Rigging the coxed touring quads
The Quinte Rowing Club and Ontario Adventure Rowing invited us to join them in the “Icicle Chase”, an end-of-season half-marathon on the Otonabee River, from Peterborough to Campbellton. There were seven crews rowing coxed touring quads: one from Belleville, four from Toronto and two from Ottawa plus our crew in Sea Shadow. After unloading boats at the start, cars and trailers were jockeyed to the finish, while crews rigged and launched the boats. Timed starts, in head race fashion, saw Sea Shadow on the course first. After a few kilometers the first of the quads appeared behind us and gradually overtook us followed by the others throughout the race. Despite getting to the finish line last, we completed the 23K course in a respectable 2-1/2 hours, only 20 minutes behind the last of the quads. Congratulations to the winning crew, I understand they set a course record!
During the race we discovered that Sea Shadow had one distinct advantage over the quads, making crew changes on the water. We made five changes, giving everyone a chance to sit back and relax in the cox seat. Not so easy in the quads! It was quite a sight to see a crew member walking the gunnels on all fours over the other crew as they lay back in their seats (sorry I didn’t get a photo).
We thoroughly enjoyed the outing and were most impressed with how well the event was organized. From start to finish nothing was overlooked. A BBQ at the end was a great opportunity to meet some of the other crews before we headed home to nurse our aching muscles.
On behalf of the Sea Shadow crew I would very much like to thank Arnold Vandermeer and Maxine Walker of the Quinte Rowing Club and also Ontario Adventure Rowing for including us in this event.
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