The Peaceful, Sustainable Wonders of Rowing

Between glasses of wine and bottles of American champagne during my vacation to New York’s Finger Lakes, I got my first lesson in rowing from the son of a boat builder.  The boat, designed and built by Geoff Heath of Torngat Construction, may be the most marvelous form of sustainable transportation…and anyone can do it.

I had never rowed before, but I took to it like a fish to water.  My friend, Davey, made it a bit harder on me by giving me the longer oars first, but I don’t know if my struggles keeping the blade of the oar in the proper position was due to the longer oar or because they were not locked into oar locks.  When I returned to the dock my friend smiled, offered the shorter oars that came with fixed oar locks, and said, “This will probably be a bit easier.”  Typical Davey – he can’t make anything easy if there’s something more efficient.  Once I got the fixed oar locks in place and the oars in the water, I got in a nice rhythm out on the water.  The shorter oar is easier to control, but you sacrifice speed.  Before I knew it I was cruising Waneta Lake and making it look as small as it truly is.

I came back to the dock so Davey could go for a spin.  Of course, Davey used the longer oars and really got the boat moving.  He boasts his dad can get it going 7 mph or so, which is pretty damn fast considering the sustainability of the boat.  If you think about it, not even a bicycle is completely sustainable given that the tires are rubber and the metal in the frame can’t be regrown.  A row-boat is made of wood, and you can always plant a tree.  Torngat row boats are beautiful, efficient, and sustainable.