up in the front of the boat and steers the boat and keeps the crew in time). The coxswain faces forward and can see where the boat is going.
If you are in a sculling boat (that’s when each rower has two oars, one for each hand), there is no coxswain. The rower in the first seat (called the bow seat) is responsible not just for rowing but for steering the boat as well. (In rowing we call it bowing the boat). While facing backwards. Sometimes when it is dark. And when there is boat traffic, including barges, tankers, cruise ships, the Pirate Taxi, and the Craft Scenic River Cruiser. And through bridges and turns. There is a lot to worry about!
This is fresh in my mind because just a few weeks ago I started learning to bow. I can confidently say that it is mildly terrifying, definitely anxiety-inducing, and way harder than it looks when you are standing on the Riverwalk watching boats go by. Your boat is racing backwards, and you literally cannot see where you are going. Every few strokes, you turn as far as you can and get a little glance at what is behind you. But it’s a millisecond flash, because you also have to keep rowing and stay in time with your crew!
After a morning of bowing on a portion of the river I hadn’t been on much, it occurred to me that at some point we learn to move forwards in life (or backwards in rowing) without always seeing where we are going. I had no idea that 2024 was going to take the turns that it did. There were many things for all of us that happened that weren’t planned for as we ushered in the new year. Things that we couldn’t see or predict. And now 2025 is upon us. I’m sure you’ve already got things scheduled and planned. Things that you can see. But as you enter this new year, a quarter of a century into the new millenium, I hope you take the time to embrace the fact that you can’t see everything that is ahead. Every day, week, month and year is going to present you with something that you haven’t seen before. Don’t fight it. Let these new experiences and challenges come. Take a little peek to see what’s coming, but know that you won’t be able to see it all.
From all of us at Kerby’s, we wish you a Merry Christmas week and very happy New Year. We are closed today (Thursday the 26th) and will reopen tomorrow the 27th, ready to help you with everything that you need for your landscape and gardens. And don’t miss the Great Poinsettia Buyback, going on this week!
