RocknRow without Saltwater.

Having left right after Blackburn for some time in good old Europe (Germany and Switzerland) I packed some RocknRow spirit, hat and t-shirt in my suitcase. My first destination was my hometown Heilbronn near Stuttgart and Heidelberg in the south of Germany, where I grew up rowing on the “Neckar”, a river flowing from the Black Forest into the Rhine. It must have been the “rower’s high” I experienced that made me call my former rowing partner Bernhard as soon as I landed to set up my first row after Blackburn. Bernhard, president of the Heilbronn Rowing Club “Schwaben”, had visited RocknRow Marblehead Rowing Club last summer, traded club insignias, shirts and hats with Jack, and understood my urge of getting back on the water as soon as possible.

Thanks to Bernhard I was able to get in a few good rows during the last three weeks, two at 5 miles and one at 8 miles on flat water in one of the club’s Empacher Double, the last one this morning. It felt wonderful being back in a double and the thought of doing the next Blackburn in a Maas Double or something similar crossed my mind. Bernhard offered his expertise as trainer and gave me several tips and tricks about “how to row” properly. There still seems so much to learn and lots of practice ahead.

The last week I spent with my family in Switzerland, where we stayed in the Jungfrau Region close to Interlaken, where the three 13000 ft mountains Eiger, Moench and Jungfrau are located. In lieu of water activities we hiked around some mountains and brought our RocknRow spirit to the top of the “Schilthorn”.

It has been a great change of scenery and my family and I have had a wonderful time. Yet, it’s been three weeks since I last rowed on Saltwater and I am looking forward to being back on the ocean next week.