Met Regatta 2023 

Never a disappointment Cam - sculling in the single is a tough call compared with any other boat - these top end scullers have probably sculled through the junior ranks and have that advantage especially when you came via sweep. Frustrating not being up there with the pack as previously in the MET but it’s not through the lack of fitness that you can be sure of. Have you considered getting back into a double or quad where it’s more enjoyable to hone your craft? 😎

Hi Cameron, I was at the Met this weekend coaching Tim Wilkinson from our club Greenbank Falmouth in Cornwall. I think that there were some anomalies with timing both days. Anyway, I saw your A final from the towpath on my bike. The lane allocations were obviously very skewed in favour of those that did well in the time trial, because of the classic Dorney cross wind. Pretty tough challenge from the windswept lanes closest to the cycle path to compete with lanes 1, 2 and 3. Having seen the race unfold, my only observation would be( I hope that it is helpful), that as a rower who is accustomed to fast moving sweep boats in the past, it is very difficult to convert to single sculling in terms of not over working the front end, this leads to too much load on the upper body and arms during the drive phase, which leads to instability and tightness in the upper body...easier said than done to remedy this, obviously conventional wisdom says, keep the drive in the legs and core, keep it low down in the boat, relax and hang off the upper body etc....not so easy to replicate under pressure...good racing from a crap lane in any case.....

World Rowing 👍👍🚣‍♂️

Could be interesting to see your force curve, might be worth reaching out to NK to get their gate sensors. You’re a walking advertisement for any rowing equipment, use these companies to your advantage! I’m fairly confident in speaking for the rest of your fan base that would it be interesting to see how effective these tools are for measuring water performance

Good stuff lad.

Hey Cam, disappointment in a race is tough, can't cut it more ways than that. Losing sucks. But improvement is an improvement, and a pb is a pb. You're feeling like that was one of your best sculls yet, than that's a victory. The weight of that victory isn't going to outweight the pain of losing, but it's fire in your belly with knowledge that you're improving. Real pain is knowing that you've hit a ceiling and you can't improve any. Thats not your problem. You're as strong as an ox and you're eating boat speed. I know you might not be interested in technique critique right now, but something I'm seeing is you've got your oars deep at the catch which translates to them being deep at the finish. You've got so much horse power you're looking for a way to apply it, and deeper in the water column is where you'll find that connection, but it means you have to spend more energy at the finish trying to get your blade out of the water, and it mean more friction with the water slowing you down, right at the perfect point of the stroke where you want the most boat speed, so you travel further during the recovery. What I'm seeing from you is you have a segmented stroke, its a lot better then when you were first in the single but its still there, you apply power at different points in the stroke depending on where your blade is deepest in the water, deeper the blade, more power, which means especially when you're getting tired in a race you tend to have a big finish, and the reason you feel like you can have a big finish is because your blade is deep and connected, but also slowing your boat speed down at the finish. Especially during the start when youre trying to apply a lot of power and go deep you can see the white wash of the water coming up the shaft. You want to alight out of the water at the end of the stroke, you don't want friction slowing you down right before youre trying to glide. Because thats where the most distance in the stroke is gained, is on the recovery. Boat speed is found in the recovery, thats what makes every great crew great. Kiwi pair, masters of recovery, not masters of the drive. The yale training videos, masters of distance achieved over the recovery via smoothness, thats why you can have two boats of the same power, and have one underrated the other, but keep the same speed, because the distance between strokes and puddles is immense. The way you would achieve that is going to be difficult to figure out and I don't have one answer for you. Being as tall as you are regardless of what boat you go into you're going to have a proclivity to have your blades deeper because to have a proper straight arm pull that matches your shoulder height your hands are gonna have to come up. To fix that I would experiment with your inboard and outboard length (if you haven't done so already). And I wouldn't just make your blades longer because you're longer. Dedicate just a week, and each water practice I'd go with something new, and the combination might be too short of an outboard and too long of an inboard, which might make for an uncomfortable stroke and an uncomfortable practice, but spend the entire practice with that setup and it will teach you a nuance of how you manipulate the blade each time. And for the changes I would do the same amount of change each time, like day one move it 2cm, day 2 move it 2cm in a different way, 1cm for longer inboard and 1cm for a shorter outboard, something like that. And keep track of what youve done, cause by the end of the week you might be like, "ya know, mondays had a weird flow to it, what was the combination." As a coach I'd love to work with you one on one on the water sometime, if you ever find yourself traveling across the States and in Washington I'm a coach at the Greenlake rowing club and it'd be my honor to coach you for as long as you were there free of charge. Its a long shot but the offer is there. Thanks for posting the video, was good fun to watch, love the blue uni against the orange sunglasses. See you next time you post cam

Why the empacher Cam?

