FrontRower owner Axel rowing his new kayak trimaran.

FrontRower owner Axel Ziegler wanted a kayak-like rowing boat that he could also sail on Lake Constantine near his home in Switzerland.  His solution, working with German boatbuilder Jurgen Volker, was this innovative kayak hull with repositionable amas. With the amas (pontoons) in the inboard position, there is room for the oars to swing.  For sailing, the amas can be extended to give additional stability.

Even when retracted, the amas give added stability.

We really like the paint job, which reminds us of the old “woody” station wagons.  Rowing or sailing (or even on car top), this boat will be an attention-getter.

Kayak trimaran.

Axel’s boat is based on Jurgen’s “Razor” wooden kayak design, modified to accept the FrontRower and the amas.  Jergen’s web site is www.riversandtides.de .

Chester Yawl with FrontRower installed.

Ron,

The boat handles great.  I was surprised at how little effort it requires with the frontrower to get it moving along.  The seat is very comfortable.

Despite the 42″ beam I did not have any issues.

It is set up for conventional rowing as well. I wanted that for when I take a passenger out for a short trip so that they could occupy the rear seat and I could row from the forward position. I did not put risers under the front row lock sockets as this might have caused interference with the frontrower.

I will be taking my wife and daughter out in it. My 2 dogs will be going as well as soon as I clip their nails!

Lynda and I just got done putting the name on the transom in gold leaf. I named at after my daughter, Paige.

Feel free to use the picture. If you need any more just let me know.

Mark

Frontrower equipped Chester Yawl.

Rite of Passage participants near Ketchikan, Alaska.

Dear Mr. Rantilla,

My people are from Southeast Alaska, Tsimshian Tribe.  As time went on, we began to lose our cultural ways, specifically a way to help our young people make the transition between being a child and being an adult.   I’ve thought long and hard about this and came up with the idea to build a boat with my son,  and then we will circumnavigate Revillagigedo Island (150 plus miles) in my home town of Ketechikan, Alaska.  I was searching the net for a dory, thinking it was the best design, and became convinced by your web site and DVD that your boat (the Harbor Cruiser 18) and rowing system would be the best way to go about this.  As it turns out, the kids in his classroom want to do this, too.  They want to participate in an Alaska Native rite of passage to learn to become a human being in the modern world.

Doug Modig

At the dock in Ketchikan.

Dear Mr. Rantilla,

My name is Charlie Modig.  My Dad and I built a touring rowboat from your kit in the winter of 2007.  We also helped our friends build another touring rowboat.  All of our Moms helped us too.

We took the two boats to Ketchikan and with one other Dad and two friends we rowed around the Revillagigedo Island which is about 156 miles in July 2007.  My friends, Mathew and Ian, and I were all 12 then.

This last June we were invited to demonstrate the touring rowboat’s speed and maneuverability in Kodiak at a statewide gathering.  People were very impressed.

Thank you for your design of the kit and especially of the rowing machine.  I am including some pictures of the trip.

Sincerely,
Charlie Modig

Building one of the rowboats from a kit.

Under way, coming of age trip.

Cruising along.

A plane brings a food delivery.

Going over the maps.

Loading up.

One of our campsites.

Charlie, age 12.

Doug.

]]> http://frontrower.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=153 1 http://frontrower.com/blog/?p=115 http://frontrower.com/blog/?p=115#comments Fri, 21 May 2010 17:39:59 +0000 ron http://frontrower.com/blog/?p=115

FrontRower equipped kayak and innovative dock.

Fredrik from Sweden  sent us this photograph and the following explanation:

Now I have the opportunity to test the FrontRower in our kayak.  The function is great, and people here who have seen it are very impressed.

The kayak is 5,5 meter long  (18 feet) and has 65centimeters width. Flat bottom, so its quite stable. Tried it with a GPS, and it felt like you could keep 5 knots with it for long distance (but sweating after a while). Had a maximum of 6,5 knots, but I think that was very momentarily.

My intention is now to soon start building the Odyssey after your plans.

I made that dock for easier access to kayaks for an old person.  Here we don’t have ebb and flood, but the water level can change 30 to 40 centimeters, which is why it is tilted.

New 6-oared Cornish gig

A new rowboat showed up on the Warren, Rhode Island waterfront this winter.   It’s a 6-oared Cornish gig built in Warren by Don Betts and friends.  This is the third gig in the casual community of rowboats currently plying the Warren River.   The other two gigs are 4-oared Whitehalls, which were brought here from New York City two years ago.

