MF Interlude

Just a quick intermission in the overly verbose MF saga.

I have a problem with the way a lot of people are setting up their rowing frames these days. I don't necessarily think I know everything there is to know about rowing a raft, but I think I have a pretty good feel for what works and why.

What I'm seeing on a lot of rafts and catarafts these days, are oars that aren't really useful for rowing.

When the pivot points of your oars are equidistant between your blades and your handles, you no longer have a "mechanical advantage." The oars will feel very light in your hands, you'll be able to swing them around and through the water easily, but they won't actually move your boat all that well.

Likewise, if the blades on your oars aren't a whole lot wider than the shaft, it won't matter how hard you pull on them, they again aren't going to move your boat a lot.

What I think I am seeing, is a trend towards 1 to 1 pivots, and very narrow blades.

If all you are going to do is float, that is a fine setup, because all you need to do is steer. But if you want to actually make your raft move forward or backward, you really should have pivots approaching 1 length inboard to 2 outboard. And some meaty blades.

Personally, I run Carlisle 8" Outfitter Oar Blades, the meatiest I can find. With almost a 1 to 2 pivot ratio. Because I like to row. I enjoy making my raft move.

It seems to me like there is a certain segment of the rafting population that wants to appear as if they are rowing, but really don't want to do the work. Rowing imitators as it were. They are buying the gear, and all the artifices of the rower, but they are in fact content with merely steering.

Narrow blades, open oarlocks, 1 to 1 pivot ratios, floating through rapids and not actively pushing, these are the trappings of these rowing charlatans.

Now there is nothing wrong with just steering a raft: the river is going to take you downstream whether you row there or not. That is the idea, the raison d'etre of rafting in the first place: to let the river do the work.

The problem I have is with trying to adopt the "image" of a rower, when in fact you are a steerer.

Because this is the thing: if all you want to do is steer, a rowing setup is freakishly inefficient. A rowing setup is designed to move the boat forward or backward. When you have a rowing setup, the first thing you have to do to steer (move the boat laterally in the current) is to turn the boat sideways. You make your lateral adjustment, and then typically, point the raft downstream again.

If you are going to actively make your raft move downstream, a rowing setup is the way to go.

What I propose, is that all these rower "posers" embrace their steerage. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with merely wanting to steer. But do it right. And a rowing setup is not the right way to steer.

Instead, and I really do think this would be cool, these "steerers" should acquire, fabricate, fashion, shape, ie invent sweep frames for their boats. It would look much more cool (which seems to be the priority anyways), be much more efficient for doing what they are all about anyway (steering), and would be more true to their essence (as steerers).

"A what?" You ask.

A Sweep frame. Basically, instead of having the oars stick out the sides of the boat, you stick them out the front and the back.

Sweep rigs are very common on the Main Salmon, where they are often used as "gear barges" by commercial outfitters:
This rig would be too heavy to effectively row downstream, so they don't even try. They are content to steer. Very true to their being.

Even though I am in fact a bona-fide rower, I may take the lead in this endeavor, this revolution if you will. I'll say it right now: I am going to build a sweep frame for my cataraft, and take it down some river (to be determined). I think it would be a hoot, and it may be the first step in helping a large segment of the rafting population become more in tune, more "true" to themselves.