Boat Plans At Mystic Seaport | Hiding from the spring weather

Boat Plans At Mystic Seaport

But its not a complete loss of time.

Its Thursday evening, Im still house sitting my sisters house up in the bush at the top of the hill. This ia a very peaceful place, and I’ve been able to spend some time working on the drawings for both SEI and the Saturday Night Special.  I’ve written building guides for both, materials lists, and some words of general advice.

Both sets are now done, all ready to go out and help people create their dreams. They will be sent off to the print shop and I’m expecting them to be scanned and back to me in digital form about Wednesday next week.

Tomorrow though I’m onto the next one that’s the boat that I’m drawing for my own use, for a particular project / voyage / adventure I have in mind.

“Long Steps” is  if you like a slightly larger version  of Walkabout, long and slim, a reasonable rowing boat that I expect will sail well. She has though the centre area of SCAMP including the self draining cockpit floor with a water ballast tank under, a similar raised locker and veranda “cabin” which like SCAMP provides high up bouyancy to assist righting after a capsize, gives much dry storage and some shelter from the elements.

She will be cat yawl rigged, that’s two masts, a big balanced lug main and a triangular mizzen, will have the same offset centerboard that has been so successful on SCAMP, that gives space in the cockpit which is to be wide and long enough to sleep in, and I am drawing in an area aft of that with the full depth and width of the boat in which to stand and move about when sailing.

Ill be carrying a swimming pool bean bag in there so can sail in some comfort.

The boat is intended for very long range voyaging, at times in areas where there are no harbours for overnight refuge so she will be set up to lie to a sea anchor.

Im going to get this far enough along to allow me to start the new boat, I’ve got two other design projects plus a couple of small modification drawings to do as well.  I need to get them done so I can get out sailing when summer gets here.

Adventure cruising? The years keep ticking past, there are only a limited number of them and no one knows just how many each of us have, so its time I got out there and did some serious adventuring.  My philosophy is that life is what you use to build up the memories that sustain you in your old age.

I’ll have a pic of Long Steps in the next posting on this blog, the current working drawing is a work in progress, and as with all works in progress it’s a mess and wont make a lot of sense to anyone but me.

Oh yes, it will be back to sandpaper and paintbrush on SEI next week.

Watch this space.

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Plywood Boat Plans Australia | 10 top tips for coxing an expedition row

Plywood Boat Plans Australia

The successful completion of an expedition row boils down to the rowers taking a lot of strokes. A LOT of strokes. But good coxing can play a really valuable part in helping them with that. Follow these tips to keep your crew fast, informed, and happy.

Theyre in order of importance. The first three are purely technical. After that coxing creativity comes into play, but dont be alarmed if youre not an experienced cox: there are several helpful tools you can use to squeeze the most out of your crew. Not literally, obviously.

NB These tips apply whether the role of coxing is rotated through the members of the crew, or whether youre the dedicated (and I mean that in all senses of the word) cox for the whole trip.

Tip 1. Take the shortest line
Its one of the great contradictions of expedition rowing: weve chosen to do a long-distance row, but wed like it to be as short as possible.

Philosophically it may not make sense, but its true. A cox who steers well but says nothing is almost always preferable to an entertaining and motivational one who takes the scenic route.

And just in case anyone is reading this who either hasnt yet done much geometry at school or wasnt listening in that class, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. (Although it IS a bit more complicated than that if youre rowing across a tidal seaway in events like the Celtic Challenge.)

Tip 2. Sit the boat

Nothing makes your or their backs hurt faster than an unnecessarily unbalanced boat. Be sensitive to it. Dont wait for them to ask you to do something about it. 

Of course, in a crew numbering x rowers, there are x+1 people who might not be sitting straight but this still means the chances are that you (the +1) are not the bad-balance bear. However, whilst a list to strokeside, say, may not be your fault, it IS your responsibility to ensure its eradicated. Dont blame individuals (unless there is a really obvious culprit, in which case someone else is at fault for having them in the crew) but rather delegate the solving of the problem to the rowers: "Were consistently a bit down on strokeside. Can anyone make any adjustments?"

