World's biggest pedalo

Twister_Ken

Twister_Ken

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World\'s biggest pedalo

Met these guys this evening, pedalling a boat from Athens to Amsterdam. Now nearing the end of the Med stuff, they'll turn right at Marseille and pedal up the Rhone before taking to the canals to get to Paris.

Headcases, but nice!

boot.jpg
 
Re: World\'s biggest pedalo

I reckon that pedal power is a much better propelling system than oars. Leg muscles are much stronger than arms; the body can be secured more firmly and safely; there's no "dead" time with a prop, as when bringing a heavy oar back at the end of a stroke.

Looks like a sound craft.
 
Re: World\'s biggest pedalo

Anyone rowing properly, with a sliding seat, is using their leg muscles anyway, probably in a more effective way that a pedalo can manage. Trans-oceanic rowing is done with sliding seats, if I remember the documentary with James Cracknell correctly. Watch an eight sometime - the power is greatest when the rowers are straightening their legs. In fact, you can't pull with your arms until the legs are straight - the strength of the legs far exceeds that of the arms, so you can't pull with your arms until the leg power is finished.

A VERY long time ago I rowed for my college!
 
Re: World\'s biggest pedalo

[ QUOTE ]
Headcases for sure, same as all those who choose to row across the Atlantic with the tradewinds behind them, when it would make more sense to hoist a sail.....

Apologies for the thread drift, but while on the subject of foot power, what do you think about the Front Rower here at http://www.frontrower.com/

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I think the "Front Rower" is pretty damn good, but at nearly $2000 + shipping to the UK, I think it will be a no-no for my disposable income.

You can also bet your pants that if somebody over here were to import them they would be charging a pound on the dollar which is their usual trick.

I have bought from the USA many times, at half the price of the same items here.

Rip off Britain rules ok?

Rant off. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Re: World\'s biggest pedalo

[ QUOTE ]
Headcases for sure, same as all those who choose to row across the Atlantic with the tradewinds behind them, when it would make more sense to hoist a sail.....

Apologies for the thread drift, but while on the subject of foot power, what do you think about the Front Rower here at http://www.frontrower.com/

[/ QUOTE ]

Problem is that you are ONLY using leg muscles; conventional rowing (with a sliding seat) uses every muscle in the body!
 
Re: World\'s biggest pedalo

Didn't watch the vid did yer??? You can use both arms and legs. /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
 
Re: World\'s biggest pedalo

[ QUOTE ]
Didn't watch the vid did yer??? You can use both arms and legs. /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I did watch the video; I saw no use of the arms. Admittedly I got bored and didn't watch to the end. However, even if they did, they still aren't using their back effectively. Basically, in a rowing "power" stroke, the power comes first from the legs, then from the back and finally from the arms. The legs are the most powerful, the arms the least. And you can only use the muscles effectively in a coordinated manner with a pull from the toes to the chest.

Incidentally, even in a bog-standard inflatable, having a decent foot rest makes a big difference to the efficiency of rowing. I wish I could figure out how to fit one in my inflatable with an inflatable floor!
 
Re: World\'s biggest pedalo

Well watch the vid and then you can make a comment, I reckon that it is a terrific idea, and certainly makes those canidoodles fly along very smoothly.
 
Re: World\'s biggest pedalo

"I wish I could figure out how to fit one in my inflatable with an inflatable floor!"

Two pack glue.
 
Re: World\'s biggest pedalo

Years ago myself and a mate, who owns a cycle shop, decided to race a pair of pedal craft across the channel, sponsored for charity. He's done a lot of looney cycling sponsored events so is used to the organisation and sponsorship side of things. The idea was that I should work on the boat design and he would do the propulsion systems. We got someone at cranfield university to design a propellor and hydrofoils in carbon fibre.

When we had got as far as roughing out the designs we read that somone had just pedalled across the Atlantic, so quietly shelved the idea. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

In fact, there is a chap who has pedalled around the world, land and sea.
 
Re: World\'s biggest pedalo

Drifting the thread back to (?) rowing, here is an interesting variation on the standard monohull rowing shell - have a look at http://www.rocat.co.uk/.
I love their swing arm riggers - animation here at http://www.rocat.co.uk/boat/rigger.htm - although I would be interested in opinions re how they compare against conventional sliding seat mechanisms.

Drifting some more, re records, you name it, the odds are someone has done it - even pedalling across the Atlantic is 'old hat' now.
A few years ago there was a chap who claimed to have swum across from the other side to Barbados, towing his accommodation module - he probably drifted more than half the way though.
 
Re: World\'s biggest pedalo

[ QUOTE ]
Now design an improved trireme with sliding seats.

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I stand to be corrected, but I think that when a trireme is "flat out" the rowers are standing and using their whole bodies anyway. Unfortunately, we haven't got a classical Greek set of rowers to demonstrate rowing techniques to us! We do know that classical writers routinely attributed performances to triremes that are higher than anything achieved with a replica - but that is probably the difference between a professional set of rowers (Greek rowers were not slaves) rowing for their national pride/liberty/mother's apple pie and a set of volunteers out for a few day's jolly. The performance increase is not infeasibly higher than that attained in modern tests; just enough to suggest that there was a lot of know-how and skill in rowing a trireme!
 
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