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This is the text of an email exchange between Peter Hodson (the Coxmate manufacturer) and John Poland, a customer in the UK.

And the reply……

John,

Thank you for your compliments! Can I quote you in our next email newsletter?

The speakers have a mylar diaphragm, so won’t corrode.  Mounting them vertically is OK, as it will let water drain should they become flooded.

Happy Christmas from down under.

Peter

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Heather Oaten - Christchurch Rowing Club

Just to let you know the sculls have arrived and they are amazing!  I am really impressed with the finish and quality, even people at work who don't row have said how lovely they look.  I will give them a spin over the weekend…….

[later she emailed] I tried them out over the weekend and they were great, cleaner finishes for sure!

Marc Wright - Royal Grammar School Worcester Rowing Club [compared Apex and Apex REX sculls]

Regarding the blades themselves even though my finish has improved dramatically with the Apex REX the lock on at the catch is not solid enough and I end up ripping through the water as I take the pressure up. The Apex blades have the most solid catch I have ever experienced and feel very good but the finish suffers. There is also the question as to whether going for the High Modulus is worth it or not.  At the moment I’m swinging between Vortex Smoothies and Apex’s.

Thomas Carter - Bath University Boat Club

I just thought I'd quickly let you know how things are going with the demo blades you lent me. Last weekend I stayed at my brother in Peterborough so in the morning I was able to go out on the lake to test the blades in flat conditions (and to calibrate my speedcoach). I tried the Apex-R's against the my Crokers with the same rigging (159 span, 289 overall 89 inboard) and I noticed that according to the speedcoach I was going slower with the Apex-R's than with the Crokers, but the Apex-R's "felt" better through the stroke. My Brother also tried them and he really liked the blades as well!!I've been trying out the Apex-R blades today and to make it as fair a test as I could I decided to do two 9k sculls at 18spm (that's one complete circuit on the Avon in bath) once with one set, and once with the other. I rigged the Apex-R's so that they had 1 cm longer outboard to make the work harder, as this was suggested to me by Dave Heffernan (last years lwt champ at Strathclyde, hes tried them and liked them as well).  The conditions werent great (there was a good strong stream), but I mangd to get:

2:22.3 Avg split with the Crokers

2:22.6 Avg split for the Drehers

I think this is a good sign because to start with I wasnt that comfortable with them, as I mentioned last week they are quite "twitchy" and unforgiving, and the collars are more "clunky" than I'm used to with the Crokers but as time progressed I got more used to them and to be honest I think I was going quicker in in the end than I was with the Crokers!! Plus I'd have had less energy in the second piece than in the first.  I'm going to keep trying them out, hopefully next weekend I'll be able to do the same test but in reverse (using the Drehers first) Also of note was that two guys from my club who were on the water mentioned to me aferwards that they were impressed at how clean I was at the finish, I wasn't lifting any water at all!

Mark Stratton - Oundle Town Rowing Club

Dear Rebecca / Grant, 

Many thanks for sorting out collection of the sculls, and please find a cheque enclosed.  They have been christened and are great.  (My son has already asked for his own !!!). 

I now see why John and Jo speak so highly of you!

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British Coaching Conference 2007
provisional Programme
Saturday 27th January 2007

9.30 Welcome Kate O’Sullivan
9.45 Modern Rowing Technique Thor Nilsen
11.15 Coffee
11.30 The David Walliams Experience Greg Whyte
13.00 RowData Coach of the Year Awards
13.30 Lunch
14.15 Developing a Junior club Rebecca Caroe
15.00 Anti Doping Richard Budget
15.45 Returning an athlete to winning ways Darren Whiter
16.45 Small workshops with the HP coaches
17.45 End

19.00 Dinner - A Celebration of Coaching

Sunday 28th January 2007

9.00 Getting the best from your athletes Thor Nilsen
10.45 Coffee
11.15 Rigging - the results of the FISA survey 2006 Rosie Mayglothling
12.00 Developments in coach education Loretta Williams
12 30 Lunch
13.00 Lola presentation
13.45 The process of developing athletes Robin Williams
15.15 An athletes perspective Helene Raynesford
15.45 Closing remarks Kate O’Sullivan
16.00 End

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We have two ex-demonstration model Rowperfects for sale now. 

They will have been fully serviced, come with full Manufacturer's Warranty.   

One has the nterface and Rowperfect for Windows software and is priced at £950 (discount from £1,245).

The other has the MKIV interface and software and is £1,150 (discount from £1,515).

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Take a look at this clip from Echo Rowing 

This is a pair of fixed length Dreher sculls with Little Big Blade spoons in action!

Note how little splash is created as they extract at the finish and how even in the big waves, the athlete doesn't crab as the sculls extract clean.

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Quote from a discussion on rec.sport.rowing about safety…. much about other stuff but some clear points of view here. 

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/rec.sport.rowing/browse_thread/thread/da5b2cb0f2e20708/c4c42d11c0d612c8?hl=en#c4c42d11c0d612c8 

"Evidence that the oarlocks had any relevant part in delaying the rescue
of the 2 inverted Germans in the World Championships at Dorney in August
has yet to appear.  Unfastening oarlocks to remove the oars has never
been a part of any procedure for rescue of people trapped in their
inverted shells.  Were it so, then it would also be the duty of
potential rescuers to ensure, before the event, that they were fully
familiar with the range of oarlocks being used by competitive rowers &
to plan & prepare accordingly.

OTOH, when something goes messily wrong, rather than blame any of the
following mistakes:
1. The crew disabling or rendering ineffective their foot release mechanisms
2. The regatta committee failing in its duty of care to check what is,
in the UK, a mandatory safety requirement for foot release
3. Both members of the crew unnecessarily & foolishly laying back in the
boat after their race & thereby losing their visual horizon & so
precipitating their own inversion
4. Apparent lack of any clear procedure for rescue should rowers be
trapped by a capsize - hardly an improbable occurence in an event where
there has been the deliberate decision to _not_ check safety equipment -
this prolonging the inversion with the potential for drowning
5. Failure of the rescuers to have familiarised themselves with the
proper operation of equipment which, while recent, is hardly new.

All those fundamental flaws are instead ignored, while blame is planted
upon a piece of equipment which was irrelevant to & blameless in the
chain of events which brought about the mishap & whose sole safety
function in rowing is to _retain_ the oar at all times against release,
both under normal use & in the event of accidents."

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We are planning the annual seminar (it'll be in March next year) and would like to know what subjects you are interested in.

In the past four years our speakers have covered:

• British Rowing Technique
• Training elite athletes
• Seat racing
• Testing

Now, we try to make the subject of interest to club coaches in the UK.  We recognise that this covers a range of skills and experience and that you can't please everyone.

What would you like to learn about?  (please post to comments below)

Thank you.

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Finally, an honest and non-kneejerk reaction to the supposed safety issues regarding the MK1 oarlocks.

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This is a really cute demonstration of the new MKIV monitor.  It *looks* like the real thing and when you click on the screen as you would touch the actual screen it changes values / functions / displays.

I love it!

I made it a zip so you can download it safely - just click on the .exe file inside when you've downloaded it. MKIV demo

Thanks Justus for sending it over.

Justus wote the Rowperfect for Windows Software.  His website is row-ware.  We sell his software in the UK.

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