Sadly I didn’t get a chance to row in any competitions while I was in Rennes, but I’ll be using this blog entry to provide the different options you have if you decide to row while you are there!

Conveniently, both clubs are at the same boat house. This building is huge and has a kayaking club sharing it as well, separating the two rowing clubs. It sits right next to the Vilaine River near the Plaine de Baud bus stop. The commute takes about 30 minutes by bus (C4 direction Saint-Sulpice) from University of Rennes 2 (you can probably make this shorter if you take the metro to la République from the university). It’s closer to where I live, so one time I walked to practice which took around 25-30 minutes.

I actually didn’t decide on a club until the week before I had to leave. I had practices with the university through their program called SIUAPS every Thursday. I think the thirty euros that you have to pay to join a club with SIUAPS was included with our payment for the CIEE program. This was with the same coach that ran one of the clubs. The process of meeting the other club also took a really long time because it was hard to get into contact with them.

The Clubs (Hours)

Société Des Régattes Rennaises

Framed slots:

• Tuesday & Friday from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. (practice on land, erg machine, weight lifting, etc.)
• Wednesday & Saturday from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. (water practice)

Possible times to practice on the erg machines (Free practice/come as you please):

• Tuesday between 9:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.
• Wednesday from 2:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
• Thursday & Friday between 9:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The cost of registration is 85 euros (in cash), but because I decided on a club late and I was only going to be there for three more months, the coach reduced the price for me.

Créneaux encadrés :

• Mardi et Vendredi de 17h à 19h environ (pratique au sol, ergomètre, musculation, etc…)          
• Mercredi et Samedi de 14h à 17h environ (pratique sur l’eau)

Pour les heures d’entrainement au sol sur l’ergomètre, il y a possibilité de venir n’importe quand (pratique libre) :

• Mardi entre 9h30 et 18h30         
• Mercredi de 14h à 18h30
• Jeudi et vendredi entre 9h30 et 19h30
• Samedi 8h30 à 17h

Le coût de l’inscription au club est de 85€ (en espèce), mais parce que j’ai décidé un club plus tard et j’allais être là seulement trois mois, il a réduit le prix pour moi.)

REC AVIRON

• Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. : row on water when weather permits, footing, erg machine practice, video analysis
• Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. : (SIUAPS gym), rowers yoga, weight lifting
• Thursday at 2:00 p.m. : row on water (depends on day light savings)
• Thursday at 6:30 p.m. : row on water when weather permits, footing, erg machine practice
• Saturday at 9:30 a.m. : row on water
• Sunday at 2:00 p.m. : row (unless regattas, outings…)

The cost of registration is 75 euros for foreign students and students registered with SIUAPS (The price was also reduced for me but it was still a little bit more than the other club)

Horaires en Français :

• Mardi à 18h30 : aviron (tant qu’il fait jour), footing, ergomètre, analyse vidéo          
• Mercredi à 20h00 : (gymnase du SIUAPS), ppg, musculation
• Jeudi à 14h00 (varie dans l’année) : aviron
  Jeudi à 18h30 : aviron (tant qu’il fait jour), footing, ergomètre, analyse vidéo
• Samedi à 9h30 : aviron
• Dimanche à 14h00 : aviron (sauf si régate, sorties…)      

Le coût de l’inscription est de 75€ pour étrangers étudiant en France et étudiants déjà inscrits au SIUAPS. Il y avait une réduction sur le prix aussi, mais c’était encore un peu plus que l’autre club.

Practices

I would go to the practices on Thursdays when I first started. After class I would grab something to eat or buy something to eat on the bus and then head to practice that started at 12:15 p.m. You can choose to either go to the 12:15 p.m. practice or the 2:00 p.m. I chose the 12:15 p.m. because I had class later that day and I needed to get back to school.

It was a little hard for me to understand the coach at first because he talked really fast. Also, I was a little shy talking to some of the team members. I was kind of surprised the coach didn’t introduce me. He just carried on with practice as normal. I did get to talk to one girl a couple times, and I ran into her at Université Rennes 2 the day I found out we were leaving, so we kind of got to say good bye since it was when I wasn’t sure if I did have to leave or not.

The first practice with SIUAPS was on land, because the wind was a little too fast. We stayed in the boat house and lined up the ergs (rowing machines) in rows of two facing a projector screen. The coach had a training video. It was in French, but I was able to just follow the movements of the guy in the video if I didn’t understand right away. The video lasted the whole practice.

The second practice was on water. I still had trouble understanding, so I just followed what they were doing. We all worked together to take out the two boats we were using that day. I found the way we took them out kind of strange. Since the boat had a wider shell than my team at home’s boats, we carried them at hip height until we got outside. Then instead of going up to shoulders and overheads, we flipped the bloat to face upwards and held onto the sides of the boat. The inside was lined with a piece of wood we could grip onto. Once we got to the dock, we placed the boat gently into the water.

Another thing I had to get used to was that this was a sculling boat. For the majority of my practices and competitions in the U.S., I am in a sweeping boat which is just one oar per person. Sculling is with two oars. It’s a good thing I learned how to row by sculling with my home university. Since I was actually one of the more experienced rowers there, I was the stroke seat for my boat (I lead the pace). There weren’t enough people to fill up both boats so instead of four people in the boat, there was a coxswain (person that tells us what to do and steers the boat) and three rowers. I had a lot of fun and I talked to the coxswain when we slowed down. They actually switched coxswains halfway through, so someone else could have a chance to row.

One of the last practices I remember was another indoor rowing video. These videos had three sets of twelve different exercises, and we did stuff on the erg machines that I had never done before. One exercise was having one leg on the erg (seat moved out of the way of course) and stepping up with our opposite leg. We almost went on the water that day, but then the wind got worse and it started to rain. I talked to more people during this practice. I was really surprised to find out most of the people had only been rowing for about a year.

The day we found out we had to leave, there was actually supposed to be an indoor competition I was going to go to. It got cancelled due to the virus and the rule of not having a large amount of people in one space. This would’ve been a really cool experience, but maybe I’ll get to do something like it when I go back one day.

I decided to join Société Des Régates Rennaises because the hours worked better with my schedule and I already knew the coach since it was the same one that worked with the students from Rennes 1 and 2 (SIUAPS). I only got to go to one of their open practices where I just weight lifted a little bit and rowed on the erg machine. That was the last time I was at the boat house. It was all still a very fun experience.

I hope everyone is staying healthy.

À bientôt

– Nicole