First there was a hammer. Then a suggestion. Then disbelief.
Finally, there was a hole in a boat.
This was the sequence of events and emotions that confronted Row New York’s coaches last week at the WinTech Racing repair facility. On Wednesday, January 9, our coaches drove to the workshop in Norwalk, Connecticut to become experts at boat repairs. With our Manhattan expansion boosting our fleet’s size and frequency of use, the complexity and importance of good boathouse maintenance has come into sharp relief. Flori and Marius, WinTech’s resident repair gurus, were on hand to conduct the day-long lesson, which began normally before moving to unexpected territory.
“The workshop started by covering the different supplies and materials one would need for basic repairs on most any brand of rowing shells,” said coach Brittany Aiello. “These materials included hardener, resin, fiberglass, carbon fiber, kevlar, peel ply, and different strengths of sanders.” Coach Kate Mullan added that the staff learned “how to make ‘peanut butter.’ Peanut butter is apparently the official term used by boatmen for a mixture that is used to fill gaps in the hull due to damages.”
Boat damages were quickly made more than hypothetical, thanks to a hammer. “As a rower,” said coach Harlan Trevithick, “you learn to treat your boat like a piece of fine china. So when Flori told us to take a hammer and smash our own hole in a WinTech four, we just stood there and stared. A hammer? He was serious. One by one, we took the hammer and smashed holes in the side of the boat.” Coach Brittany detailed what happened next. “After we got over completely destroying a boat, Flori and Marius demonstrated how to patch a boat (if the damages went all the way to the honeycomb), and also how to simply repair minor nicks and scratches (by using a product called Bondo). A good majority of the workshop was also spent on proper sanding technique. They taught us that we should always sand to keep the shape of the boat.”
The day’s lesson also included lunch and a visit from Graeme King, Chief Engineer of King Racing, Brendan Crotty, President of WinTech and King Racing, and Howard Winklevoss, Founder of Row America.
Coach Breanne Fitzsimmons concluded that “learning how to apply fiberglass and carbon fiber has made me feel even more empowered and enriched in directing the novice program; if a boat ever happens to be damaged, I now know how to do the simple tasks that will get it back into the water within a few days, rather than a few weeks.”
Thank you to our friends at WinTech for hosting our staff, sharing their knowledge, and for their continuing partnership. Coach Kate found that although the day spent her energy, it proved its worth. “Boatmen are very good sanders,” she said. “Repairs require a lot of sanding. Hours worth! At the end of the day our arms were exhausted, we were covered in dust from head to toe, but we were all smiling.”
