Copyright ©2018 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
I met Gordon and some other friends early Saturday morning for a day of photography. We photographed the US Masters Rowing Championship meet at Lake Merritt in Oakland CA.
We got there as the sun was rising, and a little later we got golden-pink hue on the Alameda County Court House and lake. This was the prettiest scenery I saw on Saturday.
Then we waited for the races to begin. There were singles, 2 person teams, 4 person teams, 8 person teams, and mixed teams. Going in I knew absolutely nothing about rowing, but I did learn the difference between Sculls, and Sweeps on Saturday. It’s all about the oars.
In Sculling each team member has a pair of oars. Their boats tend to be smaller with 1, 2, or 4 rowers, and sculling boats do not have a coxswain.
Sweeps- each team member has one oar, and their boats can have 2, 4, or 8 rowers. Larger boats with 4 or 8 rowers will often times have a coxswain steering the boat.
The Coxswain is the member of the team that sits in stern of the boat, and steers the boat. The rowers have their backs facing the direction they’re going so having someone steer and call out what is needed from the rowers is necessary. They also coordinate the power, and rhythm of the rowers. They are loud, we could hear them from clear across the lake.
2 man team- They’re sculling. I tried panning. It wasn’t easy because they’re going slower than you think they are when trying to pan.
4 man team- Sweeps with a Coxswain
The funniest thing I saw that day was a seagull trying to chase a drone out of its airspace.
The Drone was filming the races, and streaming a live feed back to a BIG monitor for spectators and teams to watch in the rowers staging area. The gull never got any closer than this to the Drone during this territorial spat, but it squawked at the Drone the whole time it chased it.
A team headed to the staging area-
Rowing shoes
Making some adjustments
The starting line in the background
It was a 3 day event. I have no idea who won in the end, but it was fun to hang out and photograph some of it, and learn a little something about rowing. It looks like a fun sport.
I hope your week is going well, and you have a lovely week-end!
Nikon D810| Nikkor 300mm f/4 & Nikkor 24-120mm f/4| Hoodman Digital Film| PS CC 2018
more to come…
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2017 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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