I am the reason for Mike’s last post, The People of Rowing.  I am probably the reason for most of the non-family related stress in Mike’s life as well. I work for Mike, and like all coaches, I’m learning how to do my job and making a ton of mistakes on the way.  Mike gets the brunt of these.

I drove the truck and trailer south for the spring training trip this year, breaking down in Savannah, GA.  I had to leave the trailer on the side of the road and go with the tow-truck to get the truck fixed.  For the weekend and most of Monday I camped out at a hotel while the mechanic discovered one problem after another with my truck.

The biggest stress for me this weekend wasn’t the fact that my team was running on the beach instead of rowing, or that my truck was in the shop, or that I wasn’t at the beach after a winter of 80 inches of snow. It was that my trailer and all those shells was stuck on the shoulder on I-95.  I spent most of my waking hours trying to find a truck to rent or borrow, with no luck. (Why don’t they teach this stuff at the coach’s clinics?)

Then I found Chatham Area Rowing Association on Row2k and called them immediately.  They answered my call for help, giving up a practice to pull my trailer of the interstate and to the hotel where I was camped out.

One of the things that I have always loved about rowing, and one of the things that has kept me in the sport for 13 years, is the people.   Without people like Scott Nohejl, the head coach at CARA, the rowing community wouldn’t be what it is.

Rowing is a sport where people help people, whether they are rivals or competitors or friends or whatever.  I had never met Scott before cold-calling him Monday afternoon to beg for help.  He didn’t hesitate to answer my call, and his generosity saved my boats and maybe someone on the highway.

I, and my program, owe Scott and CARA a tremendous amount of gratitude.

Hopefully someday we’ll be able to repay it.

The People Of Rowing (Part 2) is a post from: Max Rigging

I read in my copy of  “Nuts and Bolts Guide to Rigging” that one should never use a 15 passenger van to carry a boat.  Our club has been using a 15 passenger van for some years to carry a 4+ about 75 miles to a regatta, and there have been no issues.  What’s the problem, overhang?

The overhang Dick mentions is certainly an issue (Overhang is the length an object extends past the end of a vehicle). Some states only allow 3 feet of overhang, and although it has been a while since I’ve seen (or measured) the overhang of a four on a 15p van, I would bet that it would be upwards of 10 feet or more.

However, the real critical issue here is roll-over. Fifteen passenger vans are notorious for their roll over problems, contributing to many accidents and deaths. Many institutes no longer use the vans, and those that do usually limit them to only 9 passengers (to keep the center of gravity lower).

Locally I know that if I were to transport shells on a 15p van that I would void the insurance.

My suggestion would be to check with the local authorities to see what they say about your suggestion, and then check with your insurance company.

I would also suggest that you do a quick Google search on these terms, “roll over 15 passenger van.” I think you will find the results quite sobering.

That’s my advice to Dick. What do you think?

15 Passenger Vans And Rowing Shells Don’t Mix Well is a post from: Max Rigging

He uses a spool (yellow round object in photo) that he picked up at Home Depot, made it to fit the rack support on the trailer, and then just rolls up the straps when they are not being used. When they are needed, he just unrolls them, and removes the spool for traveling.

Very handy and inexpensive.

Gotta love those engineers . . .

A Creative Way to Keep Straps Organized On Raceday is a post from: Max Rigging

photo by luismi1985

Coming back from a race yesterday, I got worried—really worried.

It wasn’t about the team or the race results.

Instead it was about something haunting. The future. Specifically, money for the future.

During the regatta, as I watched one of our races go by I struck up a conversation with a parent of one of my rowers. The theme of the conversation was how bleak the economy looks right now, and how discretionary money in people’s budgets are drying up.

We both wondered what tomorrow would bring.

Why is no one talking about this at our level?

Not one other coach has mentioned money concerns to me this past week, and when I brought it up to a few they just seemed to shrug their shoulders. I guess, “It will be okay” was the message.

I talked to my assistant coaches about this. When I got home I immediately started to make alternate plans for this year if the money dries up. Not just for equipment, but for the thing so many of us do—travel.

Our Spring Break trip is only 4 months away. As of today we now have

• Plan A
• Plan B
• Plan C
• Plan D

Which one we select will depend on how much money we’ve got when all is said and done.

If you are starting to get concerned, a few suggestions that might help:

1. Have the conversations early. More preparation now means less panic later.
2. Develop alternate plans: be thoughtful, pull help in if you need it.
3. Look around, talk around. How are others planning?
4. Gently prepare the troops.
5. Be prepared to constantly refocus and adjust

Are you thinking about what tomorrow will bring for your rowing?

Related post:

• Buying A Shell In Tough Economic Times

Are You Thinking About What Tomorrow Will Bring For Your Rowing? is a post from: Max Rigging

Hello Mike,
I found your site while looking for information on transporting a rowing shell across the country. My son is a college varsity rower and has purchased a shell (for sculling).

Do you know how folks get their boats back and forth across the country?

