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Welcome to the Rowperfect newsletter

We have two new products to show off - Dreher Aero sculls and Oars.  Leading oar designer, Jim Dreher again leads innovation by creating an aerofoil shaft.

Duncan Holland reports from the New Zealand Coaches Conference where Mike Spraklen was guest speaker and we suggest ways to teach novices how to cox safely and quickly.

The winner of our competition from the last newsletter for Mark de Rond's book is Mike Knowles of Tideway Scullers.

And we'll shortly be sending you some suggestions about Christmas presents you may want to give or buy.

Happy rowing!

Grant Craies and Rebecca Caroe

The Dreher Aero is a new design for carbon oars and sculls.  The result is the first oar that attempts to overcome air resistance on the oar shaft and blade in the recovery phase.  The result - a shaft shaped like an aerofoil. Follow link for photos and specifications

We also have more photos of the new Rowperfect Indoor Sculler shown in Boston, USA at the Head of the Charles.

Read Duncan Holland's report on the NZ coaches conference.

Olympic cox, Adrian Ellison, replies to our questions on teaching coxing to beginners.

New products in the Rowperfect Shop

Rowing Voice e-Magazine - produced by Rachel Quarrell and Chris Dodd, this independent rowing magazine covers news, features and fabulous photography from around the world.  Buy a subscription for yourself.

Miniature trophy oars in your club colours.

2009 FISA Rowing Calendar

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These new sculling oar designs were announced at the FISA Coaches Conference in Paris, November 6-8. The Dreher Aero is a totally new oar for 2009.

The Dreher Aero is a truly revolutionary oar with every aspect of the design, manufacturing process and even the type of carbon used a radical departure from current oar production methods.  The result is the first oar that attempts to overcome speed decreases on the recovery.  These are due to air resistance on the oar shaft and blade as they both move in the same direction at maximum boat and oar shaft velocity. The result - a shaft shaped like an aerofoil.

A detailed Dreher Aero specification page with more details including timescales and engineering design details.

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The World Firefighters Games held 500m races in the Liverpool Docks.  They offered events for both experienced and novice scullers. See earlier post about WFG08.

The results are a tad lopsided being dominated by England with wins for Antonee Little and James McCabe in the experienced and beginners mens races and Sarah Fuller in the beginners womens race.  Romania represented by Andreea Moldovanu won the experienced womens category.

We'd like to know the difference between England and UK as Keith Taylor competed for UK in the beginners mens event.  And as I reminded one of our suppliers recently, according to the British Post Office, England isn't a country, it's only a football team! 

Full results are on the World Firefighters Games site 

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Rowperfect UK is supporting the World Firefighter Games and Mersey Rowing Club with Dreher sculls which will be brand new for the Games.

They run in Liverpool from 24 August until 2 September.  After the games, they will pass to Mersey RC who will be using them for their club sculling programme.  They have chosen Apex Sculls, 288 cm midpoint (+/- 5 cm adjustment), 88 cm inboard, medium stiffness, medium handle.Many thanks to Andy Coyne of Mersey RC for setting up the association.

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A delivery of Dreher sculls has just arrived from the USA.  We have stock of Carbon Adjustable Sculls Apex spoon, Big Blade Spoon, Little Big Blade spoon. 

Order by 18th August quoting “Summer Special Price” and claim £35 off.   

Offer available while stocks last. 

Telephone orders only.

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Thanks to Christian Zangenberg for the link to the current in-flight magazine from airline Lufthansa.

They profile German Olympic hopefuls, including a 19 year old beauty…. posed in a rowing tank with a Dreher tank blade lying across her legs!

Lufthansa article with Dreher oar

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We now have new stock of Stampfli Grips.

And the price has dropped to £12 per pair. 

Buy yours here 

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There is an extremely good discussion on RSR about the natural buoyancy of oars and sculls and how deep they should be in the water during the power phase.

