As dawn broke on Sept. 9 over the San Francisco Bay, and rowers returned to their docks following early morning practices, the usually clear blue Californian sky began to glow a dark, apocalyptic orange. Though the air didn’t smell especially smoky, a light drizzle of ash started to rain steadily down. Every clean surface, including the hulls of freshly washed rowing shells, was coated a dusty grey.

The air quality index, which had fallen back below 100 over the previous few days, climbed upwards again. Unsure of the safety of working out, coaches of local masters and juniors crews canceled practices for the second time in two weeks.

This year, every coach and athlete across the world has had to try to figure out when and where they can safely train in the midst of the worse pandemic in more than a century. But over the last two months, many in California have faced an impossible dilemma: you can’t train inside (because of the risk of COVID-19 infection) and you can’t train outside (because of the risk of smoke inhalation).

(full article published in Row360, Issue 33)