Temperature.

[Pardon the seasonal anachronism, this is a repost of a tip from a few years back.]

HOT

As we are in the midst of summer, I will talk about heat first. If you row on a hot day, wear lightweight clothes, drink plenty of fluids and bring the fluids with you in the boat. Water is good but you may consider drinking a sports drink that adds carbohydrates and electrolytes to the water. I personally use Cytomax which can be bought on the internet or at health food stores. Stella Volpe, our Resident Nutrition Expert, would most likely promote Gatorade which can be purchased at any grocery store and would be quite happy to speak to you about the value of any of these type of drinks .

Along these lines you should heed bad ozone days. I would suggest if you row on these days that you keep the effort on the lower end.

COLD

I know it is hard to imagine in August, but we do have limits that we row due to cold weather or cold water. Because we do not have a launch out with us while we are always rowing to rescue any rowers that may end up in the river, we do not row in low air or water temperatures. The river water temperature can be found on the NOAA Gauge which is noted as “gage” and linked on the Swan Creek Rowing site in the upper right in hand corner. The link is also below.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nj/nwis/uv?dd_cd=12&dd_cd=09&format=gif&period=7&site_no=01463500

The site quotes the temperature in Celsius and not in Fahrenheit so I’ve noted the club limits in both below.

Do not Row if Water Temp is < 50 degrees F (10 degrees C) on NOAA Gauge

Do not Row if Air Temp is < 40 degrees F (4 degrees C)

There will also be a Blue Flag posted over the desk to note Cold Water of < 60 degrees F (15 degrees C) which means No Novice may row by themselves.

If you do row in cooler weather, you should dress appropriately in non cotton clothing. Long sleeve shirts and vests are a good to keep your core warm. If you need cool weather rowing-wear, Regatta Sports or JL Rowing have many snazzy cool weather attire to purchase and most of the vendors peddle their clothes at the big regattas.

[Note: Board members, please let me know if any of this material needs revision]