It took a good while to clear the ice off her decks and thwarts, but it was worth the wait. Richard and Andrew Bain of Sea Echo were there to welcome the crew of Reivers along to try her out. Once underway, the crew seemed to be 'flying' along! I think the frost helped them to 'glide' over what was the River Thames...
Seriously though, they made really good and efficient progress after just a few minutes of getting familiarised with the different rowing positions. The oars that were tested are the normal 12' 6" Macons in carbon fibre. The collars and buttons seemed to be out of sync with the thole pins that are fitted to Tiger. We have some possibilities to explore here and any comments made will be much appreciated.
One choice is to leave the pins alone and alter the positions of the collars and buttons. That's an easy option but maybe not the one we want to follow.
Another is to change the size of collars (widen them out a bit) and use the same oars. Another choice might be to change the oars altogether and use longer slightly thicker ones.
Another choice could be to use thicker thole pins to stop the oars we have from wallowing around in the space between them.
Or, do we fit standard rowlocks to her and either go with the oars we have, or buy longer ones.
So many choices and so much input needed to decide. The variables we have are numerous too. To buy any more kit just increases the initial cost of the recce trip that we are training for. However, it is essential that we have the best possible set-up if we are to set a good time for the following years of Challengers to try and beat.
Meantime, I have forwarded the lengths of the distances between gunwales and thole pins for each rowing position to Jock. He has a method of working out the exact length needed for maximum efficency from each set of measurements. (If that makes sense).
So, down to the rowing bit! Having settled down, we discovered that the crew of four that turned out, could pull against a 3 knot tide at a steady 1.8 knots! Not bad for a crew that hadn't trained for a wee while and were in a new boat!! Then, someone said. "Where is this swell coming from"?
The cox said. "Look over your shoulder guys"! He gestured to their left. They looked, and they saw...
They turned around shortly after this shot was taken and we followed them back downstream with the tide at an almost eye-watering 8.5 knots with a medium / slow outgoing tide! I had to wonder what these guys had for breakfast! Just then, I realised they hadn't been able to get any breakfast as they had got up SO early and everywhere in Gravesend was shut when they arrived (apart from MacDonalds, and that doesn't count as breakfast, does it?)
We dispatched Richard in the small Safety Boat off to the pier where he knew of a secret place to buy bacon, egg and sausage rolls! He returned with lots of hot buns full of goodies as soon as he could. The crew had rowed the Tiger back down to her moorings, tied her up (kinky, eh?) and left her dangling off a small boy! Sorry, that should read 'buoy' before anyone gets too excited! "Anyway"...as my offspring say whenever I get 'inappropriate' and embarrass them), "moving on". Short work was made of the bacon, egg and sausage butties while they discussed the alterations needed and dreamed of how they are going to take on the Challenge of London to London via Paris.
Any comments, please join in and make them. Advice will be heeded and may even be utilised to make your trip(s) better than ever. We're open to suggestions on bits of boat kit.
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