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Kabes and Measurement Rules


Row Porty have been considering oarlock set ups, and would like to spark a debate within the Association with regard to the current measurement rules for the St Ayles skiffs.  They have kindly put thoughts into writing below.  We would welcome comments on this, but please ensure that you give your full name and location with your comment.  This is not a matter in which we can reach a conclusion by the time of the AGM, if there is to be any change.  However we should consider putting together a sub-committee to make recommendations, once there has been a wee bit of debate. It would be helpful to have a balance of views on such a committee, as well as representatives from builders and users of St Ayles skiffs in USA, Australia, England, Netherlands….. worldwide. 

RowPorty write as follows:

 

“After reflecting on a seasons rowing & racing with many different clubs and boat set-ups, we believe that having fixed oar system (such as Port Seton, Achiltibuie etc.) makes the St Ayles Skiffs easier to row and is more efficient at transferring power from rower to blade than the ‘pin & kabe’ system we have. Therefore it is our intention to try this system out over winter and use it next year in competitions. However it is with some reluctance that we do this, first and foremost because we enjoy a style of rowing that has more scope for technique development.

“We also think there is a considerable safety issue with having a fixed oar: with a fixed oar it is not possible to ship the oar in an instant. This may not be a so much of a problem for teams with short fixed oars, but for others we think there are situations where this presents a danger (in tight harbours or during races where boats are close to one another). With our system of a pin and a kabe (like N. Berwick) we can slide the oar in by any amount, and furthermore keep rowing with it until we have cleared the danger or ship it altogether with great ease and speed.

“It is not uncommon in many sports for restrictions to be placed on equipment used in order to increase the skill required of the sportsman and improve safety. The overall effect of which is that the craft/vehicle doesn’t go as fast as it possibly could if no restrictions were in place (F1 racing for example).

“Having rowed in three different boats with a fixed oar system, we believe that fixed-oar systems are easier to row such that you can put a novice in such a boat and they will be able to row, if not with perfect timing, with relative ease.

“RowPorty have a pin & kabe system. As a club we have developed a couple of sets of oars with round shafts which enable rowers to feather if they wish. Using a round-shafted oar with our set up, there is the added challenge for the rower, in addition to timing, of not only ensuring the oar stays in the correct place on the gunnel, but also ensuring that the blade enters the water at the correct angle. For many rowers moving from square oars to round oars was not easy, but those that persevered and mastered it have enjoyed the satisfaction of learning a new skill.

“Within our club, we are asking ourselves how technically challenging we want rowing to be? Do we want to develop the most efficient and easy means of rowing, or do we want to develop rowing as a sport which involves developing and refining skills and technique?

“As a club, we can see advantages but also a disadvantage in making rowing easier. The advantages being that it will be easier for less experienced rowers and juniors to jump in the boat and have a good row and will be good for social rowing.

“However the disadvantage is that with limited technique and skill involved, more competitively minded people who may like to feel the satisfaction of improvement and progression over time may find it a bit limiting and loose interest in the long term, yet will obviously want to keep up with development to ensure they are racing on a ‘level playing field’.

“We have discussed this as a club and we are interested to see how other clubs feel, and also discuss whether it is something that the SCRA needs to consider. So far when it comes to racing, the boat set up has developed very quickly: we all see one club doing well so we try what they’re doing, plus we try to improve it a bit and then it develops further. With so many talented and interested people involved, the evolution of the skiff boats has progressed very quickly and will continue to do so. But we see this route having the potential disadvantage of making rowing easier and easier and less technical which could in the long term lead to people becoming less interested.

” So the question we are asking is:

  • Do      we need any limitations to develop Scottish Coastal Rowing as a sport to      obtain a balance between skill & technique and strength & fitness?

“We are aware that in 2010 there was debate about oar fixings which resulted in the rules about no metal oar fixings being enforced. We feel the issue here is quite different and it is a crucial time in the birth and early development of this new and exciting sport to discuss this, whether or not any action is needed.

“We would like to stress that we ourselves are not sure what it the best route to take and so would like to open this up as a discussion.”

