What If It Was Our Sport . . .

What if . . . instead of the top three American (or your country’s) car manufacturers in danger of closing shop it was three of the top boat makers who were going under?

No more boats from Vespoli, USA; Pocock; or Resolute.

How would that effect you?

Buy from a foreign maker? Keep your boat alive forever? Steal a boat?

What if . . . it were the top oar makers in the US going down? If C2 and Dreher no longer made oars.

How would that effect you?

Or no more Nielsen Kellerman, Row2k, or JL . . .

Would it matter to you? Would another business fill the void left?

Would you stop rowing?

Is Your Rowing Understood?

You row.

Maybe you pull on an oar (or oars). Possibly you steer. Or you coach . . . or rig . . . or are an involved parent. A lot of variations of the same theme, but when you boil it down—you row.

Is the reason why you row clear?

I am asking if others understand why you row? Do your parents know why you sweat and train? Does your roommate know why you get up early or come home late? Is it clear to friends exactly why your hands are covered with calluses? Does your spouse, kids, family get it?

This is important—really important! Why?

If you are reading this you are passionate about your version of rowing. If not, then why would you be here? And if you are passionate sooner or later you will need the support of those around you as you pursue that passion.

• Chasing the sunrise or sunset? You will need support.
• In search of speed? You will need support.
• Driving your child to practice at 5:15 am. Support (and coffee).
• Coaching a boat going for gold? Support. Support. Support.

People are a lot more supportive when they understand the reason why you are doing what you do. Support can make the difference between reaching a goal or missing it.

Have you told them why?

Have you told yourself? It just might make your rowing better.

image: Co Rentmeester

For more on this topic try these:

• Bored With Your Rowing? Five Ways to Get Your Zing Back
• Rowing Slow

A Simple Trick to Get Fasteners Tight on Your Rigger

Many fasteners on rowing shells only need to be gently tightened. For example hard-torque is not required to tighten the nuts that hold a rigger to a hull, or to keep a footstretcher from moving. Snug yes, hard no!

Yet there are a few rigger bolt/nut combinations that need to be very securley tightened due to the nature of the forces on them. If they aren’t hard tightened—they will come lose. One example is the fastener that secures the pin to a rigger, or a bracket that locks an insert inside of a rigger tube.

There is a simple trick to get these fasteners tight. It is called a “two-hand squeeze.”

The image below shows how most folks would tighten a bracket. Using two wrenches they would push their two hands together—trying to torque down the fastener. This method works fine if you have the hand strength of the Incredible Hulk. But most of us mere-mortal rower types do not, and that is where the “two-hand squeeze” comes in.

By interlocking the fingers of the both hands, as shown in the next image, and then squeezing the hands together (instead of pushing them together) you can generate significantly more torque and get that fastener tight. Besides generating more torque this method also can save some valuable knuckle skin if a wrench were to slip off of the fastener.

You can generate even more torque by sliding the hands to the ends of the wrenches. This system also works well, very well, when loosening fasteners.

Like the tip? Let me know with a rating below. And if you have others to share pop them in the comment box.

Bored With Your Rowing? Five Ways To Get Your Zing Back

Does this ever happen to you: you get in the shell, shove off the dock, and then you hear yourself ask:

“Why am I doing this?”

Ahhh . . . a sign that you may be getting bored with rowing.

Yes, it does happen. Quite often. What can you do? My suggestion to get the zing back in your rowing is to try a variation of a theme. Instead of break dancing, try the foxtrot. Instead of email, hand write a letter. Instead of your normal rowing try . . .

1. Go to the dark side
If you are a port—go to starboard. You a starboard—go to port. Why? To live on the wild side. Spice things up. Get a different view.

We have a small team so I have our rowers be bisweepual, they switch sides each year. It helps with body development. It helps with brain engagement. It helps keep folks smiling. A lot of new experiences go on when you switch sides.

Read more

Which One Is Better . . .

. . . rowing or mountain biking? One is better than the other . . .

Both are pretty neat sports. But let’s take a peak for a moment at the two—give you a comparison—and then you decide which is better.

16 Ways to Get Better at the Physics of Rowing

(This is scary stuff. Buckle your seat belt.)

Physics: the science of matter and motion.

(Told you it was going to be scary.)

If you were pressed hard you could divide rowing into two distinct spheres. The first would be the art of rowing. This “art sphere” deals with human factors such as motivation, team work, leadership, etc.—those human issues where there may not be a distinct right or wrong answer, but an answer nonetheless.

The second sphere would be the science part, specifically physics. Yes Physics. The same word that has freaked out an unlimited number of students and drove more of them to be English majors faster than the thought of Jane Austin could drive them away.

Over the past two weeks I’ve received several inquires about the physics of rowing, so I thought instead of addressing each separately I would post this. I spent years studying the physics of the ocean. When I started I remember thinking, “Wow, this will be cool!” And for the most part it was. Really cool. But there were so many dry, boring, difficult parts that physics about drove me nuts.

The main reason was that the way it was taught and explained. It was removed so much from reality and kept in the theoretical world that it was hard to really like it and see how it applied to more than just a few experiments and line drawings.

But since then a day has not gone by that I haven’t used some of my physics background in rowing. And if you row, or coach, or just work on the equipment, it is the same for you, whether you know it or not.

Physics plays a huge roll in rowing.

