Some married couples would not be able to stomach being on a boat with one another for extended periods of time. That is not a problem for local pair Scott and Cathy Kemper, who often row together for hours on Mission Bay. “It’s very convenient. Now that he has joined me, it provides me with an excuse to travel, an excuse for a social life and it fits exercise into all of that together,” Cathy Kemper said. “It works really well — one activity does several purposes.” Scott and Kathy Kemper have lived on Crown Point since 1970 and have rowed with San Diego Rowing Club since the mid-1990s. They typically row on the bay six days a week. “We literally just ride our bikes around Sail Bay to get over to the boathouse,” Scott said. “Usually, we work out in SeaWorld channel. There’s an area that’s buoyed off and buoyed for steerageway only, and we do a lot of the sprints in there.” Both 72-year-old Scott and 64-year-old Cathy have rowed with success on the national and international level. In February, Scott captured a coveted hammer at the C.R.A.S.H.-B Sprints Rowing Regatta in Boston, winning the lightweight 70-74 men’s class with a lead of 30 seconds in an indoor race on an ergometer rowing machine. “It’s a different thing,” Scott said. “A lot of people who are on-the-water-rowers hate the rowing machine because it is just you and the machine and you’re not trying to psych the machine out or anything like that. It’s a real measure of performance.” Cathy served as a coxswain of sorts for Scott during the event, coaching him during the race. She was quick to point out that although not participating in the regatta this year, she has more hammers than Scott. “His is bigger than mine, but I have two,” Cathy said. “I’m going to have to make weight next year, so that I can keep one ahead of him.” Cathy had already been rowing with ZLAC for nearly a decade when she introduced Scott to the sport 12 years ago. When Scott first started rowing, he insisted that he wouldn’t row competitively. “He knows himself and he knows that he can be very competitive and he didn’t want that much pressure in his life,” Cathy said. “But I knew once he got good that he wouldn’t be able to resist.” Scott and Cathy have competed in races together in a double boat on occasion, most recently finishing third in the 2008 USRowing Masters National Championships in Long Beach. Scott said putting a competitive married couple in a boat together creates an interesting dynamic. “In a double, when it’s just the two of us, one of us has to be boss and one of us has to shut up and suck it up,” Scott said. “Usually I’m the one that has to shut up.” Cathy didn’t dispute that claim one bit. “He is the one that has to shut up — he has to bow before my superior experience,” Cathy said. “He does pretty well with that.” But more often than not, Scott and Cathy row in sync with one another. In and out of the water, the couple’s shared passion for rowing certainly makes them unique. “It’s not a combination you usually see,” Scott said.