A description of the various systems has been drafted by Stuart Mack of the SCRA committee and can be found by clicking on this link.

 

This entry was posted on 6 October 2012, 7:33 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

  • Alan Pendred

    Thanks to Portobello for opening up this debate again, I
    think it is one of the most intriguing and interesting aspects of Coastal
    rowing.

    A lot of the time I wish we all rowed with the same system,
    a level playing field, especially when you see what some teams are asked to row
    with, but life and Coastal rowing is not like that, and if we all decide to go
    that way, fair enough but I would hope not, and if we do I hope we would go for
    the most efficient system. We are not alone in rowing and on occasion are pitted
    against other types of boats as in the Great Thames Race and could do without
    any further handicaps.

    I think the issue of safety is a non starter, we are talking
    about occasional oar clashes and the odd narrow harbour entrance, Helmsdale for
    instance on a windy day is great fun but manageable with skilled rowing and
    coxing.

    As regards skill, I would agree having rowed Jenny Skylark
    that Coigach Lass is easier to row but would maintain that in my opinion the
    Porty boat is difficult, clunky, with poor footrests and requires the crew to
    lean back to a very weak rowing position to get enough propulsion out of the
    system. With our simpler system we have more time to devote to good timing
    which is the essence of good team rowing, and after three years still have a
    long way to go in improving our technique.

    There is a thin line between something requiring more skill
    and being just damn awkward.

    I am not sure whether feathering is of much use in a St
    Ayles skiff. Necessary in a low freeboard boat with hatchet oars that would
    catch every wave, with our freeboard and narrow heavier blades not a great
    advantage and possibly a disadvantage. Prove me wrong !

    As you say “it is a crucial time in the birth and early
    development of this new and exciting sport”

    We have an opportunity to develope the St Ayles skiff
    into a great little racing boat that can punch well above its weight, why
    stifle that development.

  • Adam

    Very good topic and I expect it will spark a huge amount of debate.
    Your article is very balanced about the different options being used at the moment, but then at the very end implies that there is a decision to be made, a “best route to take”. I don’t think there is a single Association “best route”.
    At Royal West we unfortunately have all been brought up with two solid Thole pins and D-section oars with leather collars defining the inboard & outboard length, that also guiding the feathering action. It has taken 2.5 years and the oldest member of our squad (who taught me how to row long distance trips 30 years ago) for us to realise that we need to change to win.
    On that basis we will soon have an interchangeable system of pins and oars. We will have our traditional Thole pins and D-shaped oars for general use, touring, teaching technique & feathering etc. but also will have a racing set of pins & oars.
    We will have the best of all world, hopefully. Having recognised what works in racing over cruising we have evolved a solution that will allow the same boat to be used for both.

  • adam

    Alan,
    Just one point on feathering in St. Ayles Skiffs.
    In a headwind and heavy seas, like at North Berwick this year, feathering is a big advantage as the back of the oar does not act as a sail and is less likely to slam into the tops of waves. If you can feather you take advantage of this into the wind and then simply don’t feather on the downwind legs. If you cannot feather because your oars will not allow it, or you have not been taught how to, you loose the option.
    Adam

  • Alan Pendred

    Adam
    I do appreciate that but would say that in the context of the St Ayles being limited to woden pins, kabes, unspooned oars etc a fixing that allows you to take proper advantage of this is very hard to come up with, Topher being possibly the only person on earth who could. The pin and kabe feathering method that Porty have tried seems to give the rower too much to do for the slight advantage gained, and only in very windy conditions.

  • adam

    Alan,
    Acknowledge that a round section oar will require a lot more control, I remember rowing a NB boat a couple of years ago. However a D-Section or square section oar shaft, at the point of contact with the Thole pin, gives two positive positions, feathered & square, by the slight rotation of one wrist.
    This is not hard to achieve.We have had this available to us at Royal West for 100+ years and it does not require commercially engineered oars to achieve it.
    Would love to continue this specific debate with you but think it better done away from the wider issue that RowPorty have raised.
    Regards
    Adam
    adam_graham@hotmail.com

  • Sean Watters

    I don’t think safety is a big issue either. The fixed oars can be shipped pretty quickly and can also swivel out of the way which you can’t do with kabes/pins. We had issues when we tried humlibands/ropes but we could never get them to work properly anyway.