Disbelieve me? Read on.

Read more

Keeping Your Rowing Fast When The Economy Slows

Downturn . . . Buyouts . . . Recession. Turn on the news and daily we are told in some manner or form that money is going to be tight—really tight. And whether you row by yourself in a single or on a team with 50 other people, rowing is the type of sport where money makes a difference.

I’ve written a two-part post about the mindset you might want to have as our economy struggles (Part 1 & Part 2). A few followup emails asked about specifics things that could be done—steps taken to keep a rower fast as the economy slows. Following are a few suggestions, and links to posts, you can do (and read) that just might help you keep things fast in a tough money time.

Suggestion #1: Know what you have

Knowing what you have is so much more important than knowing what you want. Have and want . . . two critical words when money is tight. Why? Because knowing what you have can make a big difference on getting what you want.

Last month I needed two coxbox microphones to replace two that had just broken at practice. We didn’t have any so I bought them from NK. I needed them in a hurry so I paid for the zip shipping.  Just last week I found exactly what I needed—two microphones—in a drawer in the boathouse. I spent money for shipping and my time to get something I needed, when I already had them.

Read more

Measuring the Work-Through in a Rowing Shell (Basic Rigging Video)

Work-through is a very interesting measurement, for two reasons. First, it helps determine the position of a rower’s hips in respect to the oarlock pin. Second, there are numerous ways to measure it.

The following video shows my way to measure the work-through of a rigger.

Hope you find it helpful.

Where Should I Place My Footstretchers In My Rowing Shell?

I received this question the other day from Casandra.

Hi Mike: I am 2 seat in a lightweight women’s eight…but we have to row in a men’s boats. This is a really basic question; How do we determine where our foot stretchers should be positioned?

Thanks for the question Casandra. Let’s try a detailed view first, then a quick possible solution.

For Really Novice Rowers (Really novice)
For those rowers just starting out, placement of the footstretcher can be a great teaching tool. Often coaches will put the stretchers at a point where the rowers can use the track’s sternmost stops as a teaching device, so that they don’t over- or under-compress. The feet are placed so that the rowers will almost hit the stops just at the catch. If they go too far, wham, and they stop. For good or for bad, it does help teach.

For Rowers Looking For Comfort
In the past many rower’s calves really suffered greatly from the effect of either the seat track or boat deck digging into them at the end of each stroke. One method of relief was for the rower to move the footstretcher greatly stern-ward, to give the legs more room at the end of the stroke. More room, less digging into the calves. Newer shells with adjustable tracks usually don’t present this problem.

Rowers Looking For Speed
More experienced rowers, which it sounds like that might be you, are looking for something different. They are looking for speed. They want to place the stretchers in the correct position to maximize the energy that is put into the oar.

And it is important where they are placed. The reason being is that placement is about the distance the hip of the rower is located, at the catch, in reference to the pin. And the faster the boat, then the further through the pin (greater the distance that the hips are stern-ward).

Rowers looking for speed will tend to place their footstretchers according to either

1. shin angle to water’s surface
2. work through
3. catch length
4. catch angle

Each of those methods become more involved in terms of the mechanics of determining the correct placement of the stretchers.

Down and Dirty
So, with all that written, what should you do?

If you are sharing the boat with a men’s team, or any other group, then I would suggest that you place the footstretchers in a position where your shins are just shy of perpendicular to the water, at the catch. That might be about the best you can expect when sharing a boat, unless it is rigged specifically for you.

If you are not sharing the boat, it is just your team in it, then I suggest that the boat be rigged off of leverage numbers picked for your group. (You can find suggestions here.) From there use work through. Probably for lightweight women you may be looking at a range of 6 to 10 cms, as measured by the method on my numbers page.

Once you have set the feet, do some testing. Have a SpeedCoach? Great, test away. If not, then use a stop watch.

Adjust, test, readjust until satisfied.

(If you are interested in catch length and catch angle I cover those in my book, and the details are probably too lengthy for a blog post.)

Super-Simple Height Check for Your Shell’s Rigger

Recently Rob submitted this question:

Hi Mike,

I have a question regarding rigger heights. We are a men’s masters crew and as you would expect there is a wide variance in body shapes and sizes.

How would you set up the boat? Would you work on an average height or set up each individual rower?

For example our stoke is 6 ft 3 inches but the average height would be 5ft 10 inches. From my perspective I am 5 ft 9 with short legs and long body, so I sit quite high in the boat and find drawing up to my sternum at the finish difficult at times. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Rob, good question. Here is what I suggest:

I would certainly have rigger heights set per the person, when you get to the stage of knowing who rows where. Easiest (and best) way is to do a height check when you first launch. Following are those steps:

• Have bow 4 set boat
• Stern 4 go to finish position, blades square in water
• Make sure that the blades are buried as you want the finish to be set
• The outside arm should be parallel to the surface of the water. If the wrist is above the elbow, probably too high. If the wrist below elbow, probably too low.
• Then have stern 4 set, and check the bow 4
• Adjust riggers accordingly, and take a test row.

Yes this sounds super simple, and for the most part it is.

Measuring your riggers in the boat bay works well but it doesn’t account for the crew’s average weight not being the same as the average weight that the builder made the boat to carry. This simple Height Check accounts for that and has proven itself over the year.

Good luck, and Row Slow!

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