The Cornish gig is 31 feet long and has it’s roots in the Scilly Isalnds, Cornwall, England, where they were used as pilot boats.  It has 6 rowers and a steersperson.  The Whitehalls are 27 feet long and have their roots in New York City where boats of this type were originally built at the foot of Whitehall Street.  They have 4 rowers and a steersperson.

Don and friends row their gigs several time a week, and invite others to join them.  They are a casual group, so if you want to join them, just show up on the Warren town dock (at the foot of State Street) at 4:00PM on Tuesdays.  The group has some planned excursions on the weekends, including racing the Cornish gig, named Cady (after local marine artist Henry Newel Cady).  The mostly female racing team they have put together is called the Whirligigs.  They entered their first race, The Snow Row in Hull, MA on March 6, 2010.  This was also the maiden voyage for the Cady, and they turned in a very respectable  time of 39:52 for 3rd place in the 3 3/4 mile race.  Not too shabby for the first time out.

The Warren River has always been one of our favorite places to row, and was one of the reasons I located my business here.  The river is visually interesting because it has a working waterfront on the Warren side and some beautiful residences on the Barrington side.  The town wharf is only about 1/2 mile up the Warren River from Narragansett Bay.

Out in the Bay, Hog Island and Prudence Island are within easy rowing distance.  The river is tidal and reverses its flow four times a day, which keeps things interesting.  Sometimes it’s dead calm and other times it’s flowing at 2 or 3 miles an hour in one direction or the other.   Farther upstream you have the Barrington Yacht Club, with hundreds of moored boats which can be surrealistic to row through, especially on a calm night.  Of course for us, the FrontRower’s forward facing position helps a lot.  (Elizabeth and I usually row two solo boats each equipped with FrontRower rowing systems.)  There are several bridges to row under, and that can really be fun when the tide is running fast.  However, I should warn that this can be dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Another thing that makes the Warren River interesting is that there are several restaurants that you can row to for breakfast, lunch or dinner.  One of our favorite outings is to row up to Tyler Point (restaurant) for dinner out on the porch and then row back after dark.  We used to bring our  golden retriever Zak along and he was allowed on the porch.   We had to cover his ears with our hands at sunset when the yacht club shot off their cannon.  We miss Zak, (he passed away 2 years ago at the ripe old age of 17 1/2).  We took him everywhere with us, and only went to restaurants that would allow him, which usually meant eating outdoors.  We have come to prefer dining outdoors in nice weather, and sometimes  feel sorry for those who are inside.  Thank you, Zak.

Another favorite outing involves rowing up river to the bike path just past the first bridge, where we beach the boats and walk along the path about a mile to Starbucks for coffee.  This stretch of bike path is completely shaded with trees, so its really nice on a hot day.

We are really happy to see other rowers enjoying the river.  For many years we were the only human powered boaters out there.  I guess the tides and afternoon winds discourage most canoe and kayak paddlers.  But with rowing you have much more power and control, and winds and tides are not that much of an issue.  The rear facing direction of conventional rowing makes navigating the Warren River difficult, but the multi-oared gigs always have a steersman who faces forward so its not a problem for them.

There are at least 26 gigs in use in New England.  Plus there are whale boats and other seaworthy multi-oared boats around.   Rowing them all is increasing in popularity.

For more information you can contact Don Betts hecticbunny@hotmail.com

The race was 2 miles out to a stake, around the stake, then back to the starting line.  Stake races were popular in those days, because the spectators could see both the start and the finish.  Davis won by a large margin, and the results were challenged with a claim that Reagan was fouled at the turning stake.  Fights broke out, but eventually the bets were paid.  Reagan had bet all his family’s assets on the race and was now broke.  Sick with exhaustion from the race and with the knowledge that his family lost everything, he was carried back to the train.

That evening the train filled with passengers including Reagan headed back to Boston, while Davis stayed behind, celebrating his victory with friends and admirers.  An open switch at a sidetrack caused the returning train to derail.  Railroad employees on a freight train waiting on the sidetrack saw the accident happen and sped off toward Boston to get help.  To get more speed, they unhitched their freight cars.  The unhitched cars rolled back down the tracks, smashing into the derailed train, compounding the disaster.  Reagan and 18 other passengers were killed, and more than 190 others injured, making it the worst train disaster in New England history.