My final point here is simple: scull. The only reasons I can think of to do a long-distance event sweep-oar are a) the event involves a special boat-type that can only be done sweep, such as the Sulkava churchboats race, or b) youre really, really bad at sculling.

Tip 3. Give data

Tell them times, distances gone or to the next waypoint, if youre using them, or lock, if your journey has them. 

This cox is keeping her crew informed.
And entertained.

When you give distances, do so in "round numbers", for example, every 5km. If you do that, they will trust you to keep telling them at each of those points. If they ask you how far/how long till, youve failed. Or theyre ill-disciplined.

Information = control. When they dont know where they are in the race, the whole enormity of it faces them and can understandably be overwhelming. But when they know where they are, they feel in control, and that means they feel  less stressed, can pace themselves effectively, and can mentally tick off the miles in their heads, which is a great psychological boost.

In many situations, you will have planned to break up the row timed sections punctuated by drinks pauses or cox-swaps. 30 minute stints are common. Generally, most people dont want to know how long into that 30 minute section they are till after half way through, as its a tad depressing. I would recommend telling them at 20 minutes gone, and then give them a 2 minute warning too, so that everyone can sort out in their own minds exactly what actions theyre going to take at that point. 

NB If you only give the 2 minute warning, youre wasting an opportunity for a motivational piece of information (10 minutes to go). "2 minutes to go" isnt motivational, its just logistical.

Tip 4. Tell them whats coming up
By definition, expedition rows take place on water which is not the crews home water, so the rowers dont know whats up ahead of them. If you tell them, it gives them micro-goals to look forward to and to attain, even if its just "Theres a bridge/corner in about 200m", "Theres a huge oak tree on the left just up ahead", or "Theres a motorboat coming towards us". 

Definitely keep telling them if theyre gaining on the crew in front, and give the distance to that crew, if youre close enough to judge.

"Were catching a large cruiser.
Im going to call for 10 firm and then to pull your blades
 across to get us past it..."

If youre catching up with a motor boat thats going in the same direction, the rowers will probably start to notice the disturbed water, noise and engine fumes before they even get to the point of having to row through its wash. So warn them in advance. Then they know whats going on.

If you see a rower look round, youre not doing your job properly (or, once again, theyre ridiculously ill-disciplined).

As with omitting to tell them that there are 10 minutes to a break, its a massive waste of a motivational opportunity suddenly to easy the crew at a lock or scheduled stop point without warning them in advance. It would be like suddenly telling a child that its Christmas without them having known it was coming (OK, I know that would be impossible, but I hope you see my point). Half the fun is the anticipation.

Tip 5. Praise the crew!

A cheerful cox. Despite the rain.

Marathon runners generally print their names on their numbers on the fronts of their shirts. This is because spectators will then use their name, shouting things like "Well done, Matt!" and "Go on, Amy!". Spectators who are total strangers, of course, whom Matt and Amy will never see again, and quite possibly wouldnt much like even if they did. Yet when youre in pain, the value of praise and encouragement is multiplied at least 5-fold.

So, without over-doing it, pay compliments, both to the crew as a whole and to individuals: "Great work, guys, going really strong!", "Lovely rhythm, Hannah", "Awesome finishes, Cath". That kind of thing. But its got to sound – and be – convincing.

Tip 6. Be entertaining, but only if you can pull it off
You will know if you can or not. I used to travel to work on a train where the guard told the first half of a joke after we left the station where I got on, and then told us the punchline just before we reached the terminus. He probably got sacked for it, but us commuters loved it. 

A little planning can help here: Im going to try and learn a handful of funny-definitions-of-words from The Uxbridge English Dictionary  as used in the British Radio 4 comedy show "Im Sorry I Havent a Clue" before this years 160km row round Lake Geneva. Ill be inserting items such as "Celery: A bit like a cellar" and "Busking: A man who owns lots of buses" here and there. 

