Really? Shows you what I know about the sport. You folks are amazing athletes.
If you get a fast start you see your opponents coming up on you. If you are making up ground you are rowing in their chop and you cannot see if your efforts are paying off in making up ground. Sometimes you are side by side across from each other during most or all the race.
We had a coxswain who would call out the seats in the boat that we were passing “I have their stroke, give me seven, give me seven”. That makes for a strong race because you are challenging them to row harder, but usually when you pass them - they fold. It is rough to see them break discipline - but in victory we also did not row as hard as if they were up to the challenge.
One race I will always remember a boat was ahead of us all the race, but we were boat to boat the entire time, until the last seconds of the race when we surged ahead and won.
I could feel their pain! The poor dumb bastard were ahead for 99.999% of the race except for the three seconds that it counted when we passed the finish line!
Good times, good times.
And Crew women are tall and develop great legs and asses! And if you like tiny gals, the coxswains are cute little bossy ones! One had a twin, who I had a lot of classes with..... drool.....