Buy any new or used pre-2011 boat before the end of the summer and get an interest-free payment plan for more than one year. That is, reserve the boat with a 20% payment, and then pay off the remainder in four equal payments at the start of each subsequent quarter. This is a savings of approximately $500 on a single and nearly $2,000 on an eight. See the list of available boats at www.sykesna.com/inventory.pdf.

The next Sykes boat container arrives into Philadelphia around the first week of September. Soon thereafter I'll be on the road with a full trailer heading west toward Seattle, where I should arrive around mid-September. From the Pacific Northwest, I'll roll south to Southern California and Arizona, where I plan to stay through the end of September. In October, I'll be through the southern prairie states en route to Georgia and Florida in the first couple weeks of October. I'll only roll back into Philadelphia the weekend before the Head of the Charles, which is where I head (Boston) the following week.

Given how much I transport boats, like the aforementioned 11,000 miler that I have planned for September and October, I've learned a couple things about boat transport. Similarly, while owning a boat repair business, I get to see how often people do not transport boats properly...

Most boats come with a steering system, typically only double- and single-sculls come without a rudder. While the old-style stern-coxed rope and rudder systems are rather straight forward, the bow-coxed and toe-steered boats are mildly more elaborate...

Let's start with a little lesson in the brilliance of measuring with metric. There are 1000 cubic cm (a.k.a. millilitres) in a litre. And one litre of water conveniently weighs 1kg (temperature affects that but not substantially under typical rowing conditions). Isn't that metric system just beautifully...

In the September 2009 newsletter, I did a piece on fins – Getting Your Fins Straight – which focused on the effect of fin size on maneuverability and stability. The point of that piece was to encourage you to play around with fin size to ...

In last month's newsletter, I wrote a short bit on the advantages of various hull cross-sections: semi-circular having the least drag, and those that have a flattened curve providing more roll stability...

If you're familiar with some of the historical hallmarks of a Sykes – features that are common to most of our hull designs – boats that have a semi-circular cross section would be one such hallmark. There are other builders who...

Another factor that changes between racing short distances (1,000m-2,000m) and the long-distance time-trial races is boat squat. Yes, squat. As a boat picks up speed, it wants to the water. When a boat squats beyond its modeled...

One of the most common conversations I have with people investigating their options in single sculls is whether M20 is faster than M26, or if the M25 is considerably more stable than the M26H (aka M30). Theoretically the...

In January's newsletter, I talked about how we've changed the nomenclature that we use for designating the boat's size. Instead of using, say, 70kg for the crew weight of a Mould 26 single scull, we now use M26L, where the L...

Drew Ginn and Duncan Free won the gold medal in the men's pair at the 2008 Beijing Games, being the fourth crew in five Olympics to win a gold while rowing either a Sykes pair or double. The one year that no crews earned a gold...

Most boats come with a steering system, typically only double- and single-sculls come without a rudder. While the old-style stern-coxed rope and rudder systems are rather straight forward, the bow-coxed and toe-steered boats are mildly more elaborate...

If you have never read the Sykes NA owner's manual, you'd be wise to do so some day soon. While it needs some updating – and I hope to do that this year – there is a bunch of practical things in there. One such area is hardware fasteners, which most folks seem to struggle with a wee bit...

In the September 2009 newsletter, I did a piece on fins – Getting Your Fins Straight – which focused on the effect of fin size on maneuverability and stability. The point of that piece was to encourage you to play around with fin size to ...

A customer of mine long-familiar with Sykes, once expressed some lament to the fact we no longer make three-stay side-bolting riggers for singles. (We only make those now for fours and eights...

Updating and Replacing your Parts & Fittings

One of the other services Shackamaxon (a.k.a. The Shax Shop) provides is reconditioning used boats. As you'll see on shopshax.com, there's quite a lot of value you can add to your older boats by going this route...

The fin serves one primary purpose: to reduce the slipping and sliding that a minimum draft hull like a rowing boat would experience without one. You'll see the dramatic change in hull behaviour when you lose a fin in an on-water...

Many of you will have the quick-release riggers and be scratching your head about moving the rigger fore or aft. Indeed the 'fixed' position of the quick-release bracket on the rigger flange complicates moving the rigger, but it's still...

If you've been a customer since 2004, you may have noticed we've changed the footstretcher part several times. Prior to 2004, we were using the varnished footstretcher board in every one of the construction models. Now we...

I know that many of you folks are braving the cold to train on the water; others are just enjoying the winter-warmth of your warmer climate. Even still, this is a good time to plan for the 2009 season and to consider what maintenance...

What else does Sykes do to improve damage durability?

Another thing we do differently than many builders these days is use gel coat rather than polyurethane paint. That is, if you have a white Sykes or another colour on a boat more than three years old, what you're seeing is a gel coat ...

The decision on what materials to use in a boat are important, but I also think they often get overstated, particularly when it comes to matters of boat weight. I get a lot of questions about boat weight and how it affects performance...

Most boats come with a steering system, typically only double- and single-sculls come without a rudder. While the old-style stern-coxed rope and rudder systems are rather straight forward, the bow-coxed and toe-steered boats are mildly more elaborate...

Consider some of the ugliest damage that you've seen or can imagine: The bow getting lopped off in the closing of an over-head garage door. An oar rack getting blown over in a wind storm, the falling of which is broken by boats...

Updating and Replacing your Parts & Fittings

One of the other services Shackamaxon (a.k.a. The Shax Shop) provides is reconditioning used boats. As you'll see on shopshax.com, there's quite a lot of value you can add to your older boats by going this route...

I know that many of you folks are braving the cold to train on the water; others are just enjoying the winter-warmth of your warmer climate. Even still, this is a good time to plan for the 2009 season and to consider what maintenance...

Given how much I transport boats, like the aforementioned 11,000 miler that I have planned for September and October, I've learned a couple things about boat transport. Similarly, while owning a boat repair business, I get to see how often people do not transport boats properly...

In the constant conversation regarding rigging, too often little is said about how to measure and rig efficiently. You may be the bloke who has every tool he needs, or you may know someone who does. Still, most of the folks I see...

I've covered rigging recently here in the newsletters and pretty comprehensively in the owner's manual that is available online at www.sykesna.com. After this fall and dealing with folks who are renting boats from me...