Great racing cam - from someone who rowed that weekend the conditions were tough enough in an eight much less a scull

You did great Cam! I know how it feels to feel like you rowed your best and not get the results, it just happened to me at youth nationals. Don't let that get you down... just keep pushing!! We support you and you never let us down! Keep up the great work Cam!

Hi Cam. I've been watching you for some years now, and I've enjoyed watching your journey. As a rowing coach I like your honesty and your quest to be the best rower that you possibly can be. In the last couple of races I have noticed that you are lacking rhythm and seem to be racing into the catch (at least to me, and lets face it, its really easy to be an armchair expert on the computer, 14,000km away). If you are interested I can expand on my comments and explain how I think you can go faster. In any case, keep at it. I love your work. 🙂

Head up man, your doing great things an inspiring alot of people. I know the result was shit but the lessons learned will make you more complete going forward

Hi Cam, Thought I was going mad or have you managed to get an entry in for the 1x at HRR 2023? 😎

Hey Cam, loved the vid. It looked like you where giving it a lot of jam in the front end of the stroke, without actually getting away quickly there. Besides some technical stuff, you could also consider moving your footplate 1 or 2 cm towards you. This would alow for your ores to be a bit less parallel to the boat at the front (they seem to go very much parallel currently), giving you a bit more efficiency there. At the back end this would result in more space, so you will probably see yourself being a bit more compact with the back swing there, but this ultemately might also give you a higher stroke rate. You could consider gigving that a try. Anyway, keep up the good work!

A tough day in the office but thanks for taking the time to share and talk through your experience. Great to see you stepping on in the day 2 time trial. Racing in the single is mind games and seeing how you emptied the tank in the TT verses how you paddled over the finish line in both finals are world's apart. We have all seen you develop your engine over the winter so it's there. Big tick in the power box. It's the control both in technique and mental. The technique can be tweaked which will give you more confidence and allow you to relax and get rid of any tension. Once you've ticked that box you'll mentally feel more confident. This will then give you that extra edge you are searching for. Boxers take a lot of punches on the way to becoming champion. Be patient, prepare to take some knocks but it will come. Trust the process. Plus you'll always have the backing of the #yamsquad along the way.

Congrats on qualifying for Diamonds!

What do you think was going on with the race starts?

i'm just starting rowing (15y/o going into 10th grade) and I just watched a bunch of your videos to learn a bit more about the sport! You have improved so much and such an inspiration for me to get better! Thank you and keep doing what you are doing! :)

Hey Cameron. Interesting watching you in the boat. I think you need to relax more in the boat. You look tense and that will affect your performance as you sub consciously thinking of staying in the boat rather than powering through the oars. Take it easy.

Where ist the yambo nr 5 ?

Hi Cam. Armchair coach here. Don't be too hard on yourself. The new technique changes you're just getting to grips with aren't engrained and second nature at the moment. That will come. The 2k races, the first stroke and rate out of the blocks need attention. May I suggest you carry your hands a little lower on the recovery - keep the weight of your sculls on your hands after they cross you knees. That will give a little more clearance as you draw your feet in for the catch. Drop sculls in light as a feather, lock on then feel you lats take the strain as your torso engages. Drive knees down. Draw arms in, pulling around in an arc. Recover, hands, body, slide.

Great strokes. But in what moment of stroke do you equate a boat if you diverge with your course. I sat to 1x from 2- some time ago and now my boat always turn to left😅

Love your work Cam. You could see how disappointed you were with Sunday but still able to give raw, honest, objective feedback and clear thoughts. Awesome learning model for self improvement. I wish I could scull like that and get that fit!! Grateful for all that you share.

Keep on going Cam!

What was ur 1500m time when you placed 6th?

You rowing in Henley this year bro?

comparison of stroke rate vs competitors?

Random question, but how do you deal with any stiffness or persistent soreness that comes up as you push training?

These Regatta`s are killing the Provincial clubs.