He was able to hitch a ride for the boat with a team that was traveling from the east to the west at the end of May. But, to get the boat back to the east for the school year, it seems there is not as much travel in August. Do you know of any shipping companies or better yet, some type of fellowship of rowers who move boats back and forth and often have a spare spot on a trailer?

Seems my son cannot be the only person with this problem?

Any suggestions?

My response:

I think that you really have two choices: (a) a company that is transporting shells, or (b) a team that is doing the same.

Most teams won’t be moving boats until either later Fall or the Spring time, so that might not help.

Per the former, a company. Several shell companies deliver boats coast-to-coast, and some might have orders in early Fall. I would suggest either Pocock or Vespoli, USA. There are others, but these two are very busy, so you might have a better chance of getting a ride.

There are also some boat repair companies that do the same. I might suggest Klinger Engineering. All will charge a decent amount, but you would be hiring capable transport.

You might also try USRowing. They might have some suggestions.

And how about you? Any helpful insights about cross-country transport?

Transporting Rowing Equipment Cross-Country (reader question) is a post from: Max Rigging

Not everyone liked what I had to say.

As most coaches/rowers/Riggers I try to learn as time goes by, and when I am wrong I will be the first to admit it . . . however, in this case I think that time has shown that my suggestions on strapping a boat are catching on, and hopefully helping.

You can read the entirety of that article, and I stand by the concepts there. However, I want to emphasize a particular method of strapping a boat—that of double-strapping—that I feel I didn’t emphasize strongly enough.

What Is Double-Strapping?
Double-strapping the bow of a boat (or whichever end of the boat is facing the tow-vehicle or front of the auto) is an inexpensive and quick way to add a critical back-up system to your efforts to safely move rowing equipment.

As you drive, your trailer and shells are subject to wind forces—some incredibly strong. Head winds, an effect of your driving, can be upwards of 70 mph or more, depending on the prevailing wind. And cross winds can be almost as strong. A study completed in 2005 found that winds can be a major contributor to tractor-trailer accident, and can actually cause rollover of the vehicle.

Winds (cross or head) can greatly affect rowing shells being transported by placing enough force on them to actually break a weakened strap, or push a strapped shell right off the side of a moving trailer.

It has happened to drivers. It has happened to me.

Ever since that moment I double-strap.

How Can Double-Strapping Help?
As rowers we don’t like wind much. As a driver of a vehicle moving a rowing shell, we need to view wind as a threat—and treat it with respect.

We travel with a lot of stuff and one concept that I think many don’t realize is that whoever is responsible for the vehicle that is moving the equipment is responsible for that equipment. Meaning, if something goes wrong, the driver is the one who will be held accountable—legally.

Not too long ago a coworker lost her son and husband in a very tragic accident on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Seven cars were destroyed and three people died due to a trailering accident. Although not rowing-related the thought of that tragedy motivates me to emphasize that safe trailering (or car topping) is a responsibility that cannot be taken lightly. For a long time the driver of the trailer awaited his fate in the legal system.

Accidents certainly do happen to shell trailers. This video serves as a dose of reality for me whenever I begin taking my trailer driving for granted. Although I don’t have any statistical evidence, I strongly believe that by placing a second strap on the right place on a shell you can significantly reduce the chance of an accident or damage due to a shell moving off a rack, or a strap breaking.

Two things that I have noticed recently. First it seems like my straps are wearing out quicker. I am not sure if that is due to a change in strap quality or designs of shells. I find that I am replacing at least one or two straps after each time we travel.

Second, coaches and teams are traveling more and more to away regattas, and those races seem to be getting bigger (meaning coaches are more tired when loading and moving equipment).

These two issues can quickly add up to reduce the margin of error when moving shells. Double-strapping is a backup that just might be there to help when you need it.

How To Do It
Here are the basics of double-strapping:

• Every boat should have 2 straps at the end in the direction of travel (usually the bow)
• Each place where a boat rests on a rack there should be a strap. Therefore an eight would have four straps (2 in the bow, 1 at midships, 1 in the stern)
• When strapping the bow of a boat, one strap should go around a vertical support of the rack (usually requires a 12 foot strap for larger hulls). See video.

The key is to get the first strap tight, and place the second strap around the upright support. This second strap will help secure a shell from moving laterally. This brief video should give you an idea of how to double-strap.

Double-strapping is inexpensive (less than $10.00 per strap), takes little time (less than 60 seconds), and might just save some heartache.Worth a try, don’t you think?

How To Double-Strap Your Shell—And Why is a post from: Max Rigging

Hi Mike! I am with a H.S. team and I’m hoping you can help settle an argument about the best way to strap down a boat when we’re loading up the trailer. We have one coach who says we should loop the straps around the inside brace when we’re strapping down the outside boats. He thinks this will prevent them from coming loose. The other coaches disagree because it puts the straps at an awkward angle. Do you have an opinion?
Thanks!