  • http://www.facebook.com/peter.nisbet Peter Nisbet

    The St Abbs Skiff was fitted with rowlocks from the start.
    They were cheap, low maintenance, the oars were easy to ship and there was very
    little wear on the oars.

    I’ve used the other system and have found them all wanting. With some systems
    being dangerous on the open coast and small harbour where we operate.

  • Topher Dawson

    Great to have this debate. We decided that fixed oars were the way to go 3 years ago, because at the beginning of the stroke, non-fixed oars tend to slide out of the boat and it takes muscular effort to stop them doing it. This effort could be better directed at making the boat going faster. Fixing the oar from sliding out makes the whole rowing experience more ergonomic and I think it would be a backward step to ban it. Coigach and Porty seem to be finding it better too.

    For this reason fine boats (Olympic rowing) have buttons on their oars to stop them sliding out, but they can be easily slid in. Our oars have three grooves on the bottom wear plate for three gears, and we do use the top two while racing. The grooves engage on the bottom bar of the swivel and prevent the oar sliding in or out. Oars with buttons can have their gear ratio altered by clipping plastic CLAMs on to lengthen the inboard, but these are difficult to replicate in wood!

    Our oars are held into their swivels by bungees which are normally unhooked to take in the oars, but the whole oar/swivel can be lifted off the wooden thole pin very quickly in an emergency. Because of that and because the oars can swivel the whole 180 degrees unlike two pin systems, I don’t think there is a safety issue.

    Feathering (which is another issue) has not yet been proven one way or the other. The fine boat system and the Royal West system allow it, and non-fixed round oars obviously do too. Flat or square oars confined by bungees like ours or humlibands, or fixed by a wooden pin through a hole like the current Coigach system, don’t allow it. We may try it out but I think it will depend on having a very light oar as the feathering action needs to be easy on the wrists.

    Everyone likes their own system and would be reluctant to give it up so I’d be surprised if we end up with one system.

  • Nick (Porty)

    I think we will end up with one system; the fastest one. We at Porty do not want to disadvantage ourselves against others by not using fixed oars, so therefore (in competition at least) we have to ditch our beloved round oars and pins!

  • Sean Watters

    Personally I’m happy to leave things as they are. The rules were intended to allow experimentation and innovation, within boundaries, and I don’t see a pressing need to restrict that further. We may see people converging on a particular set up but, as Adam says, you can have more than one system for the same boat. Even within our own club we haven’t got agreement on one system, so what are the prospects for agreement over the association?

  • John McIntyre

    Who is this person writing and why should you listen to me.

    I learned to row when I was about four. I have rowed ever since (no outboard motor) I have lived on a boat moored near Ullapool rowing ashore and back year round. Only being stormbound during a couple of F10 – 11s
    I have rowed Eights – sliding seats, fixed oars that are feathered. The rowing and feathering become almost a meditation completely automatic with practise. So I am bemused at the suggestion that featuring is difficult or might cause injury. (It is optional.)
    I am qualified as a Naval Architect (interested in traditional and low speed low powered boats. I observe that much of what I hear said is simply wrong.)

    I like the wooden oar locks and oars that we use on the Ullapool boats. They are really only a copy of the oar locks used on ALL sliding seat boats (and many others including the new Wymes skiff?)
    They are low friction and do not generate wood dust. The oars are as light as possible so they do not absorb power that could otherwise be used to drive the boat forward. The stresses in them were calculated so as to minimise their weight while making them light. I have watched many other crews break their heavy oars with a mixture of sadness as they ‘designed’ their oars by intuitively (randomly) shaving wood off in the wrong places and with glee because all this not even engineering gives us a better chance to win.

