Shell Game
Caloosa Coast Rowing Club, 10th-century sport, Cape Coral's early risers
Daylight is merely a promise as a grassy area in Cape Harbour starts filling with cars. Members of the Caloosa Coast Rowing Club park at polite distances in front of a communal dock on the north side of this upscale Cape Coral development. With no hint in their strides that it’s merely 7 a.m. on a Saturday, about two dozen men and women are gathering under an awning and around a shed flanked by hanging, overturned shells, or what most of us know as a boat. In this case, mostly eight-person shells. Preparations begin for launching. Even earlier that morning, coaches had arranged board magnets to illustrate which Caloosa Coast rowers would occupy each of nine positions in the boats. Soon, eight people in each shell will row, directed by a coxswain, who won’t. Positions are not random. The coxswain faces forward in the boat’s stern, the others facing the coxswain and therefore opposite the direction in which the boat is moving. The coaches place positions one to eight in the boat, depending on the rower’s strength, size and technical skill. Nobody questions which spot he or she will occupy.
As five or six members hoist each 225-pound shell overhead and carry it to the water, another group listens to instructions from member Jim Fentress. The latter group includes some newer rowers that have paid a $175 fee to enroll in a “Learn to Row” class on Saturday and Sunday mornings over three weekends. Sessions are held four times a year. On this early Saturday morning, rower preparations for the eventual 90-minute, 3½-mile glide seem to be in sync with the suddenly swift arrival of daylight. “We used to row at 8 [a.m.],” says club president Jon Hart. “But that was really too late,”
Some say the sport, one of the oldest in Olympic competition, dates to the early 10th century.
adding that canal traffic is lighter at 7 and lets the members get on with the day earlier. One senses right away that rowing, or skulling, is a gogetter’s sport. And perhaps that’s fitting for an activity that grew from its roots in the Ivy League, where the sport is known as crew. The first American college rowing club was at Yale College in 1843, but British athletes were rowing decades earlier on the Thames. Some say the sport, one of the oldest in Olympic competition, dates to the early 10th century. “The sport’s got a reputation
from when it started in the United States as collegiate,” says coach Joe Guttieri, who for this practice takes out one of the club’s motorized pontoon boats, riding alongside or behind the shell and coaching members on technique. “It’s a very technical sport that does attract a certain type of people― doctors, lawyers, engineers.” Modern advantages, though, include the Concept II ergometer rowing machines the club uses for indoor practice, and the electronic system used by the coxswain that shows stroke rate and other details. Although the rowers make it look easy, it isn’t. They must be completely in sync for the precise whole-body movements of the catch, drive, finish, recovery, feathering, squaring and again the catch―which is when the blade is reintroduced to the water. Oar blades are painted red, blue and yellow, the club colors. Each club has its own color scheme. Members’ motivations are fitness, teamwork and the challenge of mastering a technical sport. In addition to weekend mornings, practices are held weekday evenings. Plenty of rowers go on to compete in races near and far. Some rowed in college. Fentress’ sons learned to row at Tulane University, and he and his wife found that they were intrigued. “And as soon as my oar first hit the water, that was it,” he says. “I was 49 years old. Now I’m 66 and as fit as I’ve ever been in my life.”
Dayna Harpster is a writer, editor and accredited public relations professional living in Southwest Florida.
“And as soon as my oar first hit the water, that was it.” —Jim Fentress, Caloosa Coast Rowing Club