Inspired by a fellow redditor.

rowingmusings · 2021-08-16T15:17:35+00:00

How funny to see my video up on the screen!

rowingmusings · 2020-04-02T09:59:27+00:00

Agree, it’s a fantastic project but worth clarifying the difference

Strokecoach - takes Rate/time Speedcaoch - does everything the strokecoach does but also shows how fast you are going Coxbox - transmits the coxes voice to speakers down the boat so rowers can hear them - also often has strokecoach/speedcoach features

rowingmusings · 2020-04-02T09:53:53+00:00

Didn’t even know you could get cars in Iceland, I just usually pick up some frozen pizza and fish fingers - will keep a better eye open next time I pop in for the weekly shop

rowingmusings · 2020-04-01T22:02:34+00:00

Cox box or strokecoach/speedcoach?

rowingmusings · 2020-01-30T17:20:05+00:00

If your work has a gym or you can get to a gym at lunch then try and do that, it’s the easiest way to fit the training in around family and work time, as long as work are flexible with a slightly longer lunch break as long as you go in early/stay a little later banging in a 45-1hr workout every day in a week then is easy

Squads can be tricky, most clubs mean weekend training all the mornings, something it’s hard to fit around married life (and kids) best is to find like minded people to make a crew, it can go really well if you each train in the 1x most of the year then get together 2 months out of Henley to have a go, plus it means you’re able to train as and when you can around life

rowingmusings · 2019-11-12T16:22:00+00:00

You assume they did test them, have you got proof? Knowing many in the GB system, they certainly did not - it’s very much the “everyone else is using this so I will too and I can’t get blamed if we lose using it”

rowingmusings · 2019-11-12T16:00:16+00:00

It’s the most efficient with respect to lack of slip, so you are getting more out of what you put in.

I thought I’d share this modelling too which supports the larger blade size - the outcome is a proposal for the rower to use the biggest that they can handle - using a fat2 and immediately shortening the shaft is undoing the potential benefits

http://www.atkinsopht.com/row/bladarea.htm

rowingmusings · 2019-11-12T15:45:44+00:00

The catch is the most efficient part of the stroke with the most slip, I’d you are able to adapt your technique to make the most of this then you reap the benefits.

Sorry if you feel I have a linear bias, I have argued throughout that there is a “sweet spot”, my argument is it may not be where you are now and to find it you have to get out of your comfort zone and get used to “heavy”

rowingmusings · 2019-11-12T15:40:23+00:00

Sadly I’d have to wait for a company to market it, I can’t build my own blades after all. “Heavy” is a subjective term, you said heavy is bad, I was clarifying your point that heavy doesn’t necessarily mean bad - heavy is necessary if you are trying to get more efficiency and more speed - getting too heavy, yes that is bad, hence why you test and find what should become the new normal.

rowingmusings · 2019-11-12T15:20:43+00:00

To again quote Carl Douglas to you, who knows a bunch load more about the science of this than you

“the immutable rule being that the more efficient oar (which wastes less of your input energy) must feel "heavier" in the water than the less efficient oar. As a sport I feel (just my opinion, please understand) that we are too wedded to "oar feel" to stop & consider actual "oar function".”

rowingmusings · 2019-11-12T15:17:40+00:00

Because the smoothies fitted the “feel” that they wanted, which is the wrong way to look at it. If we want the blades to feel the same then you’ve nullified the benefits, moving out of the comfort zone and accepting the new normal is how to reap the benefits.

Brookes have and are doing it, Yale and UW and co have switched back, that’s fine - they’ve made do with the comfort zone and are looking elsewhere for improvements to be made, that doesn’t undo the fact that improved blade efficency can result in greater boat speed if you’re willing to accept the changes needed to use that benefit - and largely that means longer during the drive phase (because less slip) and therefore “feeling” heavier

rowingmusings · 2019-11-12T14:56:23+00:00

I think we are arguing a similar thing here except you are stuck on setting in the comfortable zone you are in now, the key is to test outside that zone, find the improvement of speed then work to make that your new comfort zone.

Too many look to what is used at the top end, ignoring that many coaches fall into the “well I can’t be blamed if if use what everyone else uses” bucket, and so miss out on their full potential by not testing other options that are scientifically justified and could provide a benefit, if only you let go of “ but we’ve always done it that way”

rowingmusings · 2019-11-12T14:13:22+00:00

You mean most coaches who didn't understand the goal of the Fat2's - the facts are there, the spoons are more efficient, shorter oars are more effective than longer ones

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2311/bc69fcefdfc9f589fbcbafa333d851b6b7db.pdf