The cox of a schoolgirl crew I knew spent much of the 50km Boston Marathon reading a Harry Potter book to them. They liked it: it wouldnt suit all crews. In a similar vein, I read excerpts from  a very amusing blog about rowing across the Atlantic to my crew one year in the  Tour du Léman. It put our "mere" 160km row into perspective too.

Humour is not only good because everyone likes a laugh, but also because its a strong and positive emotion. And strong emotions help inspire them to greater effort.

Tip 7. Its about them not you
They dont want to hear about your sore bum, or how hard it is looking into the sun to see where youre steering, for instance. Sure, these things are true, but neither is as hard as rowing. The German word for "cox" is the same as the word for "tax", so make sure that youre definitely a value-added tax.

Tip 8. Dont overdo it
Whilst coxing styles vary, in general, when coxing a normal training outing for a racing crew, involving both pieces and paddling, it is entirely appropriate for the cox to talk quite a lot – co-ordinating the crews focus, and tidying up individual technical details. 

Cox differently on an expedition.

When coxing long-distance rows, say a lot less. Having said that, dont be silent. The data described in Tip 3 is the bare minimum.

And be very careful about coaching. If you do, be very specific (e.g. "2, youre consistently a bit early" rather than "Watch your timing in the bows" which leads both bow and 2 to wonder who is wrong and whether theyre early or late), and dont labour the point. Now is not the time.

Tip 9: Dont play music over a cox-box
This will flatten your cox box battery in no time. I think this is because the frequencies in music are much more complex than those used in speaking, so amplifying it uses more power.

Tip 10: Find out whether the others mind if you talk to stroke

Is it OK to talk to her? Or not?

Talking to stroke is contentious. As a small person, I generally sit in the bows of expedition rowing crews. And Im not bothered at all if stroke and the cox are having a quiet chat that I cant hear. But I know some crew members find this intolerable.

Balanced with that, though, is the fact that there is that little bit more weight on the shoulders of stroke (both literally, if the rest of our catches arent super sharp, and metaphorically), so getting a little distraction from the pain by exchanging a few words with stroke is well-deserved.

So you just need to find out where the others stand on this before you start, and decide whether, on balance, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.

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Boat Plans Butler | Rowing the Nile well some of it

Boat Plans Butler

© Nile Rowing Expedition,
Martin Paasman.

At 6,853km long, the River Nile is the Worlds longest river. Which obviously makes it a tantalising location for expedition rowing. 

However, in the same way that the answer to the question "How do you eat an elephant?" is "One bit at a time", a wise approach to rowing the Nile is to start with the 720km chunk from Luxor to Cairo. 

And thats exactly what my friend Martin, a Dutch long-distance rowing fanatic of the first order, spent 10 unforgettable days doing (do the maths – thats a lot of rowing day after desert-hot day).

Nile Rowing Expedition, Martin Paasman.

The importance of paperwork
Of course, you cant just rock up on the banks of the Nile, drop your boat in the water, and row away from the nearest pyramid into the sunset. The Nile is a major commercial river, and with other security concerns in the region too, the Egyptian government was concerned about the expeditions safety. This meant that it took a full eighteen months to get all of the appropriate permissions to start the trip, and arrange for Egyptian police boats to escort the rowing crews all the way on the water (possibly not the worst task an Egyptian policeman has to undertake in the line of duty). But all this desk-work was well worth it, and led to a safe trip in the end.

Just in case youre geographically challenged (like me)
So, the Nile flows North. Which I think is relatively unusual (but I gave up gegraphy at school when I was 14, so Im hardly an authority). Egypt is the last of 11 countries it flows through before it pours into the Mediterranean.

Luxor (the starting point) is near the bottom of the map below, and in case youre wondering, this isnt a special, minimalist map only showing the route this expedition took: there really isnt anything on either side of the Nile till you get to Cairo.

