Life is but a dream

Marisa O’Neil

Some of them used to drive their children to rowing practice five

times a week and take them to weekend regattas.

Now they just might pass by their offspring’s boats as they row to

the starting line for their own race.

Three years ago, a group of women whose high school-aged children

rowed on the junior team at Newport Aquatic Center decided they’d

rather be on the water than on the sidelines. With an average age

pushing 50, they won’t give their children’s crews a run for their

money.

But that’s not the point.

“We feel good and can see ourselves getting stronger and better,”

47-year-old Karen Everett said. There’s no way we can keep up with

the juniors, nor do we want to. We want it to be an enjoyable

experience. We don’t want it to be drudgery.”

When they started out, all they knew of rowing was from their

children’s stories, watching them race and waiting around the

boathouse while they practiced. The women started out trying the

ergometers, rowing machines used for on-land practice.

Then they decided to take the plunge and start rowing on the

water. Juniors coach Christie Shaver agreed to train them -- and took

the novice crew to one of the largest regattas in the country soon

after.

“She threw us in a boat and we just started rowing,” 51-year-old

Darla Guess said. “None of us had any idea what the heck we were

doing. Six months later, we were doing [the San Diego] Crew Classic

[regatta]. It was an experience I wouldn’t repeat, rowing against

master rowers that were former Olympians. But we had the best after

party.”

In a sport that is both physically demanding and technically

nuanced, the so-called “Moms Crew” has carved its own niche. For

them, rowing isn’t about crossing the finish line first or punishing

themselves with the grueling workouts more competitive rowers face.

It’s about showing up, doing their best and making friends. And

going for coffee after the morning practices.

Glenda Sanders, an Orange County Superior Court Judge, rowed

competitively at Cambridge University England, but hadn’t picked up

an oar in about 25 years. She joined the crew four months ago and

discovered a new side to the sport.

“[At Cambridge] the object was to win the race, rather than to

necessarily have a social side to it,” 48-year-old Sanders said. Now

I do it truly for pleasure.”

Although it’s still known as the “Moms Crew,” other women have

joined since it started. About a dozen women show up during the week

to row in one-person, two-person or four-person rowing shells.

On Saturdays, they practice together at 7 a.m., usually in an

eight-person shell. That experience gives them a deep sense of

camaraderie because each member is so dependent on the other to row

well, Sanders said.

“It really is the quintessential team sport,” she said. “There’s

no sense in rowing hard if the rest of the seven aren’t [rowing]

together.”

Most of the women work full time, but still squeeze in the early

morning on-water practices and an on-land workout. They train at the

Iron Oarsman, an indoor rowing gym in Costa Mesa owned by former

Swiss Olympic gold medalist Xeno Mueller.

“They positively empower me,” Mueller, 32, said. “It’s great fun

to see them. They’re fairly noncompetitive against other clubs, but

within themselves they see their own numbers and know their split

times [on the ergometers]. Anyone who shows up at six in the morning

has motivation.”

Though they don’t expect to take home medals, they do compete in a

couple of regattas each year, including the Newport Autumn Rowing

Festival. Regattas provide a goal to work toward, for those who are

willing to row the 4,000 meters to the starting line and 4,000 back

that some races require, Everett said.

The rowing children of the rowing moms have been supportive and

proud of their efforts. And, in turn, the moms have a greater

appreciation for their children’s work.

“It helped us understand what [our children] were going through,

to realize how difficult it is to keep up that pace,” Everett said.

“It gave us much more compassion and excitement for when they broke a

barrier or mastered something new.”

Many are now rowing in college and compete in some of the same

regattas, though not individual races, as their mothers.

Sometimes, though, the juniors draw the line.

“I bought a double with three of the other original moms,” Guess

said. “We have a fire engine red Hudson double named ‘Hot Flash.’ We

didn’t paint [the name] on the boat because some of the kids said:

‘If you put it on the boat I refuse to row in it.’”

Last year, the women’s crew also purchased a four-person “quad”

sculling shell for training and racing.

They named it “WOW,” for “Women on the Water.” When the boat sits

upside-down, on its storage rack, the name reads “MOM.”