Flotsam & Jetsam

Your letters and such...

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Congrats to Jim Noble—winner of the free copy of Ten Years in a Twenty Foot Boat.

Also, please note that author Gary Sack has agreed to let us publish the entire book as serialized installments. Look for first article soon. —Eds

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About our article To Reef or Not to Reef, reader Daniel Ouellet writes:

Nice article. I like the old sailing phrase, “the time to reef is when you first think about it”.

Tell Lisa this little trick and she can perform reefing in the international waterways, The Ditch, or even in a creek:

After she starts the engine, no matter which way the wind is blowing or how hard, position her ComPac Suncat in the center of the creek, point the boat into the wind and use the throttle to compensate for the winds velocity so the boat stays in one spot while her crew performs their reefing duties.

She will be able to move the boat forward, which she knows how to do already, and even be able to move the boat backwards by decreasing the RPM’s just a little and drifting backwards all the while remaining head to wind.

A better sailor’s saying is. “ If you’re thinking about reefing, it’s already too late.

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About our Seasoned Sailor Series, reader Andre M. Bergeron writes:

Thanks for this series. Fun to read—more to learn.

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From Michael Jones:

It’s not too early to start your planning, and you might enjoy thinking about and looking forward to warm weather sailing.

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In our last Flotsam & Jetsam post reader David Peebles asked this question about our article Rowing the Harvest:

I have rowed, and enjoy rowing, but have no experience in a scull. In watching video, I have noticed that often, on the recovery, the boat very briefly seems to stop its forward glide. I would assume that this is simply Newton's 3rd at work; that the rower's mass, in moving toward the stern, retards the forward motion momentarily.

So, does this really happen, and is there any modification of the rower's moves that could mitigate the effect? It looks as if the effect is more pronounced with multiple rowers.

Richard Van Voris responds:

As a rowing coach and the writer of the rowing piece David Peebles mentioned, I think that I can answer his questions.

The action that you speak about is called “rushing the slide” and yes, it does slow down the boat considerably particularly in a four or an eight (four or eight rowers aboard—Eds).

Rushing the slide in rowing means moving too quickly from the finish back to the catch—that’s a lot of weight moving in direct opposition to the travel of the boat, breaking the proper 1:2 drive-to-recovery ratio, pulling the boat under with your feet instead of letting it run.

The way it should work is that the “recovery” (moving from the “finish” back to the”catch”) happens with two speeds. The first action is “hands way and body over”—this is a fairly quick movement and puts the body into the catch position. Hands in front of the body with elbows straight and the back in the one o’clock position. This action is quick in order to get the crew weight out of the bow. The next thing is to move the body toward the stern and be ready to take the next stroke. This action should be slower than the hands and body away. I was taught not to pull my body up with the feet but to let the boat come to you.

I think that that moment of letting the boat flow underneath me is my favorite bit of rowing. Free travel, like the glide in skating or cross country skiing. But in order for that to happen you must not impede the flow of the boat.

One additional note, if you are matching the speed of the slide to the speed of the boat, the faster the boat is moving, the faster the slide is. Sometimes you will see really good crews rowing at 30-plus strokes per minute and the boat is humming along. It may look like the crew is rushing the slide, but they are not. They simply are letting the boat move under them quickly.

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