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.

He rows again!

I sold my rowing shell, some time ago actually. I had gotten pretty discouraged by having the sliding seat jam, and accepted that they gave it a weight rating well below my weight for a reason. And it’s also clear why more recent designs in sliding seat rowing craft have abandoned the design used in the early Rowmasters.

I didn’t really abandon the idea of rowing though. In fact I became fairly intent on finding the right kind of craft for me. A couple commenters suggested that I build my own but I have no time for that. Instead I began a search for a larger craft of the Whitehall/dory/peapod variety, but still with the sliding seat set up.

I am not in a position these days to go out and buy a brand new boat as they can easily cost $6000 and up. The one I found to be most appealing is the Little River Marine (LRM) Heritage 15. Its design is far more stable than my Alden shell and its capacity is more than sufficient for me, and a passenger should I want one. Unfortunately there aren’t many used ones for sale, except for a few overpriced ones on the manufacturer’s site.

While I waited for my financial position to improve (this is one long and slow recovery, isn’t it?) I kept an eye out for a Heritage on Craigslist. I would peruse almost all the regions in Florida and the Georgia coastal area regularly. A couple did appear but they were asking over $3,000 and were far away, as in South Carolina. And I was still financially uncomfortable spending a few thousand on this pastime.

Nevertheless I grew impatient. Finally I found one in North Miami, only a few miles away. The guy was asking $1900 but the ad said it lacked the folding riggings as well as the oars. At list prices, these would cost another $900 or more.

I went to look at it and it looked pretty decent, and I ended up buying it for $1400. The seller was more into kayaks, but had been approached by a storage facility to take the Heritage along with several kayaks that had been abandoned, so I think he was pretty eager to cash in on it. He even offered to deliver it to me.

So I rushed home to meet him and found him waiting in a small hybrid SUV, with this 15 foot row boat hanging out of the rear end. Sure it only weighs about a hundred pounds but it was quite the sight sticking out about 8 feet beyond the back of the car.

We completed our transaction and together hauled it around to the dock. Now my chore was to find the missing components. I was getting anxious to get on the water and any delay was going to be frustrating. I had already learned that LRM wasn’t going to reduce the price of the riggings and I quickly placed the order. It would only take until (last) Friday for them to arrive.

I did learn in one of my conversations with LRM that the wood trim on my boat is a special option priced at $1400 so on that count alone I guess I got a pretty good deal even though I would never have paid for that feature. I also learned from the serial number that the boat was built in 2001.

Finding oars was my other challenge. Naturally I wanted to find something local and less expensive than a brand new set of carbon fibre oars at over $500, but my efforts were unproductive. 10 foot sculling oars are a pretty limited market and I guess used ones don’t come on the market often. I settled for a set of slightly used Concept2 oars, from the manufacturer, for $430 including shipping and taxes. Total cost is about $2250, all done on credit card.

The oars arrived Monday, a disappointment since I wanted to get rowing.

Now I had everything I need but the right circumstances. Monday evening I was thinking of dropping it into the water and going for my first row but it was very dark and pretty windy so I chose to wait until I could do it in daylight. I don’t figure darkness or wind to be regular deterrents but not on the maiden voyage. Unfortunately rainy weather did prove to be a deterrent on Tuesday and Wednesday. I was currently contemplating a morning launch on Thursday.

But Thursday morning came and went. I used sleep deprivation as my excuse for not giving it a try that morning. I had taken a sinus medicine that I thought wouldn’t keep me up but it did and I got very little sleep and chose to stay in bed instead.

Was I still suffering from intimidation? This boat is reputed to be practically unsinkable and you’re supposed to be able to stand up in it to fish, so why was I making excuses?

Friday morning brought cold weather, for South Florida. It was about 50 degrees with a stiff but tolerable breeze. But I got up, dressed in long pants, deck shoes and a double layer of shirt and Green Bay Packers windbreaker (in support of my father’s favorite team in next weekend’s Superbowl).

I emptied the last of the rain out the drain hole and found a good cork to plug it. I inserted the oars in their oarlocks. Then I decided that my hands were too cold and I went back inside. I had found yet another excuse not to get in and row. I could have found a pair of gloves, but I didn’t.

Now we come to today, Saturday. I woke up at 6:30 and began thinking about rowing. I knew I needed to be in the office by 8:30 to videotape a daylong seminar Delia was doing for a bunch of women business owners, so I had just enough time to go out briefly. It was still relatively cold (I’d learn later that it was colder by a couple degrees than the day before), but not so windy. It was just about dawn so light wasn’t an issue. I thought about waiting until the end of the day but knew that our grandson was probably going to be in our care so that might be a conflict. I rolled out of bed put on my sweats and went out to the boat.

This time I pushed off a few minutes later. Getting into the boat was relatively easy, and pushing off properly will take a little practice as will returning. My rowing stroke needs a lot of work but I am now over the anxieties. I felt almost no instability in the boat, even when I got my stroke way wrong.

I only went about two tenths of a mile and back, but it left me tired although I think anxiety added a lot to my exhaustion. I was only gone for 15-20 minutes, including before and after prep but a huge weight was lifted. I don’t think I’m going to feel the anxiety anymore.

Note: The boat has some cheesy appliqué lettering along the bow rail announcing it as Good Ship Lollipop, and that will have to go. If I name it, I plan to name it Papa Boat as a salute to my step-grandpa name, Papa Bear, to my new step-grandson, Camden. He’s only 9 months now (much has happened since I last wrote) but I hope he and I can ply the waters together with him someday.