designing a fast rowboat

Good for you to persevere and win when the odds looked dismal. It is easy to compete when you know you will do well.

 

I believe the Adiondack was discussed as a fast boat but maybe not so good for big water. Nordindcrew is finishing races under conditions many of us may not venture into.

 

more info

Uncle boats, where and when were those races you competed in? Sounds like you had a good time. In regards to Adirondack guide boats: they are very able boats in tough conditions. I've never seen one ship any large amount of water no matter what the conditions. Paul Neil is totally formidable around here. He is a Tri-athelete and a hard competitor. The only single to ever beat him around here was Jon Aborn in his Monument River(?) wherry; a boat he designed and rows to perfection. He is very generous and has given the lines to a couple of other people so they can build a copy. On the Cape Ann Rowing clubs site they had a picture of Paul Neil off Halibut Point in MASSIVE waves; totally poised and confident.

 

Races

The races were on the Siuslaw river in Oregon starting in about 1976, and after further thinking with my fuzzy brain, I'm not sure how many times we won, so I'll change the number to several. The last race we won, my partner was still sheets to the wind from the night before and spent the whole time wanting to quit, so on the last leg which was straight back across the river we had two other boats that were way way ahead, the only problem was they were aiming for the finish line and the tide was running in so they were actually headed up the creek, by the time they figured it out they had a long row against the current. A win is a win. Great fun, I was a 26 yr. old logger at the time so had a lot more get up and go than now.

 

I figure it is now time for a confession, many years ago i & a group of friends bought a pile of 9 rowing skiffs from a boating lake. They are like small Thames Skiffs 16ft long.
Having pooled our money to buy the lot we basically picked a boat at random.
However the guy who had driven all the way & burnt his diesel to pick them up got to pick his boat first as was only fair. Now you have to understand that he was & is very competitive & weighed each boat first to make sure he got the lightest one.
Now her buoyacy tanks were missing so he asked me to make new ones & glas them in, "Dont make them to heavy" he sez, You know whats coming dont you?
Lying under my bench was 3ft of lead pipe, so i sawed it in half & stuck inside the bow & stern tanks with a few dollops of sikaflex.
Of course he was real proud of his nice light boat & how fast she was.
All the other guys knew what i had done & there was much good natured ribbing like "are you sure this ones lighter?".
It actually didnt seem to make any difference & when he sold the boat a few years ago i quietly opened the inspection hatches & removed the evidence.
To this day he never cottoned on.
So there you go I hereby confess & apologise Sorry Dave

 

funny

Dave, great story. I always wanted to take a long length of monofolament and tie it to a small bucket and tie it to the back of one of my competitors boats. not done but someday...... maybe

 

any way you can

one race, it was very foggy and we were trying to beat Paul Neil. He rowed off course into the wrong cove and lost a little time; enough for us to beat him. Navigation is part of racing: you've got to cross the finish line to win

 

progress

I'm on vacation in North Carolina for a week. Before I left, I laminated oar lock pads up out of 1/4" plywood and 1" mahogany. The pads need to spread the locks for uniform spread and height. The mahogany is locked into the lamination to provide a solid block of wood for the screws to go into. Right now ,they are juist rough shape, but with a little work on the band saw they will be ready to mount. The Nordfiord will be ready for the March 11th Snow Row. Un-finished and still ugly without paint. Just hoping to get in one trial row before the race. My brothers fingers have healed remarkably well. He is almost able to touch his finger tips to his palm so the re-hab is going well. We rowed on New Years Day, but not since then. We know that finishing well will be difficult and will only get done if we really push ourselves to and beyond the point of serious pain. Itchy to get home and get the work done. The weather has broken, the snow melted and outdoor work is possible again. With oarlocks and some crude foot stretchers we're ready to give it a go.

 

- sigh!

 

I think you chaps are being optimistic. The Wintersmith is not ready to yield up his realm just yet.

http://wxmaps.org/pix/temp1.html

 

I shoveled 18" of snow this week, but with 2 hours more daylight than December we should be over the hump

 

weather

Can't wait to get home. Maybe the snow will be gone enough to let me get to work outside. I don't care how bad the Nordfiord looks just as long as we get to give her a good try out. Vacation is an un-natural state for me; I need to stay busy and get things done. With three boat projects in the planning stages, time is short.

 

I love the way the snow seems to heading South this year. It makes me sad to see you Americans missing out on this wonderful natural resource!

 

No Iceboating this year so far locally. Early huge snowfalls on very thin ice. The snow was insulating so vehicles (cars/trucks) did not dare drive out till quite late in the season even though we were quite cold. I look forward to an early Spring

 

I understand the Rideau Canal in Ottawa has been closed for skating: this is unusually early. It was due to a February thaw - common hereabouts - rather than snow, I suspect.