    The fixed light low friction oar locks and oars make the boat easy to row which is good for racing but also good for beginners and the less strong crews who want to start rowing and enjoy themselves. (We have about 50? rowers taking the boats out)

    I do not think that we have completely optimised the oars yet but that we are going about it in a rational and efficient way.

    Even after a lifetime of rowing I do not think there is any danger of it becoming too easy or of running out of things to learn.
    The crew I steer for (I am offended on their behalf by the suggestion that I coach them as they coach themselves.) have learned how to row with grace by endless practise together and by thoughtful constructive self criticism. They are still happily learning.
    After learning to row with grace and in time there is still the art of rowing the boat in wind and waves. Of learning to turn and the tactical grace of choosing the best course through the waves and round the course and how to overtake…. We have been practising keeping rowing while one person stops to take a layer of clothing off, useful too if something breaks!
    There really is no need to worry about running out of things to learn.

    I would be very sad if we were forced to adopt a less efficient system.

    John Ullapool

  • Ian Mills

    Hi
    everyone,

    I
    generally agree with RowPorty’s safety concerns:

    Whilst
    the safety implications of having fixed oars is not a great
    problem at the moment, I feel that in the future it may be. In my
    limited experience of Coastal Rowing races, I have generally noticed
    that there is a frantic start (with a possibility of oar clashes in
    tricky conditions) after which the race soon becomes mostly a
    procession where there is only a fairly slim risk of bad clashes,
    even at buoy turns. However, I suspect that our club is not the only
    one which intends to spend less time at the back of the fleet next
    season and I predict that over the next few years that as standards
    improve, the fleet will compress significantly with a much greater
    risk of clashes, especially at buoy turns. In that situation, I would
    not want to be up against a crew with oars that do not ship readily.
    I hear what people say about how easy it is to ‘ship’ the fixed oars,
    but I have doubts about how well this can and will be done in the
    ‘heat of battle’. Non fixed oars on the other hand would be much
    safer in every respect. I know of no other branch of rowing which
    uses completely fixed oars, probably for this reason.

    I
    disagree greatly with the suggestion that ‘more competitively
    minded’ rowers will loose interest if holding the oar at the
    correct gearing and pitch is made easier. As John has said, there are
    plenty more skills to improve in developing an efficient rowing
    stroke to keep us interested. I see no disadvantage whatsoever in
    making rowing ‘easier’. Although one member of our crack under 11
    squad did comment that he would find it harder to set a rhythm
    without the clonking sound of oar on kabe! (He will soon learn the
    joys of listening for the gentle splosh of a unified catch.)

    Feathering
    – I personally think nothing should change here and it should be
    allowed where clubs wish to use it. (As in every other branch of
    rowing.)

    It seems
    that next season many clubs intend changing to the pin/fixed oar
    system currently used by Coigach etc. I have been looking forward to
    using my own ingenuity to develop a system which has the benefit of
    the reduced friction of the pins, but still holds the oar at a fixed
    gearing and pitch whilst allowing the oars to be shipped when
    required. Ie: an adaption of the oars with stops (which are a
    substitute for the ‘buttons’ described by Topher) which we already
    use with our kabes. It is this experimental aspect of the St Ayles
    Skiff that makes the whole thing so interesting.

    I agree
    with the ethos that everything should be made of timber and hand
    crafted by members of the clubs. Preferably with easily obtainable
    and affordable materials.

    If there
    are likely to be restrictions imposed, (aimed at improving the
    levelness of the playing field) please give us all an indication of
    how long this process might take as soon as possible so we know whether to delay
    our experiments.

    Ian
    Mills, Crail Coastal Rowing Club

  • Robin – (of Pittenweem)

    One of the main features of this summers competition has been the intelligence shared between crews on the beach, all interested in each other’s oarlock gear, and then the subsequent modifications to the boats, and then the talking about how they went.

    It’s been nice, that.

    Within all of our clubs, some people get their kick on for rowing, some for coxing, some for woodworking, and some for for innovation and design.

