Make sure your boats are in by 7:00 tonight in honor of this great country’s birthday weekend.

On April 1st, CRI will once again host the “April Fools Monster Launch Rodeo”!  Past favorites such as the low wake race, and the “Big Turn” will return, as well as new events, such as a “Seat Racing Switch” (still looking for a clever name for that one)

Most exciting though, is that Regatta Northwest, Premier supplier of Survival Suits and other weatherproof outerwear for rowing coaches, has agreed to sponsor the event.  The overall winner of the Rodeo will win a brand new Floatation Jacket!

Please visit www.regattanorthwest.com and check out their products!

On April 1st, CRI will once again host the “April Fools Monster Launch Rodeo”!  Past favorites such as the low wake race, and the “Big Turn” will return, as well as new events, such as a “Seat Racing Switch” (still looking for a clever name for that one)

Most exciting though, is that Regatta Northwest, Premier supplier of Survival Suits and other weatherproof outerwear for rowing coaches, has agreed to sponsor the event.  The overall winner of the Rodeo will win a brand new Floatation Jacket!

Please visit www.regattanorthwest.com and check out their products!

Seth and AJ have been spending the traditional erging/party season getting caught up on rigging and boat repairs.  Most recently through the bay is the Audi Rowing, a vespoli pair from 1989.  AJ got the Rig dialed in to our new boat standard (86cm, 4 degrees) and Seth has hotrodded up the whole boat!

Check it!

-Decks cleaned, polished and retaped

-Gunnels filled and sealed

-Steering re-cabled

-Cockpit painted! (CRI RED!)

-Toe replaced with new style

The New style toe is and especially hot mod, short housing means that shoe position can be adjusted without haveing to worry about adjusting the steering.  Just loosen the wing nuts, move the stretcher, and retighten.  There is a hand knob for adjusting the steering if it slips, but day to day rowers shouldn’t have to worry about it. Read the full story

In our efforts to increase the safety of our own programs and of the Charles River in general, CRI is now a vendor for innovative lighting products!  We now have battery powered LED navigation lights for sale at the front desk.  These mount with a suction cup and are super bright with long lasting batteries.  Proceeds from the sales will help offset the cost of lighting all the club boats for morning and evening programs.

Lights will be sold for $50 a pair (batteries not included)

Details below-

I took the opportunity, while up in Vermont on vacation, to do an afternoon of training at Concept2.

Working out in the Regatta Service trailer, I learned about most of the typical repairs done on oars.  From replacing grips to replacing blades and sleeves.  Bob and Chris were very helpful, I may even appear in some “how to” videos on the C2  website!

The process of repairing and re-sleeving sculling oars has begun.  Look for new green sleeves or new white wearplates along with fresh tape on log book oars to denote oars that have been serviced.

CRI now owns an offical C2 Oar pitching fixture so repairs to private oars are now possible as well.

The James F Connors has emerged, phoenix like, from the repair bay!  It has been extensively rebuilt and cleaned up and returns to the fleet a very nice racing double.  This boat is for lightweights only, and it beats FISA minimums by a few pounds!

VanDusen are a bit unique in their construction, especially the Connors, which was built in  1992.   I will post some pictures soon of the repair work.  But it takes some patience to rig and adjust this boat.  Please check with me if you are looking to make changes.  Even though the individual riggers appear to set differently the boat is currently set at 160cm spread, 4 deg pitch.

Here’s the list of what has been done for this boat;

-New shoes and foot boards

-New stretcher mounts for bow seat

-Replaced bow seat aft-knees

-New hardware throughout

-Resin coated riggers and seats (no more carbon splinters!)

-New Tracks

-Multiple hull repairs

-Nearly all the bracing was rebuilt

-New decking and hull tape

-super cleaning

Please take the time to thank GS2 rower Katie Jones, her boyfriend Jason Coutermarsh, and Sculler Mark McEwen.  Thanks to their efforts 3 coxboxes which had been living in the junk box are back in service and fully operational!  These 3 volunteered their Electrical expertise to do some internal repairs to the circuit boards.  In the past similar issues have been unrepairable and meant that these coxboxes would have been replaced with new ones at full price.

This is a testament to the strength of the “Community” part of Community Rowing!

Way to go CRI!

A Note to all members and coaches.  It is important to park the Barges correctly after they are used.  As you can see from the following photos, water levels change dramatically during the day and it is important that the barge be parked in a way that prevents it getting wedged under the dock.

Had this not been caught, the barge could have easily been cracked or sunk by the torque of all the buoyancy of the un-pinched sections.

When the barge is tied up, there should always be a rigger on either side of the mooring post.  This will ensure that the barge cannot drift around the post and end up unhappy, as shown above.

Regarde, a properly tied barge…

Very little slack in the strap, and no way for the barge to move under the dock.

Equally concerning is the red barge, shown here…

This may SEEM like a good parking job.  But what you cant see is the sharp steel corners on the floating ring around the pylon that are digging into the side of the barge.  Also, this barge makes it impossible to properly align the green barge in its designated spot.

It Is important that equipment be cared for at a club like CRI, and that means putting it away properly when sessions are over.

In the Repair bay I’ve been re-animating some of the older cox-boxes with new batteries.  We have a couple that are not working because of a loose or broken connection on the circuit board.

Im putting the call out to members to see if anyone has experience building or repairing circuit boards who might be able to  help out.

Email Seth@communityrowing.org if you can!