A Pedalo instead of a rowing dinghy ? Why not ?

[jdc]

..things may have moved on, but we were exhorted to get as much force into the initial part of the stroke as possible - the ideal being to effectively give the cox a boot up the backside at every stroke! As I graduated from Bow oar to Cox (being really too light for the former), I know how it feels from both ends

Indeed things have moved on! Since the appearance of cleavers and carbon fibre blades one doesn't row like this anymore. The idea is for a smoother action. I too started in the late 70s, but have kept it up and still row and scull. A rotten old 'masters F' gimmer now I'm afraid, but did go through what was called in those days - ludicrously in my case - 'elite'.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Indeed things have moved on! Since the appearance of cleavers and carbon fibre blades one doesn't row like this anymore. The idea is for a smoother action. I too started in the late 70s, but have kept it up and still row and scull. A rotten old 'masters F' gimmer now I'm afraid, but did go through what was called in those days - ludicrously in my case - 'elite'.

I was even earlier; my last competitive rowing was in 1974! I did manage one achievement as an oarsman that made it into the Times' reporting of the Cambridge May Bumps - we did a double overbump; apparently this was rare enough to merit a sentence in their report. We went up a total of 9 positions in the starting order without being bumped. I am actually mnore proud of our record the following May when the boat I coxed an eight that went up 5 positions - we bumped to the top of our division and immediately rowed at the bottom of the next, and did two bumps on one day. And some of that was my coxing; having been brought up in and around boats, I was able to hit the rudder of the boat in front rather than the first outrigger.

 

[JumbleDuck]

And some of that was my coxing; having been brought up in and around boats, I was able to hit the rudder of the boat in front rather than the first outrigger.

I never rowed competitively, but friends of mine did. One Eights Week, the day after a one canvas overlap went frustratingly unconceded for most of the course, the cox of the bumping boat got serious and took a hard left turn with a half boat overlap ... the offender was not merely bumped, but bisected and sunk.

 

[Seajet]

I never rowed competitively, but friends of mine did. One Eights Week, the day after a one canvas overlap went frustratingly unconceded for most of the course, the cox of the bumping boat got serious and took a hard left turn with a half boat overlap ... the offender was not merely bumped, but bisected and sunk.

There has to be the material for an entire tv series in this thread

 

[ex-Gladys]

I still have my EIghts Week 4 bumps oar hanging in the living room...

 

[JumbleDuck]

I still have my EIghts Week 4 bumps oar hanging in the living room...

I rowed for my school's junior coxed four in a Glasgow Schools' Regatta. We came second, of two boats, by around 1/4 mile in a 1/2 mile race. That may have been because I was so scared of catching a crab that I simply let the blade rest in the water and moved as it dictated.

I think the Authorities had an inkling of this, as I was booted immediately afterwards from the crew which, with my replacement, went on to win the schools' junior fours at Henley a month later.

And so began and ended my competitive rowing career.

By the way, my information about the need for a (slight) degree of flexibility in carbon eights came from a structural engineer in Oxford who had worked on the problem with Carbocraft.

 

[sarabande]

I don't understand the business of 'losing' energy in the rowing stroke. It has to go somewhere, unless rowers have a private arrangement with the Gods of Physics (entirely probable, of course, being rowers.)

To me it looks as if a racing rowing boat goes deeper into the water on the pull stroke, and rises out as the rowers recover the oar.


Why don't rowing VIIIs plane ? They go fast enough, shirley.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

I never rowed competitively, but friends of mine did. One Eights Week, the day after a one canvas overlap went frustratingly unconceded for most of the course, the cox of the bumping boat got serious and took a hard left turn with a half boat overlap ... the offender was not merely bumped, but bisected and sunk.

In Cambridge, you don't concede - the boat behind has to hit the boat in front. And then both boats have to get out of the way of the boats behind - which sometimes results in the front canvas of the eight being at a different angle to the rest of the eight if it has been run up the bank! Fortunately, the boatmen were pretty good at repairing eights!

 

[JumbleDuck]

I don't understand the business of 'losing' energy in the rowing stroke. It has to go somewhere, unless rowers have a private arrangement with the Gods of Physics (entirely probable, of course, being rowers.)

Energy is lost as the blade pulls through the water. That's inevitable, but you can minimise the losses by avoiding having excessive slippage. It's basically teh same problem as choosing a propeller.

In Cambridge, you don't concede - the boat behind has to hit the boat in front. And then both boats have to get out of the way of the boats behind - which sometimes results in the front canvas of the eight being at a different angle to the rest of the eight if it has been run up the bank! Fortunately, the boatmen were pretty good at repairing eights!

Concession was, I believe, gentlemanly but not mandatory. In Eights Week both bumper and bumpee drop out, but in Torpids only the bumper does, leaving the possibility of a misplaced bumpee going down multiple places in a single day. Or maybe it's the other way around. I was only ever on the towpath, looking dapper in a boater. Which I still have, and must try for sailing one day.

 

[Iain C]

Why don't rowing VIIIs plane ? They go fast enough, shirley.

Hull shape is all wrong. To plane you ideally want large flat aft sections, chines, low rise of floor and a comparatively much fatter hull shape. Look at an IACC80 compared to, say, Comanche or Hugo Boss. I suspect an 8 is all about being easily driven and minimal wetted surface. Planing isn't necessarily faster, look at an IC or lowrider Moth sailing cleanly at high speed compared to a Fireball throwing water everywhere. However I've never rowed I may be talking out of my bottom.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Hull shape is all wrong. To plane you ideally want large flat aft sections, chines, low rise of floor and a comparatively much fatter hull shape. Look at an IACC80 compared to, say, Comanche or Hugo Boss. I suspect an 8 is all about being easily driven and minimal wetted surface. /QUOTE]

The wetted surface is relatively high (it increases with aspect ratio) but the wave-making drag is extremely low, and that's the one that really matters at the speeds involved.

I'd love to see an eight-blade one of these: