News Scrapbook 1986

Los Angeles, CA \Los Angeles col iimes l \S n Oiego Ed . \Cir O 50,010) \Cir·. S 55,573\

~curnonn---~~~------ A earch for Solitude: San Diego Rowers Lured by Quiet Sport

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rri@J ~i DIEGO-An hour b fore t1 1 in Bay I a dark. placid

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Rowers Stuart Neffeler, left, and Dennis Whelan. Above, they row in their single rowing sculls toward pilings under the Ingraham Street Bridge.

he took up rowing again last sum- mer. Now he rows three times a week, starting about 5,45 a.m. and dveraging three to six miles each time. Like many of those who row, Whelan has an intense, almost mystical, devotion to the sport. "You know that blissful state you sometimes get when running, when you're moving fast and not feeling as 1f you're working hard to do 1t? With rowing 1t happens a lot more often," he said. "It's very, very satisfying. The word 'euphoria' comes close to describing the feeling you get."

Games m Lo Angeles greatly stimulated Interest in rowing. He al o pointed out that more women are taking up the port because of the proliferation of women's crews in college . "There are almost a many women rowers now as there re men," he said. In pile of its growing popularity, rowing I sttll a relatively uncom- mon form of exercise, and tho e who stick with 1t after college tend to be md1v1duahsts. "Not everyone does it. and I hke that," Denms Whelan said. Whelan, 34, IS an architect for the firm of Mosher, Drew. Watson & Fergu on As an undergraduate at UC Santa Barbara, he was a member of the crew. But he hadn't touched an oar in five years when

Photos by BARBARA MARTIN Los Angeles Times

Stuart Nef£eler, 53, director of marketing for Copley Newspapers, Please ee ROWERS, Pag 20 ROWERS:, In Search of Solitude JCJ s--- Coitfinle from Page l agreed th· trowing "gets into your sys em. I, s like a narcotic. "It didn't damage the boat, but I thought for a moment the seal was going to come after me," Neffeler said.

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That's why rowers tend to grum- ble about water skiers and the boats that tow them. The wakes they leave aren't always large, but even a small wake can cause a lightweight shell to rock violently. "It wouldn't be so bad if they were more considerate, but they seem to have no idea of the effect they have on you." said Ward- McKinlay, explaining that skiers often pass within a few feet of hard-working rower . Another constant danger for the rowers is collisions. It's the nature of the sport to row "blind," with your back pointed in the direction you're going. Neffeler said most rowers try to memorize the posi- tions of all the buoys in the bay, because a collision with one of them can not only send you for an unexpected swim but also damage your rowmg shell. Nevertheless, collisions with the buoys are not infrequent. One hap- less rower here actually speared a buoy with the sharp bow or his shell, and was unable to move forward or backward until another rower came by and helped him disengage it. Neffeler hit a buoy recently when he adjusted his course to avoid a fisherman's line. He also ran into a seal a few weeks ago and pitched into the bay.

Such unpleasantries do not deter the devoted rower. "An enormous challenge develops" to stroke the oars cleanly and efficiently, Neffel- er explained. "You never really get to the point where you're taking perfect strokes every time." Whelan agreed that the "pursuit of perfection" motivates many or those who row. "There are eight or 12 different parts in the stroke, and every one or them requires atten- tion. You have to concentrate all the time or it goes wrong," he said. "Sure, I have to get up at 4:30 a.m. to pack my breakfast and lunch for the day" in order to row for an hour before work, he said. "And to do that, I go to bed at 9 or 10 at night, which doesn't leave much time for a social life. "But in a way, rowers are like those people who travel to Kat- mandu to seek out a yogi. Every now and then when you're out on the water, there comes a transcen- dent moment when the boat just lifts off the surface, and you can actually hear the water singing on the hull., .. "To tell the truth, I'd love to just row all the time."

"The beauty of it is that it's a pure athletic act1v1ty. There are no professional teams or high fives . . .. but most of us who get involved with it end up remaining around 1t fo·ever." effeler wwed competitively at the Umvers1ty of Southern Califor- nia in the late 1950s. But he had_ long given 1t up when, five years ago, 1-e decided to see 1f he could interest his two teen-age sons in the sport. He took the boys out in a boat a few times; they didn't think much or it. Neffeler, however, began rowing in earnest again. Now he is out on the bay at 5:30 a.m. five or six times a week. He begins at Santa Clara Point, then rows under the Ingraham Street bridge and around the eastern part of the bay to the Hilton Hotel before retnrnmg. It tak.eb him about an hour to complete the e1ght-m1le route. Neffeler explained that early morning 1s the best time for rowing because water skiers are scarce and there is little wmd. Both create swells on the bay's surface that make rowing difficult and some- times impossible. "Once you've got a chop on the water, forget it," he said. "But all of us who do this appreciate the beauty of the bay in the earlv morning, too," he said. 'The moon, the stars, the light on the \lialer a. d the sunrises are fantastic I grew up in Los Angeles and spent a lot of time near the ocean, bu I ve never seen so many different kinds of birds as I have smce I've been rowing." Whelan said he likes "to row for a half hour and then stop dead in the water, and just look at the fog or watch the sun r se You really feel like you're out alone, apart rom everyone." But he added that rowmg 1s a deceptively simple- looking ex1:rc1 e that m reality can bt 'lu:1g ~e:i.nng.' Ro\\ ng burn more calones per hour than anything but cross country sk11ng,'' •'effeler said. "Most of the effort comes from your legs.... but different parts of the body are doing different things You rell:y have to concen- trate."

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The boats are highly responsive to the sliii:htest ripple-and the slightest mistake. These are not dumpy aluminum rowboats like the one your grandfather climbs in to go fishing They're lightweight, needle-. h peel shells of wood or f1bergla with eats that slide backward nd forward as you row. Thev co. • 2 000 to $4,500, and an ven,ge ehell for one person is 28 feet long and only a foot across at the widest point They move fast, but they're also unstable in the ·water. One false move and you're hkely to be treading water-cold water.