MAX EBB — "T
he way to a crew's loyalty is through their stomachs," I remember once being told by an old racing skipper, when I was a new sailor. This is especially true for a crew of graduate students: All you have to do is treat them to lunch at a restaurant that's just a little more upscale than what they can usually afford, and you've got their attention. "Where's Lee?" I asked as the four new crew prospects sat down with me at a
"You think they'd know better than to all paddle in time like that."
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table by the window. Lee had assembled a very promising group of sailors: There was one dinghy racer who had been on a college team back East, there was a competitive rower who looked like he was built to grind winches, an engineering student, and a naval architecture student from Lee's department at the university. "She was on campus this morning," answered the naval arch student. "Funny how she's never around when I need her," I said. "But let's get down to business. Here's the race schedule for the rest of the midwinter races, and the spring ocean series." Our table had a great view of the harbor, and we couldn't help being distracted by an outrigger canoe paddling down the channel at full power. The
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• January, 2018
"hut ho!" calls were so loud we could even hear them through the double-paned glass. "You'd think they'd know better than to all paddle in time like that," remarked the naval architecture student. "A constant speed would have significantly less average drag. Scragg and Nelson demonstrated that fact with their research on eight-oared shells back in '93. They found a 9% increase in drag due to unsteady surge and pitch, compared to steady motion." "Are you suggesting they row out of phase?" asked the rower. "There would be a lot less drag," answered the engineer. "Not in the real world," insisted the rower. "Whether it's a shell or an outrigger, the fastest teams always have perfect timing, with each blade hitting the water at exactly the same time." I tried to bring the discussion back to the race schedule, but the next boats to pass close by the restaurant window reignited the debate. They were a pair of dragon boats, 50-ft replicas of ancient Chinese river boats, complete with ornamental dragons' heads and tails. There were 24 people paddling each boat, two to a thwart. The one nearest had a tiny woman with a steering oar in back and an even smaller woman beating a drum in the bow to keep everyone in time. "Look at that oscillating spray sheet under the bow," the naval architect had
to point out. "And think of all the extra wave energy dissipated by the unsteady heave and pitch." "No, you need impact to make the boat surge!" claimed the rower. "And a good glide!" That would all go away if the boat were moving at a steady rate with everyone paddling out of phase." "Look," sighed the engineer. "The person steering is actually bobbing back and forth to exaggerate the surge with each stroke. That probably increases the drag due to unsteady motion even more." "Except that the steersperson on the world champion team does that too," replied the rower.
