On the Lake | Teen Ink

On the Lake

April 3, 2010
By Babyjane12 GOLD, Columbus, Ohio
Babyjane12 GOLD, Columbus, Ohio
11 articles 0 photos 1 comment

The white boat cuts through the smooth water, leaving a line with whirlpools on both sides. A sharp voice cuts through the quiet of the lake. "Weigh enough," is her sharp command from her place of power at the stern of the boat. "Port, hold water." The left side of the boat scrambles to follow her commands. "Port to back. Starboard to row." Her voice rings clearly throughout the eight person boat with the help of a microphone and speaker system. The right side of the boat, starboard, flip their oars over and pushes on their oars, and the left side of the boat, port, rows like they normally would."Weigh enough. Get water." Everyone stops at weigh enough, their oars fall down onto the water, and everyone gets some water to drink. After a few minutes her sharp voice is heard again, "All eight up to the catch." She pauses and waits for everyone to follow her command. "Attention. Row." All eight rowers push back hard with their legs with the command of row ringing in their ears. "Cut the cake drill in two. One. Two." She counts the strokes. "Start, finish, one full stroke." The rowers listen carefully for their commands. "Power through the bridge. Come on you can do it, push." as the rowers begin to push hard with their legs the boat pick up speed. "On paddle." Her sharp voice commands through the quiet again. She looks behind her to make sure they are far enough through the bridge. "Weigh enough." She commands once they are far enough away from the bridge. She gets her point towards the docks and her voice commands, "Bow four up to the catch. Attention, Row." The four rowers in the front of the boat row as she commanded. As the boat nears the docks she listens and repeats what the coach on the dock says to the rowers. When the boat is near the dock she gets out of the boat with the rowers and her last commands are, "Hands on. Up on one, roll to heads on two. One. Two"


The author's comments:
My crew team inspired me to write this. I hope people get the experience of rowing out of this.

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