First, I heard the sound. It was sickening. Then, looking in my rear-view mirror I saw the shell just as it came off the trailer, snapped in two, and crashed to the road. It’d been a heck-of-a-day and it just got worse. Much worse. I left the boathouse at 4 am and drove through pouring […]
Short Free Articles
Rowing Life Jackets: A Critical Coaching Tool
The morning I should have drowned was a chilly Fall day. It was wicked early. I was in my launch. Checking buoys for a race. By myself. Flat water. The launch wet with dew. I grabbed for a misplaced buoy. I reached. I slipped. I fell overboard. Cold water. Full dressed. Pockets loaded with tools. […]
Boathouse Safety: 11 things to remove from your boathouse today
There are things in your boathouse that don’t belong. Items that will cause you in the future to slap palm-on-forehead and say, “Ugh, why did I leave that there?” It is all about boathouse safety Three times that has happened to me. Once I let an old strap sneak back in from the BAD PILE and […]
Boathouse organization: How having a two-pile system can help you avoid disaster
What’s the state of your boathouse organization? Often our rowing equipment will wear out, break, or just become usable. With budgets tight, and equipment getting pushed to the limit, it happens more and more. The tough thing is you may not know when that happens to your equipment. That’s why I recommend a twice-per-season inspection […]
Rowing Racks: Where your rowing equipment spends 95% of its life
I was doing an experiment and I had to tally how rowing equipment spends its life. I came up with this interesting tidbit of information…95% of the time equipment is in racks. Yep, that equipment you count on to glide you through the water is lounging away in a rowing rack almost its entire life. […]
The Secret of Blade Type And Gearing
(This is an update to a post original published in 2013) A reader submitted this question about oar length: “I just received your “Nuts & Bolts guide…” from Amazon.com I bought the book because I’m getting conflicting feedback about my rigging. “When I learned to scull, it was in a VanDusen racing 1x with club […]