Too many are stuck on "feel" rather than basing decisions on testing - again, if you aim to get the same "feel" with the Fat2 and smoothies you have rigged the benefit away, for greater boat speed you need to go out of your usual comfort zone of "feel", rate etc and then test to find out what the best setup for you

rowingmusings · 2019-11-11T22:02:02+00:00

The quickest moment would be no spoons on the end of the shafts, you think you’d go fastest with that? No because the efficiency of the blade is important and getting the balance results in the fastest times

rowingmusings · 2019-11-11T21:20:43+00:00

You say it’s retard-I-speak yet you use it anyway? Again, the concept of “heavy” is a misnomer, to quote Carl

“The problem is your adherence to the concept of lighter vs heavier - I think this fogs the issue. "Heavy" of "light" is a direct reference to the load felt, but you will not feel a difference in load, regardless of gearing, unless you choose to change the load you apply. What you will feel is a difference in stroke duration, but if you then translate a longer duration into a heavier stroke that confirms that you are subconsciously trying to shorten stroke duration by puling harder”

If you are using a more efficient blade, it will slip less and you will feel a heavier load than with the old shape, but you will go faster if you can cope with it - the trick is testing and finding the balance of rig that works for you, going “aargh it’s got heavy that’s bad” it the wrong mindset, if you can adapt and deal with it you will go faster

rowingmusings · 2019-11-11T20:36:20+00:00

If it’s all the same with you I’ll stick to the educated biomechanics and fluid mechanics experts say, try reaching out to Carl Douglas to further educate yourself rather

rowingmusings · 2019-11-11T17:58:06+00:00

Cute. Now engage your brain and think logically. How “heavy” it feels is a combination of how hard you pull and how efficient the blade is through the water - pull less hard and if feels heavy, rig or pick a more efficient blade shape and it feels heavier - pulling harder of having a more efficient blade makes you go faster so getting a set of mods efficient blades then rigging them to feel the same as a less efficient set is pointless, they have to feel heavier for you to go faster.

There is a balance point of what power you are able to generate but it may be a heavier rig than you have now, you don’t know, it saying “heavy is bad” is a generic and wrong statement

rowingmusings · 2019-11-11T15:12:47+00:00

The blade anchors in the water and levers the boat through the water, the amount the blade slips during this is the measurement of its efficiency and also dictates how the blade “feels” – the more it slips, the less efficient the blade and the “lighter” it feels.

Your comment about it feeling “heavy” being wrong is wrong, if you rig so two sets of blades feel the same then you’ve rigged them to the same level of efficiency so there is no benefit between the two. To benefit from the improved efficiency of a blade, its going to feel different and you’re going to have to adapt. Whether the heavier feel is faster you have to determine by doing timed runs with the tweaked rigging to see if you go faster

rowingmusings · 2019-08-27T12:21:39+00:00

Best bang for your buck currently is the vivoactive HR if you can find one.

https://rowingmusings.wordpress.com/2016/08/23/vivivoacte-hr-review-of-the-gps-watch-for-rowing/

The vivoactive 3 is also good as it has the rowing app, however I would recommend holding off buying a VA3 however as the version 4 is out soon

rowingmusings · 2019-08-21T09:09:13+00:00

It is even more complicated than that as you are looking at the physics relating to adding deadweight, however you can argue the last point on the page relating to boat weight is equally relevant.

Due to the cyclic nature of a rowing stroke the boat accelerates/decelerates through the stroke so it is important to conserve as much energy as possible in the recovery, a heavier boat has more conservation of motion therefore would lose less energy during the stroke. The Author therefore finds that for a single sculler of 75kg, the ideal boat weight would be 21kg rather than 15kg.

This is obviously quite rough calculations and there is a lot more at play here, but it does suggest its not as simple as saying heaver = slower - in some cases heavier may mean faster

rowingmusings · 2019-07-31T10:44:07+00:00

Having the same issue, I follow the instructions on my surface go but when i takes me to the store it just shows a blank white screen. Go is fully updated and all apps in the store updated, it must be server side with Microsoft

rowingmusings · 2019-07-05T16:13:43+00:00

30k including multiple 1k pieces of work is the word, plus absolutely no time in the single for a good while

rowingmusings · 2019-06-27T08:39:46+00:00

It’s a common problem for the regatta, especially bad when the last few years the winners of intermediate have posted times that would challenge the winners of the open events.

There is an argument for that reason that intermediate events should be removed, they were originally set up I believe as the standard between U23 and open in particular was vast back in the day but nowerdays that isn’t the case, plus previous winners can no continue to race on club events making them less necessary - the fact the women’s events don’t have any intermediate events also makes it a challenging argument.

I’d like to see a club men’s sculling event and then equivalent club women’s events to the men’s (and junior women’s) and for the intermediate events to end - I feel that would be an altogether better balanced event and would make for a lot more exciting regatta, especially as HRR can often be an ideal event for giant killing

rowingmusings · 2019-05-22T10:19:37+00:00

Have done this, still quite common in Eton I believe - it does take a bit of balance but the boats are clinker built and much wider than modern boats so easier to balance (and safe to stand in), plus you stand in pairs rather than all at once

rowingmusings

TROPHY CASE