clr "rower's challenge"

[kickingbug1]

   i would ask how long your oars are but that is pretty personal

[Bob23]

Well...that is a personal question!!
   Although they defy the typical calculation for oar length on a rowing craft, I use 8 foot oars which seem ridiculously long for a boat with a 38 inch beam but they work just fine. Either fixed pin maple flat blade oars which were the factory issue at the time I bought her or the Sitka spruce spoon bladed oars by Barkley Sound in Canada set in leather collars in round bronze oarlocks which are much prettier. Logic would say the spoon bladed oars are faster but in fact the flat bladed oars seem a bit more efficient.
  I prefer to use the Spruce oars because I like to row feathering the oars and there is much more control in rough water. For this years Blackburn, my choice will depend on local conditions. Last year I used the flat because I was too lazy to replace the leathers on the Spruce but in the terrible conditions of the 2015 Blackburn, the spoon bladed oars were a God-send and if I'd used the flat, I most likely would've not been able to finish or worse, capsized the boat.
  For the CLR race, I'll equip the boat with my turbo diesel ultra quiet auxiliary to gain every advantage!!
Cheers!!
Bob23 

[kickingbug1]

well this will impress you. i had a couple of old plastic bladed paddles. removed the handles and replaced them with pieces of electrical conduit from home depot. the oarlock outriggers are made from steel bedframe and the oarlocks and oarlock pockets are from e bay. whole thing cost maybe 25 bucks and i can do over 4 knots. i bet you are green with envy right now and maybe a little scared. oh yeah and my Catalina is ready to sail too. she will do nearly 6 knots    hahahaha

[Bob23]

4 knots is moving, man. Is this a max or do you average 4? I can sprint faster but my average speed is slower than that.

[Tim Gardner]

To row, oar not to row. That could be the propulsion. Whether tis better to scull or sweep, alas, it'll make Kick weep. Four concrete blocks and holes (count three) when his craft scuttled, will make Kick Bob, me thinks. So a tie it is, I decree, as one Bob or two, a Bob will win, says me.

[kickingbug1]

i feel like saying "for-soooth" for some reason.

[Mas]

Yea...thou art just a couple beer crossed rowers. This is taking place in Verona Marina is it not?

[Bob23]

Oh....it's all so Shakespearian!!
So tell me more about these racing oars of yours, Kick. Length? Fix or rotating in leathers? In outriggers you say? I'm thinking I may have met my match, even without the cement blocks and holes bored in the hull.