Whitehall’s transportation expert Wilf Lewis gets to have a lot of fun delivering boats as he plays the role of Boat Santa all around North America. Our door to door service can’t be beat especially when there’s such a skilled and dependable person handling your boat delivery. However once in a while I get to experience the thrills myself and a great example was a recent delivery of a Whitehall Spirit® 17 Expedition model to the Poffenroth family who live on Kootenay Lake in the southeastern part of B.C.
As we drove into the yard a large part of the clan were there to greet us. Marie and I with help from everyone quickly unwrapped all the components, of which there are plenty on an Expedition model, and soon had it stripped down to double slide seat mode.
Six people then simply took hold of the gunnels and lifted the boat over onto the aluminum dolly that we also supplied. The boat balanced perfectly enabling fingertip control on level ground. However their home is located a fair bit above the lake and the path down to the beach was a little steep at the beginning.
With strapping young sons William and David holding onto the dolly at the bow and two or three others holding onto the gunnels, breaking the load it was a simple matter to roll the boat down to the beach. The beach itself is comprised of fairly good sized broken rocks but the cart rolled over them without any noticeable difficulty whatsoever.
The boys shoved the boat off the dolly out onto the lake for the maiden launch and the boat looked absolutely gorgeous against the backdrop of snowy mountain peaks across the lake.
David and William climbed aboard and their father Les gave them a shove out onto the lake. The two boys quickly got their sculling oars coordinated and headed off at a good speed. As we climbed the hill back up to the house we could see them far out on the lake cruising along in the sparkling water.
I felt confident knowing that this Whitehall Spirit® 17 is a boat that will handle the exposed waters of Kootenay Lake well, whether under oars or under sail.
The Yacht “Traveller” gets a new Solo 14 deck boat.
David Brown pulled into Victoria Harbor with his beautiful steel hulled Motor yacht, the “Traveller”. The yacht was equipped with a single pick davit on the bow and it was a simple matter for Nick Brech and Colin Rolls to roll David’s new deck boat the Solo 14 “Traveller Too” down the dock and hook up the nifty Spectra lifting strops. David simply hoisted the boat, pivoted the crane and dropped the boat smoothly into the custom chocks we had fabricated especially for “Traveller”. Having a sliding seat Whitehall onboard will keep David and his crew fit and trim for years to come.
Nimbles Cove – by Andrea Guyon
‘Rowing Gloves – the Final Solution’
After searching high and low for a great pair of rowing gloves … my search has finally paid off.
My issue was that most sport gloves are "fingerless tips"… meaning that from the 2nd knuckle and up towards the tip, there is no glove at all. What was there, bunched up in the joint crease and caused even more blisters and cut off the "feel" of my hand on the oar grip.
I tried out neoprene paddler's gloves, but they made my hands sweat (and smell funny... can't have that!) and the neoprene caused a disconnected feel with the oars. I tried biking gloves, but they have too many seams and "pads" on the fingers and caused bunching as well.
I also tried gardening/work gloves but they were too thick and folded up in the joint crease making pulling uncomfortable.
I have tried rowing gloves from Australia. They looked and felt very nice, were made of thin soft kangaroo leather and had little vents between the fingers which was thoughtful… but they too were fingerless so at the place where one pulls on the oar just below the first knuckle, the fingers were exposed.
Funnily enough, these "Flextime" work gloves shown below were not only the winner in my product testing but the least expensive too! They even have a hood on the thumb so when I push outward on the end of the sculling oar, the thumb doesn't wear out immediately (like the biking gloves).
What I really like is that I don't get any painful blisters but slowly build smooth calluses so that if I go out for a short time without gloves, I am not sorry the next day. I also use gloves for more than just blisters… I have a tendency to occasionally scrape the top of my right hand with my fingernails so the gloves protect the top of my hand as well. All good news!
Watson Gloves: 005 Flextime
* Soft full-grain leather palm
*Spandex back provides form- fitting memory
*Hooded fingertips for longer wear
*Velcro closure for snug fit
Price $15.pr
Sizes: S-XL
Also available lined for winter
Watson Gloves: 012 Flextime For Her
Sizes M-L
Dockside by Dr. John Degnan – The Case of the Tingling fingers
A letter and a question from Solo 14 owner David Z. follows…
Wow what magnificent rowing weather! I just came back off of Boundary Bay to the delight of people on the beach as they came around to look at this beautiful Solo 14. But while rowing I seem to continuously get tingling hands… have you ever heard of this?
Now I am not out of shape at all, I run, swim, cycle, throw around weights all the time… but this is peculiar… it feels like my hands are going to sleep. Is it just a matter of getting use to the pull on the tendons? Remember, I have not used my boat for a year… last May I broke my arm and tore three major muscle groups in my forearm, so rowing was nixed.
Nonetheless I love it… I love the variable pace. I LOVE the sliding seat and the sweet serenity of it all. David Z
David's question about his hands tingling has to do with grip..... all the flexor tendons pass thru the same tunnel as the median nerve (carpal tunnel). The nerve is real gushy while the tendons are like steak gristle...thus when competing for space the nerve gets the short end and starts to malfunction. The tingle more than likely is in thumb and adjacent two fingers. The cure is a light grip with slight extension of the wrist. Hope this helps.
Marie also mentioned some of our fellow rowers don't like to look over the shoulder for waypoints. First of all it is very healthy for the cervical spine to do this maneuver. It really helps to wear rimless sunglasses (Maui Jim) and it is important to have depth perception in your peripheral vision. Try looking over the opposite shoulder of your dominant eye (usually right) to find your dominant eye. Look at a distant object then block your vision with a finger alternate closing each eye and your dominant eye is the one where the finger does not move.
Strength and honor
John Degnan