Paul Smith kicks off with

I've been having to fight my rowers on this the whole season, as they have been well ingrained in the "floating level", "30cm of shaft", etc… mantras that they have heard, and exaggerated dutifully to create great washy puddles that send a lot of water backward while not advancing the boat much.  

Carl Douglas' view is that there are some limitations that are just for beginners

And that was exactly the point I'd hoped to make, Caroline.  Novices need limits which more experienced folk should dispense with. 

Kit makes a good point about why going deep may affect novices

 1. Going deeper than the naturally buoyant level of the blade requires the rower to hold the blade deep during the stroke, adding the lifting effort from the shoulders to all the pulling effort they are already exerting. For fit athletes this may not be an issue (though even then it may), but for the inexperienced, I believe they will relax more then purely focusing their physical efforts on drawing the blade. In this case, ideally the naturally buoyant level of the blade should be deep enough (as already discussed).

2. If the draw of the blade includes a vertical component during the drive (as opposed to just at the catch and finish), I believe this will add to the vertical forces on the gates affecting balance. During the drive this may not have a great effect, but it will be very difficult for novices to keep these forces balanced between both sides of the boat towards the finish, where imbalance has worse consequences for the recovery. Again, an experienced crew may be able to feel the forces an adjust for any imbalance (though even then they may not).

I think my preference is for as little effort as possible for holding the blade at the correct height, and that blades should preferably float to the required depth when square. I'm sure it would be possible to attach small weights to the looms to achieve this.

And Paul Smith makes the observation about the dfference between Dreher and C2 oars and sculls.  [I have obswerved this myself many times but few others seem to have noticed].

I've not seen a Dreher Sweep oar, the "floating level" might be about right for their Sculls, but it is far deeper than any C2 blade will float.  I suspect that the Dreher blades, if not attached to a shaft would actually sink (even when feathered there is no part of the blade above the surface if they are left to their own buoyancy), whereas the C2's float very well.

Which brings us back to Kit's observation - that any effort spent holding an oar into the water at the 'correct' depth, is effort that could be translated into power to move the boat.  And so in my view, an oar or scull that sits at the correct depth naturally and doesn't require effort to hold it covered with water during the power phase, is an asset to the crew who can expend their power on other things (like working harder) instead.

[We have asked Jim Dreher to comment on this].

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Eton Racing Boats had 20 Apex Dreher sweeps left in stock when the company closed for business last year. 

These are described in the email below and he tells us that they are BRAND NEW, never used. 

Hugh Richardson is the person to contact and he is open to offers.  New blades are selling for £215 each including VAT from us… details of the new stock here 

 Call Hugh direct if you are interested or send him an email  to h dot richardson [at] etoncollege dot org dot uk and make him an offer.

Dear Rebecca,
We have  20 new Dreher Apex (smoothies) sweep oars (red grip over carbon, medium size, with adjustable handles) which are remaining stock following the closure of ERB.

Would it make any sense to you for us to market these through Rowpefect as Dreher agents, please?

If you want to discuss or make any suggestions, you would be welcome to call me  on 01753 441626

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We had a question from Charlie Fisher who has just bought some second hand Apex R Sculls

I realise that this is a bit outside your remit but I have just bought a 2nd hand set of Apex-R sculls and was wondering if you had any guidance available for their set up. I am currently using CII smoothies and was wondering whether the inboard, outboard, overall length and span should be changed from the stock CII setting to take best advantage of the Dreher\'s characteristics.

Many thanks. Charlie Fisher

This is exactly why we have customer support to help people like you.  We are always delighted to help out in this way.

Can you write a reply saying what your current boat span is, your height, weight and age

Then we'll be able to give you the best possible advice.

Grant Craies

Background - here is a photo of the Apex R scull [taken next to a cloud!].  More information in the Dreher brochure Demo sculls are available if you want to try them for yourself.

 Dreher Apex R Scull Spoon

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