Rat Island Regatta - Voyage 3

On Saturday I drove with my wife to Fort Worden State Park on the edge of Port Townsend, WA, for the Sound Rowers Rat Island Regatta. No other pedal boats were in attendance. The weather was overcast with temperatures in the upper 50's Fahrenheit, and a light breeze from the south at a couple of mph. Waves were maybe 6 inches or so. For the Admiralty Inlet - the entrance to Puget Sound - this was a pretty calm day.

In preparation for the race I did the following:
1. Shorten the prop strut so when vertical the tip would overlap the stern bottom by about 1.5 inches.
2. Wrap the L-shaped top of the prop strut with a bit of rubber innertube to dampen the shock if the strut moved vertically
3. Slightly bent the remaining vertical strut so as to counteract the propeller torque steering effects that turn the boat to starboard
4. Returned the rear stabilizer support to the lower position, using just the 3/8 inch thick blue foam so the short bolts could be used to secure the mount to the hull
5. Replaced the 152mm crank arms with 170mm crank arms and adjusted the cadence sensor to work with the new cranks
6. Installed a water bottle cage on the bow side of the gearbox
7. Cut 8 inch by 3 inch (approx) rectangles of Coroplast and pentagonal wedges to be taped to the front of the stabilizers for last-ditch water foils should the stabilizers submerge completely
8. Cut closed cell foam pads for the lower back rest and seat bottom

The boat felt pretty unstable at first, but this was merely getting used to how it behaved. The right steering cord kept getting caught by the Coroplast race number I duct-taped to the rear deck behind the seat back - at least until I figured out that using both cords would free it.

The slight breeze at the start coupled with my not carrying a paddle caused me to drift a bit sideways in front of some other boats as we waited for the starting signal. Sorry about that, guys!

Shortly after the start of the race I discovered that the slight tweaking of the prop strut was in fact far overkill. The boat really wanted to turn towards port, and only by deploying the right rudder fully could the boat be brought over to starboard.

This was rather a shame because when the rudders were not deployed the speed of the boat was generally in the 7.5 mph region with a heart rate of about 152 bpm and a cadence of about 68 to 70 rpm.

With the rudder deployed, the speed dropped to 6.2 to 6.3 mph with the same effort expended.

So, I zig-zagged throughout the course, with the rudder deployed about 2/3 to 3/4 of the time.

The prop strut did not seem to bounce up and down any more, or at least not so much as to be annoying. The propeller did ventilate on very minor waves, say 6 inches or so, but only for half a crank cycle or so. I wonder how much of that was augmented by the prop strut.

The bow did a great job of shedding water, and only a couple of times in rougher water did anything make it to the deflector panels below the seat. The foam pad extending beyond the seat bottom panel helped to keep most of the water away from my posterior.

The stabilizers were still a bit stern downward, which probably retarded forward movement somewhat, but at speed the boat seemed to be fairly stable. For whatever reason, the gearbox being slightly off center, the right stabilizer digging deeper into the water, or something else, I found I had to lean to the right to feel centered on the boat. This made for somewhat awkward pedaling, too.

Throughout most of the race I pedaled at 65 to 69 rpm, with a pulse in the 150's, though after rounding Rat Island it started dropping to the 140's. Except for one person in a surfski, the only other folks ahead were rowers. In addition, a person who typically paddled about the same speed as I pedal in a Cadence was some distance behind me in an OC-1.

Trying to reach the water bottle generally required slowing or stopping and leaning far forward to get it, and to return it. A Camelback or similar will need to be installed in the seat back to facilitate drinking on future outings.

At the end of the race I managed to put in a short sprint, almost catching a 4 person rowing shell. My heart rate went to the 160's in the process.

What is funny about all this is that a couple of years ago, and a couple of years before that I finished this same race in a Cadence with almost the exact same time: 1 hour 14 minutes. Considering the new boat was hobbled by counteracting the prop strut steering, this means to me that it definitely has the potential to outperform the Cadence by a significant margin.

After the race I took a wrench and pliers and tried to reduce the tweaking of the prop strut. The boat was returned to the water and yes, it now had less of a tendency to turn to port, but it still needed some course correction.

So, here are the final results:
1. Stabilizers in the rear position work quite well
2. The stabilizers need to drag their sterns less
3. The winglets might have been used, but I couldn't tell - except for some seaweed on one of them.
4. The seat cushions (back and bottom) need work before they will be as comfortable as in the Cadence or Escapade
5. The shorter strut is perhaps 1 or 2 inches too short
6. The prop strut potentially could be a better rudder than the dipping rudders

So, I am thinking of replacing the fixed prop strut with one that rotates. Yes, the current strut can move vertically and allows the shaft to swing from side to side, but if it could be twisted clockwise or counterclockwise then perhaps it could be used for steering.

The effect that a slight twist to a maybe 3/4 inch wide by maybe 16 inch long strip of aluminum had on steering implies that it could be an excellent alternative to the dipping rudders - and drop a couple of pounds from the boat in the process.

Here is a link to the photos taken at the race.