The desire for bow-faced rowing
The desire for bow-faced rowing
I just can't be bothered with rowing backwards or paddling without levers anymore. I'm interested in achieving four goals:
- I want the better-balanced, complete exercise that rowing offers.
- I want to be able to travel longer distances, tolerate stronger winds and bigger waves.
- I want to see where I am rowing and I want to be able to row long distances with a moderate heart rate and not be totally exhausted after 30 km of rowing.
- I don't want to sacrifice the pleasures and benefits I know so well from kayaking.
What's wrong with traditional rowing is that when I'm rowing backwards I feel like I'm entering the crystal ball aspect of boat control. I am relegated to being the victim and my response to a wave is just a secondary correction.
One of the biggest advantages of being a kayaker is that I can assess and interact with the waves directly.
In a kayak I am facing forward, but I find the kayak paddle really inefficient because there is no mechanical leverage other than what you are able to give it. As the wind speed increases, you experience this undeniable reduction in your ability to paddle against the wind, which ranges from slightly diminished to completely overwhelmed. In my first twenty years of paddling, the limits of strength when paddling against the wind have become a bit boring. Paddling can cause the usual litany of shoulder, elbow, wrist or hand ailments.
If you can't take the stress of paddling anymore, you have to find an alternative. And the same is true for those who scull as they age, because over time rowers lose the necessary neck-twisting flexibility to see where they are going.
Bow-faced rowing is the answer:
I can watch the approaching waves closely. I like being able to fine-tune my stroke to coincide with the wave faces. I can enjoy experimenting with more complex wave structures. I feel less threatened and can enjoy rowing in more challenging water conditions.
The mechanical advantage of rowing over paddling is that rowing provides symmetrical, more efficient propulsion because propulsion can be applied to both sides at the same time.
Front rowing has been a desire for many years. The first patent application for a front rowing system was filed in the USA in 1886. Over the years, there have been many applications, but only a few have been produced and marketed. The problem with all of these forward rowing systems was the lack of, or only rudimentary solutions to, blade feathering and blade squaring.
RowVista® is the ultimate solution, offering bow-faced rowing and a unique system for feathering and squaring the blade.
RowVista® turns feather lightly on ball bearings so blisters are very rare. Traditional sculls cause blisters on the hands due to the resistance of turning the scull sleeve into the rowlock when feathering (and squaring) the blade. Continually turning the scull in the rowlock is like turning a screw by hand with a screwdriver. You are sure to get blisters. This is because the scull turns in the rowlock with a certain amount of friction (plastic sleeve and plastic rowlock). And the corner on the sleeve to feel the feathered position or the squared position increases the required turning force even more.
And that can be painful in the long run. There are plenty of examples on the net of hands that have been dramatically injured by blisters.
The designers at ROW&SAIL in Austria have done a great job in solving the problem of blisters for rowers and at the same time eliminating all the disadvantages of rowing backwards. And all this without any loss of (rowing) energy due to a ball bearing linkage.
Bow-faced rowing – no compromises!
A statement from a rower
about rowing in the dark
(name withheld)
I prefer to be on the water at night.
At night I avoid the harshness of bright sunlight, and I can enjoy the solitude with the unbridled freedom I savor on the nighttime sea.
Boating at night needs being able to see where you are going and what you are lined up to crash into. This is much more difficult at night than in daylight. Perspective disappears as the sun drops below the horizon, and rowing backwards at full tilt is no longer just a challenge. Trying to see what is behind you while rowing backwards becomes a harrowing, neck-wrenching ordeal.
So the answer is obvious: RowVista® is what you need!