Rowers And Horn Blowers

It was a beautiful day yesterday. The sky was so bright that as soon as I walked outside I felt my spirits go WHOOOSH – straight up, soaring.

I was so inspired by the brightness and blueness of the day that I made this comment on Twitter –

Down at the park it was vivid and vibrant. The bridge was gleaming, sparkling.

The corellas were on the grass in little families, munching.

From nowhere came this dazzling burst of yellow, so unexpected and enlivening I felt as if it was a medal being presented to me.

As the rowers began their vigorous training the skies began to darken. The water turned deep blue.

Hee are some things about rowing I didn’t know –

The person who steers the boat and urges the rowers on is the Coxswain. They’re lean, they’re mean, and they generally aren’t over 5ft 4in, and are probably the most important part of a boat. They control everything. During a race they
steer the shell, call the race, and make corrections.

A  regular race is usually 1000 to 2000m long, but some races can be 5000m long. When you are in the rowing crew you use every muscle in your body. A training session is like doing several different workouts at the same time. One after the other.

No wonder these guys were beginning to slow down.

But it didn’t take long before they got their second wind and got back into it –

with another crew close at their heels –

[*Rowing facts from here. ]

Then all of the sudden the sky went black. It was as if someone had flicked a switch to a resounding OFF. The clouds gathered, cranky, menacing and just as a massive clap of thunder sounded this boat appeared blowing its horn. Blaring its horn. It was a deep, resonating sound as if came from the bowels of the underworld itself.

The Ilonka, looking like it had just dropped in from supervillain school. I swear I could hear faint strains of balalaika music on board. Do you see that guy holding the big ball? (click on photo to get a better look) I think he was the one responsible for the noise in the sky. He might have been the very god of thunder himself.

And then the rain came down….