Forum Flyers

[AnnaRaeGreen]

I gave another try at the April CTC today - improved by 21 m - so happy with that.

Even convinced my husband (Ed) to give it a try. I think he will be joining us for future CTC's. (The Diamonds had been trying to recruit him, but I told him they did not need any more members, in my opinion.)

Still only have 2 boats floating. Need a lightweight plus any other 2 rowers to get a 3rd one off the dock. I see our lightweights are really smashing this one!

Anna Rae

[rickbayko]

Haha, the Diamonds tried to recruit me too and I had the same reaction. I mean, sure, they're doing great, but how many boats do they need every month?

It would be good to have Ed on board. Thanks for trying to recruit him.

[Rod]

Hi folks,

I've had a nice Facebook Video chat with Rick about this and as I thought some wires have been crossed regarding the C2 Team Challenges and not showing an Affiliation as I have most definitely not tried to recruit Rick or your husband to do the CTC for The Diamonds Anna...and as you rightly say...we float plenty of boats and don't need any more!

Happy Rowing Flyers, you're all doing a great job.

Cheers,

Rod.

[rickbayko]

Haha, the Diamonds tried to recruit me too and I had the same reaction. I mean, sure, they're doing great, but how many boats do they need every month?

It would be good to have Ed on board. Thanks for trying to recruit him.

Just had a nice chat with Rod and hope there are no hard feelings between our two excellent groups.

[bassongirl]

I got my CTC in today to wrap up Season 2025. I was able to catch Suzanne. Sorry for that
Also I wanted to a say thank you for being part of the team this season. These little friendly rivalries keep me pushing harder. Never thought I could average a 2:05 pace today.
Can’t wait to row for the Forum Flyers in Season 2026.

P.S. We need another lightweight to get another boat floating. I have 2 kg too much on the scale

[Marcvo17]

Ugh! I am a Lightweight, and I rowed today expecting to either fill the open LW seat or push someone else into it. But all I managed to do was bump an Open (HW) rower into the partially filled boat with the LW seat still remaining empty.

Same thing happened last month. As Anna explained the logic of the algorithm to me, we don't just need LW to row but to row at a speed that is not "too" fast.

The algorithm rewards the rower by putting them in the fastest boat possible at the expense of not maximizing the number of boats floated. In my opinion that is unfortunate. This is both an individual and team event. You get individual positive reinforcement by seeing where you rank in the overall master list of rowers. The team should get positive reinforcement by having the algorithm float the maximum number of boats possible for highest score possible.

It is what it is. Bigger problems in the world than this. I just find it illogical and frustrating.

--Marc

[skkipper]

Ugh! I am a Lightweight, and I rowed today expecting to either fill the open LW seat or push someone else into it. But all I managed to do was bump an Open (HW) rower into the partially filled boat with the LW seat still remaining empty.

Same thing happened last month. As Anna explained the logic of the algorithm to me, we don't just need LW to row but to row at a speed that is not "too" fast.

The algorithm rewards the rower by putting them in the fastest boat possible at the expense of not maximizing the number of boats floated. In my opinion that is unfortunate. This is both an individual and team event. You get individual positive reinforcement by seeing where you rank in the overall master list of rowers. The team should get positive reinforcement by having the algorithm float the maximum number of boats possible for highest score possible.

It is what it is. Bigger problems in the world than this. I just find it illogical and frustrating.

--Marc

Clearly you just need to be slower, Marc!!
I also find it frustrating, seems the new site is prioritizing the speed of each boat rather than the number of boats floated. Two valid ways of doing it, but obviously the number of boats floated is more useful for our standings vs. other teams! I tried posting in the FB group for the CTC a month ago, but looks like that post was never approved so no one saw my message. Posted about it on the CTC thread on this forum just now, so we'll see if anyone else has comments about it. I'm fairly sure the old site did prioritize the number of boats floated, so maybe this is just an oversight?

I just barely got the April CTC in, kept meaning to but I was playing lots of tennis and remembered right after a 2 hour match on Apr 30, so not my best performance, but good to get on the rower! I will be traveling for most of May and 6 km is pretty daunting, so I hope to get it in but may end up missing the CTC for the first time since I started in 2020

[Marcvo17]

Me rowing slower is definitely an option, and one that I seriously consider about half way thru each challenge But I might already be the slowest LW on the team!

Thanks for raising the issue/question. Hopefully you will get a response. This is team competition and it seems the best way to maximize our team score is to maximize the # of boats we float. Also no fun being needlessly left at the dock.

If I row a slow 6K...I want it known I did it for the team

--Marc

[skkipper]

Already got a couple responses that it's fastest first, not prioritizing # of boats. So I guess I just wasn't paying attention with the old system!

If I row a slow 6K...I want it known I did it for the team
--Marc

Obviously this is why I too row so slow, for the good of the team

[rickbayko]

Haha, a good excuse to slow down a little. "Bums on seats," as Meerkats would say.

It's too bad that the CTC doesn't fill the boats in a way that gets us all afloat, but I see the logic for putting the fastest people in the first boat. Unfortunately, it can leave too many of us on the dock. Imagine if by some stroke of fortune we managed to get three lightweight women who were our three fastest rowers and they were the only three women to row that month. They would fill the first three seats of Boat 1, leaving no room for any Heavyweight men, not matter how many we managed to row. We could have 20 heavyweight men and several lightweight men but never get a boat off the dock instead of having three boats filled. I know, rather absurd, but to a lesser extent we have been leaving boats unfilled not because we don't have the numbers but because our lightweights or women rowing 'too fast.' (Or perhaps because our Heavies are too slow. )

That said, I don't want to be too critical. The CTC has been organized and set up, (no small feat, I couldn't do it), by people who did it out of the goodness of their hearts, not for financial gain. I appreciate those efforts and thank them for it.

In the same vein, the Nonathon is now open for the new season, as is the C2 rankings. Both have been great motivators for me over the years, and both free for us to use as the CTC is.

https://www.nonathlon.com/ranking.php

https://log.concept2.com/rankings

Have at it!