The Brazilian

No - not that kind of Brazilian - I mean our rowing coach who hails from the South American country.

Yesterday he decided we should row in pairs, and oh my goodness, those boats are so skinny and narrow and consequently, feel very unstable.

I was rowing with Sal and made her stroke because I was terrified. I was debating if I should take my watch off in case we capsized. The school kids do all the time, sometimes several times a lesson, but we're middle aged women who are NOT interested in a dip in the river. Sal suggested I did remove the watch as that would assist the karma that would help us not to fall in. Turned out she was right - as I cheerfully admit, she usually is!

Our Brazilian coach was in the speedboat, espousing the golden rule - if you let go of your oars and grab the sides of the boat, you WILL capsize. Hmm, good to know.

For some crazy reason, being in the precarious boat made me forget everything I knew and Coach was giving me plenty of instructions. He talks a lot which is good, because I often have trouble understanding his accent and it takes me a while to cotton on to what he's telling me. However, I was surprised when he yelled out - several times - MWW! Why are you so dense??!

Now I've been asked some direct questions in my time, but this one takes the cake.

I could only respond with I don't know.

It was only when he followed up some time later with MWW! Relax your face!! that it occurred to me that he'd been saying 'tense' - not 'dense.' (Ironic I know - too dense to work that out!)

We didn't row particularly hard but I was shaking when we got out from having every muscle clenched for 90 minutes.

Apparently, he wants us to have a go at single skulls next. Maybe if I'm in my bathers I'll be able to focus on the rowing and not worry about the possibility of swimming!