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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 dont 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 Im swinging between Vortex Smoothies and Apexs.

Thomas Carter – Bath University Boat Club

I just thought Id 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-Rs 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-Rs than with the Crokers, but the Apex-Rs felt better through the stroke. My Brother also tried them and he really liked the blades as well!!Ive 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 (thats one complete circuit on the Avon in bath) once with one set, and once with the other. I rigged the Apex-Rs 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 Im 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 Id have had less energy in the second piece than in the first. Im going to keep trying them out, hopefully next weekend Ill 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 wasnt 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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