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Ron
Rantilla Rowing Systems
builds rowing rigs and rowboats designed specifically for pleasure
rowing.
Our
patented
FrontRower™ rowing
system features a forward facing position and a comfortable seat with a backrest.
And it's so easy to use you can row your boat "hands-free".
Odyssey 165 rowboat
The FrontRower™gives
you three ways to row:
Rowing with
just your legs is easy and natural. And it allows you to use your hands for
other things like cameras, binoculars or
fishing gear. The FrontRower's oars lift, dip and feather automatically, and you
steer by taking longer strokes on one side.
For more
complete exercise, you can add
your hands and upper body. This gives you exercise equivalent to sliding-seat
rowing. As with sliding-seat rowing, you pull with your hands and push with your feet.
But
the FrontRower™ is more efficient—so it takes less effort to go the
same speed or the same distance.
FrontRower™—the ergonomic rowing system
Ergonomic: designed to minimize physical effort and discomfort, and
hence maximize efficiency and enjoyment.
For
utility rowing or racing ergonomic design may not be very important. In
fact the rules of racing block ergonomic development in equipment
sanctioned for the sport. But for true pleasure rowing ergonomics is
extremely important. And that's what we are all about. (see
sidebar)
Rowboats
Most
FrontRower™ owners use their rigs in ordinary canoes. Canoes make excellent rowboats.
If you don't already own a canoe, you can purchase one locally, saving
the expense of shipping a custom built boat.
Ordinary canoe set up for rowing
You can
see some of our owner's canoes and rowboats in the
photo gallery.
One of
the great pleasures of owning a rowboat is building one yourself.
Odyssey 165 rowboat lines drawing
Our Odyssey™
rowboats complement the FrontRower™ and are designed to maximize the pleasures
of rowing. They are comfortable, efficient and pleasing to look at.
Available in solo (16˝ ft.) and tandem (18 ft.) versions, they make perfect
rowboats for pleasure, touring or exercise. You can build one
yourself from our kits or plans.
Be sure to
view the video on this page and to visit our video page
for on-line video of the FrontRower™ in action.
Free DVD movie
You can watch our movie "Rowboats for Touring" on your home DVD player.
It's educational. You can show it to your friends. They will be amazed. We'll be happy to send you a free
copy. dvd movie
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The ergonomic features
of the FrontRower are: (1) the forward facing position, (2) the
comfortable seat with a backrest, (3) the ability to row hands free, (4)
the swiveling handles which allow the oars to feather automatically and
without wrist rotation, (5) the handshake grip position of the
handles, and (6) the leg power delivery through ropes rather than through
your back and arms.
Conventional
(traditional) oars are
oars which have the oarlock in the middle (between the handle and the
blade). It's conventional because it's the most common type
in use. Conventional oars will move the blade in the opposite
direction of the handle. This means you travel backward when pulling
on the handle. Conventional rowing is sometimes called sculling when the oars are used in
pairs.
Two alternatives
to backward rowing have been around for a long time: (1) push rowing
(pushing on the oar handles instead of pulling on them) and (2) articulated oars (two
piece oars with a joint and reversing mechanism in the middle) also known as "bow facing oars".
However, neither of these methods gives you exercise quality or
performance equal to conventional sliding seat rowing. The FrontRower™
does this and more.
The rules of rowing.
Rowing is a sport, and the sport has rules. The official FICA rules
require all rowers to face backward. They also disallow any method
of developing leg power other than using a sliding seat. In the less
formal races, officials will sometimes let unconventional row boats race
against similar conventional boats. Or they may have an
"experimental" class where anything goes. But if you're not racing,
you don't need to worry about these rules.
It is a
common misconception that sliding-seat rowing is the most efficient way to
propel a boat. By adding the power of your legs, a sliding seat lets you develop more power than
ordinary fixed seat rowing. But a lot of that power is wasted in the back
and forth movement of the rower on the seat. The inefficiency of
the sliding seat system was demonstrated in 1981 when a fixed seat boat with
sliding riggers (the overhanging structure with the oarlocks) won the
World Rowing Championships for men's singles. By 1983, all the
men's singles finalists in the World Rowing Championships were using
fixed seat boats with sliding riggers. Then sliding riggers were
outlawed from sanctioned racing.
The
FrontRower™ uses a fixed seat with moving pedals to develop leg power.
This reduces efficiency losses due to weight shifting to almost zero.
Tests show the FrontRower™ to be as much as 19 per cent more efficient
than a sliding seat rig in the same boat. See
efficiency testing.
Long Distance Rower
"Philly Joe"
Cancer survivor "Philly Joe" Kolodziejski
has rowed his FrontRower™
powered canoe along the Gulf and Atlantic Coastlines of the United States,
all the way from Texas to Maine—a
distance of over 6,000 miles.
More...
Blackburn Challenge WinnerThe FrontRower™
was proven faster than conventional (rear facing sliding seat)
rowing
systems in this popular 22-mile open water race in the Atlantic Ocean.
More...
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