Have you heard about Chicago Rowing Union? The rowing club created by LGBTQ+ community members is all about increasing diversity, accessibility in the sport.

“Pivot, slide, slow on recovery … we’re pulling all the way into our rib cage. We don’t want to pull into our hipbones or our stomachs. We want it nice and high.”

More than a dozen people listened to the instructions from Chicago Rowing Union’s (CRU) head coach Mollie Halvorsen while sitting on Concept 2 ERG Rowers during a learn to row class at Dammrich Rowing Center in Skokie. Sequencing is important to learn, she reiterates.

“When you pivot over or bend at the waist, we do not want our hands to dive down. We want them to be nice and flat. Arms away first, then body over,” she said.

The mantra becomes “arms, body, body, arms … arms up, body over, body back, arms in” while the hum of the ERGs try to turn in unison. Repetitive, yes, but this crash course is supposed to help everyone learn the rudimentary lessons of rowing crew and what to expect when on the water in the North Shore Channel of the Chicago River with seven of their classmates.

What started as a group created by members of the LGBTQ+ community in 2005 to row in the Gay Games in 2006, is now an inclusive competitive and recreational rowing club focused on promoting diversity in the sport of rowing, according to CRU’s President Simone Azure. The sport is historically pricey and known to be a predominately white one, per Azure — one of CRU’s eight-person boats cost $13,000, and that was used.

“It’s just like a Mercedes to a Toyota to a Fiat,” Azure said. “Resolutes are more expensive boats, but they have a tendency to last longer.”

Newer boats cost more and equipment prices, regatta fees and transportation costs also add up, making the sport less accessible. Halvorsen said recognizing the accessibility and diversity gap is why CRU partnered with the Skokie Park District to hold its learn-to-row camps.

“We are trying very hard to create an inclusive community within sports rowing and give access to members of the community that haven’t had exposure to the sport in the past,” she said.

Azure recalls rowing for another ream and paying annual dues in the $4,500 range. The Skokie Park District charges $200 for people to learn sweep rowing with CRU. Sweep rowing is where each rower uses one oar in boats of four or eight people. For a rowing season of seven months, CRU’s recreation rowing team rows twice a week and charges $108/month; CRU’s competitive team rows three times a week for $148/month. CRU also holds fundraisers, has a scholarship program and has reduced rates in the past for individuals to attract all sorts of people to the sport. The pandemic impacted CRU’s membership numbers, but Azure’s recruiting has membership back in the double digits.

“Our learn-to-row program, that’s how we build our program,” said the Edgebrook resident. “Now, there’s more spaces for gay people and the LGBTQ+ community, my big push is targeting diverse as possible. It’s not just a gay team. I want to stress the inclusivity on our team because we focus in on that. We have lots of allies and we’re happy as hell to have all of those guys, too.”

Azure and Halvorsen pride themselves on making sure camaraderie and friendly competition is a part of CRU. The rowing community is a tight one. Azure, a member of the Turtle Mountain Ojibwe tribe who identifies as Two-Spirit, competed and medaled in a recent regatta in Washington, D.C., to support the DC Strokes Rowing Club, an LGBTQ+ rowing club. They are protesting the U.S. Rowing’s decision to hold its Masters National Championships in Sarasota, Florida, in August. DC Strokes is boycotting the event as long as the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law remains in effect. CRU, a master’s group of adults 27 years and older, signed their petition in support.

“We try to be really supportive of one another,” Azure said. “The point is to have a place where people of all genders, colors and whatever feel included and they feel safe within this organization.”

At the learn-to-row class held June 11, a mother joined her daughter, a student at St. Ignatius who is considering joining the school’s crew team. A young man participated in the same class because he is thinking about trying out for Loyola’s crew team. CRU members helped participants through the hourslong session that began with rowing machines, transitioned to indoor sweep rowing tanks and ended with rowing an eight-person boat on the North Channel complete with a coxswain, person in charge of the boat’s navigation and steering. The coxswain gives directions of when and how to move the equipment, including the 200-pound boat, and when to board the boat. Assignments on where everyone will sit is given before launch, so you know if you’ll be port or starboard while on the boat.

Things to remember:

• Don’t step just anywhere on the boat. You can poke a hole in it. Step on the strongest part of the boat to get in.
• Boarding and disembarking the boat is done in unison with others, not as a single person, so the boat doesn’t tip.
• And the shoes that you put your feet in, are anchored to the boat itself. In case of emergency, pull the release cord to free your feet to swim out.
• Also, try not to catch a crab — aka do a faulty stroke where the oar is under water too long becoming jammed.

“A big part of the stroke is timing,” Halvorsen said. “When we’re in the boat, we’re tied to seven other people. We need to make sure that we are putting the blades in the water together, out of the water together. We want to make sure that we’re touching at the same time and that we’re finishing at the same time. It seems like a super easy thing, but it trips people up when they’re learning because of the sequencing. The tendency is to want to bring the knees up before our hands get out. On the ERG, it’s easier to lift the hands over the knees, but when you’re on the water, you cannot lift your hands over the knees with the oar in front of you.”

An exercise in team building, Azure says rowing crew is a sport where you can tell who’s doing the work, who’s not, and who is distracted. While on the launch boat — one that trails the boats with the coxswains — Azure jokes, encourages and inspires those rowing making the experience engaging while learning. The hard part is remembering all the steps taught in the classroom and translating them to the water in real time.

“I’ve met many people through rowing here in Chicago and around the world really, that have helped me advance and have been very generous with their time and energy while teaching me a new sport,” she said. One can tell she tries to do the same for those in each learn-to-row class.

Members of CRU all have their own stories as to how they came to rowing. Some picked it up at college when their friends were doing it and picked it back up with CRU. Azure was walking in Andersonville when she was approached by a gentleman who is now one of her really good friends. He handed her a card and said come and try to learn to row. She said OK. And Halvorsen went to her first learn-to-row camp in middle school. She was hooked after her first time, she’s never looked back. This year marks 21 years in the sport for her. CRU member Fiona Nolan says the act of rowing crew as the closest thing to heaven on Earth that they have found when everyone is rowing at the same time.

Coxswain Merri Furlong said a person new to rowing crew can be good within a year and within two years be great — something she’s seen.

Morton Grove resident Jamie Edwards attended the June 11 class. Upon its completion, she said she was excited to come back for the second part on Sunday. A lover of water sports, she said her uncle is a competitive rower and she was curious about what the sport entailed.

“I was looking for where I could get involved and came across Chicago Rowing Union,” she said. “It was tougher than I expected having worked on a stationary exercise rower before, although that kind of makes me want to do it even more, like a challenge.”

Edwards left knowing that getting better takes practice — something she’s willing to do with CRU.

“I’m sure it gets easier once you get more in sync,” she said. “I really want to get better.”

With a smile on her face, Edwards left wondering about what her aura app on her Apple watch says post rowing.

“The thing I love about rowing is it’s a low impact, full body workout, which is really nice,” Edwards said. “There was this moment being on the water where you’re just connected and it just feels really good … there’s something about being on the water.”

Chicago Rowing Union’s next Learn to Row session is slated for July 19. The group will also be at the 42nd Annual Chicago Sprints at the Lincoln Park Lagoon July 8-10.

drockett@chicagotribune.com