When I searched for the 'ideal' boat (that I could afford), one of the important factors was the ability to row it. To my surprise, Wayfarer was the only contemporary sailing dinghy that offered this possibility. Today, just a couple of years after my purchase of Pinčika, some dinghy manufacturers have made an effort to include this possibility in their more modern designs, but in most cases I find their solutions problematic. The problem with Pinčika was that it arrived with too short oars (210cm in length) and low rowlocks with sockets installed along the inner part of the gunwale. Besides the problem of insufficient 'gear ratio', the oars rubbed the outer area of the gunwale and because of their short length one had to hold them with hands wide apart which is very tiring. After I obtained a pair of longer oars from my aunt's classic wooden dinghy (245cm long oars) the situation was somewhat better (although not fully resorted), yet another problem arose. These were too long to store easily under the thwart along the centerboard case (with the rear locker in place). Over the winter I did a little research and found a helpful info by Bob Harland of the UKWA. Here is a citation of the most important bit: "Gearing:
Gearing refers to the ratio between the length of oar inboard of the
pivot point (ie the rowlock) and that outboard of it. The greater the
gearing the longer and steadier the stroke. Most rowers can manage a
gear ratio of 1:3, above this most people will tire more quickly due
to difficulty in balancing the weight of the oar.
Length:
Starting with a gear ratio of 1:3, the inner length is restricted by
the width of the boat. if one person is going to pull (on salt
water!) we get a minimum inner length of 24 inches and a maximum of
say 30 inches. This equates to a minimum oar length of 8 feet. If
your oars are any less than eight feet then rowing is going to be
harder work than it need be. As it turns out, 9 to 10 foot oars are
about right for rowing a Wayfarer.
However there are limits to the length of oar that can be stowed in a
Wayfarer, depending on what mark of Wayfarer you have. You may find
that 8 feet is the maximum length you can accommodate. If you are
fortunate to have a World then 9 feet is no problem." With these numbers on mind, I discovered a possible solution: "Carlisle" 9.5 foot long three part oars designed for rafting boats (it's two part oar shafts + detachable blades = three part oars), and custom made rowlocks. I bought a next larger size of rowlocks and gave them to an engineer in Zagreb to modify them to suit the sockets in the boat. We took measures from the original rowlocks, so he cut the pin shorter and thinned it appropriately leaving the small extrusion for locking into the socket's inner channel. The u-shaped fork also needed to be opened wider to suit the new oars. The latest improvement/experiment was installing 'counter-weights' to balance their weight better (a standard accessory). Now, each oar is about 6kg heavy. I didn't yet need to row for more than about 2.5 Nm, but on this distance I was able to average 2.2 Kt. It took just under 1000 strokes, it wasn't very tiring, but I do admit that at the end of the day one person wouldn't wish to row a much longer leg. I should note that I am not very strong (cca. 75kg), being a film editor and spending most of the time through the year in front of computers. The weight of these oars might seem ridiculous to some (a pair being almost as heavy as a small outboard engine), taking them out from under the thwart is not the quickest operation (requiring the pieces to be disconnected and connected back), but I am convinced that for engineless cruising this is the rowing setup I wouldn't like to be without. Mato I. |