A rowing setback

I was doing okay with the rowing, with my stroke and endurance improving, when I hit a snag. I'd rigged up a post on the stern to hold a video camera pointed at me. I'm planning to post a few video commentaries at some point so people can see what I'm doing.

On March 22nd I had everything set up and went for a late afternoon trip. I got about half a mile from the dock when the starboard oar suddenly jerked inappropriately toward the bow (boward?). Something in the bracket had broken and now the oar was out of position. I cursed and made my way slowly and clumsily home.

Upon further inspection I found that the cylinder casing inside the rigging bracket had cracked. It was clear that my efforts to tighten the grip on the rigger had hit the end of it's range. My new rigger was simply too small for the bracket. The same would be true for the port side bracket, so I thought maybe I should gingerly try to loosen that one before it too broke. Nope. In doing so the handle broke off in my hand. I had probably already twisted it almost to the shearing point. The counterclockwise turn was all it needed.

Now I was kind of pissed. Brand new riggers that were too small for the brackets indicated poor quality control at the factory. Replacements for the brackets list for $150 each on the Little River Marine website. $300 wasn't in my budget with the wedding coming up and the too-slow recovery of our business.

I called LRM and learned that the owner would have to talk to me about any kind of compromise on the replacements, but he was away for the next week. When I finally spoke to him on the 30th, he told me that brackets are a wear and tear item that eventually break. He said the expected life of one is about 1,000 miles. I have doubts that mine have seen that much use in 10 years, but can't say for sure. In the end we negotiated a discount, but not one that took the pain away. Because my rowing is my therapy, I broke out the credit card and said a prayer to the economic boom gods.

Now, the boat is back in service and the riggers are working as intended, although I have some concerns that they are still a little out of tolerance. Paranoia? Maybe.

By the way, I sold off my tandem kayak to make me feel better about the bracket expense and got about the same money. It sold in a matter of hours and offers to buy it sight unseen came in for days so I guess I under-priced it. I hadn't used it in over a year so it will not be missed.