Enough of this geography, what about the rowing?
The on-water team was made up of 15 experienced rowers from the Netherlands, Germany and America. The Expedition hired two touring coxed quads from the Arab Contractors Sporting Club in Cairo. For some reason that no one ever quite got to the bottom of, Luxor Rowing Club doesnt actually have any rowing boats, although allegedly the organise an annual regatta and, rather like the famous very hygenic cheese shop that was totally devoid of cheese, the lack of boats meant there was a lot of space for rigging the boats.

Rowing on the Nile (taken from a VERY high bridge).
© Nile Rowing Expedition, Martin Passman.

WIth 15 rowers and just ten seats, each day five of the team had the opportunity to do some tourism.

Most participants arrived early in Luxor to visit the beautiful ancient monuments, enjoy Luxor and to get accustomed to the heat. White shirts with long sleeves, sun hats, and sunscreen were essential kit.

An unusual start
The first day of rowing started with a ‘blessing’ ceremony with fresh flower leaves for a safe journey by a representative of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and made the crews feel welcome. And then they were off, rowing on the Nile, passing the Karnak Temple (Luxor) on bow side and the Theban Necropolis on stroke side.

The Nile in these parts is a slow-moving, winding river, with palm trees and villages on the banks. And although as a whole its very wide, the combination of bends and numerous islands meant that the crews often found themselves on more intimate waterways where they encountered lush, green scenery, filled with birds and fisherman rowing traditional boats. Sometimes when the river had made her way through an area with rocky mountains they rowed with a barren desert on one side but  towering cliffs on the other. What didn’t change was the blistering sun with temperatures up to 40 degrees centigrade. 

© Nile Rowing Expedition, Martin Pasman

Lunch breaks in little villages along the Nile proved that the Egyptian people were very friendly. They provided the rowers with fresh baked ‘sun bread’ , tea and shared the shade under their trees. In the evening they assisted in hauling the boats out of the water.

Meanwhile, on the bank...
Those not rowing on any given day had a fantastic time exploring Egypt’s rich cultural heritage, including the Pharonic temple in Karnak, the Coptic Red Monastry in Sohaq and the famous Islamic mosque in Qena, whither they were escorted by a very polite local police chief (once again, better than traffic duty in central Cairo). They toured in a minibus on dusty roads and through Egyptian villages with friendly people and cattle on the road.

© Nile Rowing Expedition, Martin Paasman.

And, in case you were wondering, despite their best efforts, most participants also ‘enjoyed’ one or two days of not rowing due to food poisoning, sleep deprivation, heatstroke or exhaustion from the daily distances of up to 90 km. Well, it was always billed as an expedition not holiday.

Before we knew it, the crews were rowing into Cairo. We finished accompanied by an armada of rowing boats, official representatives and the press. A dream came true!

---

Fancy rowing on the Nile yourself?

Due to the success of this expedition two new trips are being planned. The first will be a recreational rowing tour from Aswan to Luxor over 220km in 5 days, starting in the second half of October 2014, with a sightseeing program before and after the tour, 

This trip will be followed by repeating the breathtaking rowing expedition tour from Luxor to Cairo over 720km in 10 days, starting in late October 2014.

Both tours will combine rowing with culture. We will visit world famous heritage sites like the Pharonic Abu Simpel temples in Southern Egypt near Aswan, Thebes (Luxor) with the Valley of the Kings with the tombs of the most important Pharaohs, the Pyramids near Giza and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

For more information about these tours visit http://thenilerowingexpedition.blogspot.nl/  or contact Martin Paasman. 

The Nile Rowing Expedition was an idea of Carola Grün and Martin Paasman, both members of Rowing Club De Laak in The Hague, the Netherlands. It was organized together with  Dabuka Expeditions, Arab Contractors Sporting Club, Luxor Rowing Club and the Egyptian Rowing & Canoe Federation. Under the patronage of the Ministry of Tourism and the Egyptian Tourist Authority.

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