So that’s Beth’s question. (Look at the straps on the photo above to get an idea of the position of the straps.)

So what do YOU think? Do you have an opinion, answer, suggestion, story or idea to share? If so, leave it in comments below. I plan on posting a video about how I suggest you strap next week.

How Do You Strap Your Boat? is a post from: Max Rigging

Straps need TLA—tender loving attention. They don’t need a lot of it, but you have to give them some. If not, you WILL have a revolt. Guaranteed.

The video shows one simple thing you can do to prove to your strap that you love it, and help it be there for you when you need it. I call it the Page Roll. Rob Page was a coxswain of note for our team several years ago and he showed me this simple way to store our straps while at the same time checking them for problems (such as fraying) that could indicate the strap might fail at when you needed it most. (The audio may not work, so I’ve included notes below).

It is a fairly simple process:

Step 1: Unfurl the strap, and look it over for any frayed edges. If you see any the strap needs to be replaced, and DON’T use it. Let me be clear about that. It is a BAD (UNSAFE) strap. Get rid of it (for example . . . give it to an athlete for a belt).

Step 2: Take the end and slide it through the large opening of the cam. This is NOT the opening that the strap goes through to be tightened. Pull strap through about eight inches.

Step 3: Begin rolling the strap from the fold in in that is away from the cam buckle. Gentle, and tightly, roll it until you reach the cam.

Step 4: While holding the cam buckle against the roll, take the end that you put through the cam in step 2 and wrap it around the roll. Then put the end through the slot in the buckle. Gently tighten it up.

The strap will now stay neatly in a roll, ready for action when you are. A great benefit to this method is ease of storing. You can get numerous rolled straps in a small space.

How to Get More From Your Rowing Strap is a post from: Max Rigging

Hitches are one of those items—like car insurance—that you don’t greatly appreciate until you really need it. And then when you need it to be ready to go, and it is not—whammo.

I was lucky. The process of replacing the hitch was pretty quick:

1. determine the ball size of the trailer’s receptacle (2 and 5/16 inches)
2. determine the height needed for the arm of the hitch
3. determine the size of the recepticle sleeve
4. call to see who carried what I needed
5. buy it

Seventy-five dollars later I was ready to go.

What was interesting about this process were the stories that the salesmen at the marina (where I bought the new hitch) told me about others who had lost their hitches. There was the fellow who was towing a large sailboat and had parked it in his driveway. He started out in the morning and got about 1/4 mile down the road when he realized that the sailboat was still in his driveway. Someone had made off with the ball of his hitch, but had jacked up the trailer, removed it, and then replaced the trailer so it looked like it was still there (he said he blamed his ex-wife).

Then there was the fellow who drove off with this power boat in tow, only to see it take a right turn as he turned left, and then see it crash into several parked cars, causing thousands of dollars in damage. The thief had removed the pin holding the hitch in place so that it would slide out as he drove away.

And there was the gal who had her hitch stolen as she was in the process of towing all of her belongings across country, making a move for a new job. This happened at a rest area on I-95, late one night, when she stopped for a rest break.

Morale of the story, it appears that more often than you might think trailer hitches are removed from vehicles by other than their rightful owners.

So if you are towing rowing-equipment (or any trailers) and have a removable hitch I suggest that you:

• remove the hitch for safe keeping when not in use
• check your hitch every time that you stop and the vehicle is left out of sight
• purchase a locking pin set to secure the hitch into the two vehicle’s receptacle

A trailer hitch is one of the most overlooked pieces of rowing-equipment. But when you need it you want it to be ready.

Will Your Trailer Hitch Be Ready When You Are? is a post from: Max Rigging

We are all suffering pain at the pump right now. However rowing coaches can suffer a level of pain that most other drivers do not have to endure. This picture above should give you some indication of what I mean.

More boats and rowing equipment are damaged in transit than while in actual use. Although I haven’t seen statistics to back me up on this, I would venture a guess that a significant about of that damage happens while fueling on trips. I have had several coach-friends tell me “bummer” stories about gas station crashes.

Most of those seem to have happened when transporting straight-eights—boats that are not sectioned. Mostly due to the large amount of over-hang, especially towards the front of the trailer where it is hard to see when turning, and easy to forget.

Many of the newer gas stations seem to be designed strictly for smaller cars, leaving larger vehicles—especially trucks (and especially trucks pulling a trailer full of shells)—in a difficult spot.

A few things that you can do to reduce your chances of a gas-station smash are:

• have an extra set of “eyes” drive with you and actually get out to watch your bow/sterns as you drive into a station
• avoid cramped stations and go for the spacious ones (usually not an issue if you are looking for diesel fuel)
• get gas before you really need it so you can be selective about the gas station you turn into
• make sure that the driver is experienced

Just keep in mind that the $3.25 gallon of gas you are complaining about could easily be a $10,000 or more mishap. A few simple steps could help you keep your pump pain at least palatable.

(Rowing) Pain At the Pump is a post from: Max Rigging