The Hull Lifesaving Museum’s 36th annual Snow Row is an open water race that’s coming up on March 21st. It’s not for skinny boats, per se, but it’s still relevant to the discussion on this site.
The race course in the harbor of Hull, south of Boston, is 3 3/4 miles long and includes all sorts of pulling boats: pea pods, dories, wherries, whitehalls, ocean shells, and more. It’s a lot of fun (though serious, I’m sure, for those who take their race times seriously).
It’s mentioned here because of a rule that was introduced in 2012: “Every slider wears a lifejacket – not just stored in the boat – the water is cold!” Skinny boats (such as Alden, Echo, Mass, etc) also have to be fitted with pontoons; but there are two points here that should be obvious and are worth emphasizing.
The first is that it is possible to row, and in this instance to race, sliding seat boats wearing PFDs. The rowing motion in an open water shell — such as an Alden, an Echo, or the Mass — is virtually identical to the motion in a racing shell. Wearing a conventional foam PFD might shorten your stroke by about an inch when you bring your chest to your thighs and thumbs to your breastbone; but that’s it. That’s the limit to the amount it might effect a nominally perfect stroke with full reach and extension. If you’re wearing an inflatable PFD it’s no more restrictive than a rowing jacket over fleece. But the critical difference is that in the water fleece will pull you down; PFDs will keep you up. And a foam PFD will also help keep you warm (or slow down the inexorable heat loss).
The second point worth emphasizing is that this change was made a couple of years ago in recognition of the dangers of cold water. Rowers have known that cold water was dangerous for hundreds, if not thousands, of years; but our scientific understanding of how dangerous it is has been accumulating for only about twenty years and we’ve been slow adjusting to the reality.
There seem to be many different reasons why rowers don’t want to wear PFDs in racing shells, but there’s no good reason why they can’t. Early in the season, on cold water, or when the wind and the waves are threatening, PFDs provide a margin of safety that can’t be duplicated. Having them under the footboards or on an accompanying launch isn’t comparable.
It’s worth thinking about and perhaps even trying.
Until then, row on, smarter and safer,
Marc
Note: The picture is not of Hull; it’s a picture taken this past week in the Finger Lakes of NY as both snow and ice have begun to melt.
The rules for the Snow Row Sliding Seat Rules can be found at: http://www.lifesavingmuseum.org/_fileCabinet/Sliding_Seat_New_Rules_2012.pdf