Members of the Sarasota County Rowing Club show off their medals at the US Rowing Rowfest National Championships in July. Provided photo.

A crew of competitive rowers is, in some ways, more akin to a team of scientists than a traditional sports team. The act of rowing as a crew, of getting two or four or eight people to move together as one requires the perfect synchronization of physics and mental focus. The timing, depth and power of every rower’s stroke must align precisely with that of every other rower in the boat.

“Rowing is not just about strength, it’s about balance, working with other people, teamwork, knowing how to read water, currents, the wind and making the boat move as fast as you can as a unit,” says Rachel Bowman, president of the Sarasota County Rowing Club (SCRC). “It’s a great sport and a thinking sport, because just when you think you’ve perfected the craft, there’s something else you can fix.”

Most mornings Bowman can be found on the water, with the other members of the SCRC, which operates out of Blackburn Point in Osprey. The master’s-only rowing club, which has over 100 full-time members that range from 23-years-old to octogenarians, competed in the US Rowing Rowfest National Championships in Ypsilanti, Michigan last month. 25 athletes from SCRC, including Bowman, competed in 48 races as a group, winning 16 gold medals, five silver medals and three bronze medals.

“What was great about it was that there were so many people who had never been to nationals before. There was one woman who was in the boat I was stroking in that got silver who was in tears after the race, because she’d never won a medal in a national race before,” says Bowman. “It’s stuff like that that makes it all worthwhile because it’s not just about you, it’s about everyone else in the boat and the fact that you all worked together to make it run. We call it making the boat sing—when you can hear the bubbles running underneath the boat because it’s running so well.”

The element of teamwork, be it early morning training sessions or even just helping load the boats onto docks, is what SCRC is all about. Currently one group of rowers within the club is training for the World Rowing Masters Regatta, held in mid-September in Banyoles, Spain and another for the Head of the Charles Regatta in October. For Bowman, however, the beauty is not just in the regattas themselves, but in the opportunities she has to relish in the sport with her fellow rowers, day in and day out.

Sarasota County Rowing Club, Boathouse Address 800 Blackburn Point Rd, Osprey, 34229

Members of the Sarasota County Rowing Club show off their medals at the US Rowing Rowfest National Championships in July. Provided photo.

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