Learning Humility

 

Rowing on Greenlake....

For the last 6 weeks I have been learning to scull. It was great fun rowing a single scull (they also have doubles) twice a week. From the beginning of the class I have had no trouble rowing. The boats were easy to tip. Almost every other person dumped their boat in the middle of Greenlake. I having not turned my boat over felt great.

For roughly the last 4 months I have been restoring a 1984 Pocock racing trainer. It had helper floats on the riggers (the metal parts where the oars go) to keep it from tipping over. I in my wisdom having never turned a scull over thought I should remove these floats. Why should I really need them? Having done so I loaded the boat on the the car and headed to Greenlake for my first row. I envisioned rowing around the lake three times as I had in the past. Everything was perfect. I put the boat into the water. Everything was perfect. Being a racing trainer my boat is very narrow and low to the water with almost no gunnels. About 200 yard off the dock the boat flipped. I was doing everything perfectly. The oars were correctly placed and I was sitting correctly. The boat started to tip and there was nothing I could do. A racing trainer is a lot narrower than other boats. I tried twice to get back into the boat but being so narrow it was pretty hard. A lady coach I know came motoring out in a parks department motorboat to walked me through the exact proceedure for getting back in the boat. I knew most of this but her telling me sure helped. Now dripping wet I managed to get the boat up on the car and back home. I am reinstalling the side floats on the the boat. I found out what the term racing trainer means. It seems that the trainer part of the name is somewhat important. After a complete failure I now have more humility. It is perfectly possible to learn humility through failure. Trying not to feel bad I will try again some other day.

© 2012 | By James Vilett | 7_23_12 |