Williams gave up the clergy and ran a trading post.  There were no roads or bridges at the time, and he traveled throughout the area on foot and by boat.  He mastered the Indian’s language and had friendly relations with them, often mediating in disputes between Indians and Colonists.

By 1670, the Quakers were gaining political power in Rhode Island.  Although Williams tolerated the Quakers, he had differences with them, and tried to discredit the teachings of their leader, George Fox.  On August 8, 1672, in an attempt to debate Fox, Williams rowed himself some thirty miles from Providence to Newport, leaving in the morning and arriving that night before midnight.  The debates took place the next day, but Fox was not present.

What makes this row amazing is that Williams was about 70 years old at the time.  He said that God helped his old bones row the distance.  30 miles in one day would be a challenging row for anyone, regardless of age.  The prevailing summertime winds in Narragansett Bay are from the south, so he probably had headwinds most of the day.  The tides reverse direction every 5 3/4 hours, so he would have had tides running in both directions.  Then he rowed for several hours at night, without the aid of lights.  The row boat he used was described as a “great canoe” which may have been fitted out with a pair of oars, as was common on ships’ boats of the time.

Row Zilla at Mystic Seaport, CT in 2008.

We were in the WoodenBoat Show in Mystic, CT in 2008 with a small tent set up on land and our 18 ft. rowing boat Row Zilla in the water.  What a beautiful setting.

We were there again this year (June 26 – 28, 2009) with the same arrangement, but with our 16-1/2 ft. Heart Throb in the water.  We are planning on exhibiting again next year.

This is the best boat show around for wooden boat lovers and is located on the grounds of the fabulous Mystic Seaport.  The seaport is a recreation of a 19th century village, featuring tall ships and other historic vessels that you can climb aboard and explore.

One of the main features at the seaport is the whaling ship Charles W. Morgan.  The 105 foot wooden whaling ship’s last voyage was out of New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1920 and returning in 1921.  She is presently being restored at the seaport for active sailing (to be used for research on whales), and is expected to be ready in 2013.

On January 26, the Grace L. Fears was anchored on Burgeo Bank, a rich fishing grounds about 60 miles south of Newfoundland.  Captain Alec Griffin ordered the men to retrieve their trawls early because a storm was brewing.  Blackburn and his dory mate, Thomas Welsh, were slow at retrieving their lines.  By the time they were done, it was snowing heavily, and they lost sight of the ship.  They rowed in the direction of the ship, but were downwind in the howling gale.  They anchored their dory and waited for dawn, bailing out the spray and chipping away the ice that froze onto the sides and gunwales to keep the boat from becoming top heavy and capsizing.

In the morning, the snow stopped, but the ship was nowhere to be seen.  The wind was still blowing so they continued at anchor, bailing and chipping away the ice.  While bailing, Blackburn somehow lost his gloves.  His hand began to freeze, and knowing that they would soon become useless, he placed them on the oars and let them freeze into curved hooks.  The men decided to try to row for the coast of Newfoundland, 60 miles to the north.  Blackburn rowed while welsh bailed and chipped the ice.

Sometime during the second night, Welsh expired.  Blackburn continued rowing without food or water, knowing that to stop would mean death.

Blackburn continued rowing through the third day and third night, with his dory mate’s body lying frozen in front of him.

On the fourth day the sea was calm and in the afternoon he saw the coast of Newfoundland.  He continued rowing.

On the fifth day he rowed up a river on the coast and was found by the inhabitants of Little River, Newfoundland.  A family there took him in, nursed him and treated his frostbite as best as they could, soaking his wounds in brine solution, then applying poultices of flour and cod liver oil.  He lost all his fingers and half of each thumb.  He also lost several toes from the ordeal.

In 1886, Blackburn found his way back to Gloucester where he was welcomed as a hero.  Since he was no longer able to work as a fisherman, sympathetic townspeople helped him raise enough money to open a cigar store, which soon became a successful saloon.  Blackburn prospered and paid back the monies given to him many times over.  But he was not satisfied being a landlubber.  He bought a sloop, The Great Western, which he learned to sail despite his disability.  In 1899 Blackburn sailed single handed to England, the trip taking 62 days.  In 1901, he made a second solo crossing of the Atlantic, setting a new record of 39 days.

The Blackburn Challenge 22 mile rowing race off the coast of Glocouster was named in Blackburn’s honor.

Blackburn died in 1932 at the age of 72.