    Please don’t kill one of my favourite aspects of the sport. I’m not an innovator or designer myself, but I really love it when those of our club who are turn up with their latest design and explain how they ‘love it when a plan comes together’.

  • Hugh MacKenzie, North Berwick

    There are TWO quite separate issues here.
    (1) You can buy a fine pair of galvanised oarlocks for about £15 per pairwhich satisfy the requirements of being able to retain the oar when rowing, allow feathering and to ship the oar quickly when required.. It is quite appropriate to have metal oarlocks on a traditional boat and indeed many have them. We have been forced into making wooden oarlocks by the St Ayles building regulations which mean that a lot of wasted effort is going into the design of something which already exists.
    (2) The question of fixed oars would also be resolved with rowlocks as it would not be difficult to make or buy adjustable collars which would retain the oar in the required position but still allow rapid shipping of the oars.

    The current situation is entirely artificial and we should be using the best traditional means of retaining the oars…METAL OARLOCKS!!

  • Hugh North berwick

    If metal fittings for the rudder are allowed then why not metal fittings for the oarlocks. The rules are completely arbitrary and metal rowlocks should be permitted as they are widely used as the normal way to operate oars.

  • Hugh North Berwick

    All very interesting but not a word about why traditional metal rowlocks may be “bad”.Why make wooden oarlocks when inexpensive metal ones are inexpensive, effective,efficient,tried and tested and readily available?

  • Sean Watters

    Something to consider for next year’s AGM perhaps.

  • Ian Mills

    Hi Hugh,
    Is your suggestion that it be a requirement that all skiffs use the same metal rowlocks – or just that they should be allowed for those who prefer to use them?

    To answer your question in your reply to John above – metal rowlocks would not be as efficient in many ways as Ullapool’s system (and others’ also) because they do not fix the pitch of the oar. The oar is allowed to slip pitchwise in a metal rowlock which is not a good idea if you are trying to be efficient in pulling on the oar.
    Also, I think you would be restricted to a round section oar of around 60mm diameter. (I can’t find any bigger than this on internet – but maybe you know of a supplier?) This would consequently limit the length of your oars as a round section does not resist bending stress as efficiently as a rectangular section (for same amount of material).
    So… my vote would be against commercial metal rowlocks. (But if others wish to use them – fine by me too.)
    Ian (Crail)

  • Sean Watters

    A 60mm dia allows for a pretty lengthy round oar. A heavy one too. Believe me.

  • Hugh North Berwick

    One can buy or make either horseshoe rowlocks or ones with a square cross-section to allow the user to fix the pitch. That could be a matter of preference.
    The skiff is built with modern materials sich as plywood and epoxy resin. Why pretend that it is “traditional” to have kabes when rowlocks or oarlocks are the preferred option and have been used successfully for over 100 years

  • Sally

    I have been rowing with
    rowporty since our first skiff was launched in 2010. We currently have
    one boat set up with ‘free’ oars on a pin and kabe system and round
    oars, whilst our other boat now operates on a ‘restricted’ fixed pin
    system with square oars.

    Having tried both systems several times a week for several
    months I have observed that our fixed square oar set up makes for a more
    predictable and technically easy row, which is restrictive in terms of
    positioning, is robotic and is less interesting but in which you might
    arguably go faster as you are less likely to make a mistake and are more
    able to ‘just heave’.

    On the other hand the pin and kabe round oar set up makes for a
    more responsive, challenging, skilfull and, therefore, interesting
    row. Rowers have to totally focus on what their oar is doing, and when
    it all comes together and all four move smoothly ‘as one’ it’s fantastic
    – the boat flies through the water.

    I also find the fixed system much harder to do anything quickly
    with, both in terms of getting oars ready to row fast (eg launching in
    surf) or getting them out of the way fast (avoiding an obstacle). I
    think this makes the fixed system more dangerous.

    I sincerely hope that SCR, as a fairly new organisation, takes
    these issues into account in considering the development of this
    brilliant sport and leaves us free to challenge ourselves and improve
    our skills and technique and stay interested, whilst allowing teams to
    compete on a level playing field.