Back on the water

[Cyclist2]

I’m back from my 3-week odyssey across the US. My “new” Maas was patiently hanging in the garage, awaiting the smooth glide across the water carrying its new owner. It had to wait another week while I got caught up around the house, and then build a small boat dolly so I could move it without having to lift its entire awkward weight. That is key to my future success with this boat – not having to lift it, which is definitely a greater risk to my aging back than the rowing.
I got all the logistics figured out and can get it on and off the car pretty easily using the dolly. I’ll fine tune all the racks, dolly, and car topping as I go, but she’s waited long enough. Time to row!
My daughter, her boyfriend, and I gave it a shakedown the other evening for a few minutes. Got all the port/starboard/bow/stern aspects re-figured out then. This is my first set of hatchet oars – there is a port and starboard! And those dang oarlocks have to point to the stern. It’s been awhile.
This morning, I took it out for the first real row. It sure felt good to be back on the water! Muscle memory is still good, but balancing the Aero is not an issue anyway. All the rigging is close enough, the hatchet oars gave me no problems. I rowed about 45 minutes, guessing about 8000 meters based on the roughly 1000-meter length of our small lake. I did some drills to refresh myself, then rowed one hard lap just to see how I’d do under max effort. Stable, no crabs. All good. Better than good.
I’ll be out as much as I can from now on. Rowing here is pretty much year-round; not a lot of wind, definitely no ice.
I’ll be on the erg this winter too, however. All part of the total rowing experience, and now I again mean TOTAL!

[G-dub]

Nice Mark! I’m discovering that rowing a single during the calm part of the morning sure is a nice way to get exercise and start the day! So uncomplicated compared to rowing crew boats. It’s really fantastic when it’s all feeling balanced and the boat is gurgling. I’m still at the stage where I have to really concentrate and can’t wait to become even more able to relax and enjoy the lake’s environment - ducks, sunrise, fish, birds, etc. Our lake is affords about 1500m, so like you I need to turn a lot.

[lwtguy]

Sadly we don't get too many "quiet and calm" mornings in Philadelphia unless you are out in the middle of winter or at 4:30 in the morning. But starting your day with a long row in a single is great. At my old club I was often the only person out in the morning, in the middle of farm country. Those were some of my favorite mornings!

[Cyclist2]

Thanks for the feedback. I've been enjoying it. I'm still figuring out all the logistics - how to get it loaded up, unloaded, etc. It's been adequate, but I have one problem that I haven't fully resolved yet so I thought I'd query the forum, especially the open water rowers; good answers generally show up here.

I don't have access to a dock to launch from, so am relegated to beach launching. Remember, I'm doing this solo at public launch sites. So I roll the boat down to the beach (or rocks as the case may be) with the dolly I built, drop the stern in the water so that the skeg doesn't rest on the rocks and leave the bow up on the beach. I remove the dolly, hustle up to the truck to drop it, grab the oars and hustle back to the boat. Sometimes, this is a fair distance to go while the boat is unattended. In the meantime the wind moves the boat, scraping up the pristine hull and skeg if the wind pushes it enough.

Any innovative ideas about how to get the boat launched without damaging it, while not leaving anything on the beach while I'm out rowing? (I already lost a nice foam piece I was resting under the bow when I got distracted on the takeout procedure, and forgot it. The tide got it, I guess).

[Cyclist2]

I think I got it figured out. I bought a foam roller, cut it in half (two shorter round pieces, not two half-round) and use them to keep the boat off the rocks. I still have to lift the boat in and out of the water, but at least it isn't getting banged up. I use bungee cords to hold the foam pieces to the boat while I row. I shouldn't forget them on the beach - they are bright blue, plus the bungees on the boat are a reminder.

I built a car top rack using skateboard wheels at the back to easily roll the boat up onto the rack then gently set it into the slings. Works great.

Oh, I also got a good one-hour row in, about 10K meters on the Hood Canal. The sea lions were popping up to see what was going on. Nice!