Would love to hear from an Old Town Osprey owner who uses the rowing option. I think this is my next boat and will be able to demo one in April. I know it won’t be a speed machine but the rowing has to add a new dimension to solo paddling. I will be using this for open water with typical boat chop and wakes, no real currents and near shore of course.
Did the rowing get old?
And was it difficult getting used to going backwards if you paddled “regular” for years?
Thanks in advance.
Old Town Osprey
– Last Updated: Feb-21-07 1:43 PM EST –
Rowing is great. If you've hung around these boards very long, you probably knew I'd say that. I'm not directly familiar with the boat you are considering, but I can offer some comments.
First Impression:
I just looked at the photo of this boat on Old Town's website, and the first thing I noticed is that the oarlocks are VERY close to the seat, and this is true whether you are rowing from the center or the front. It appears to me that they positioned the oarlocks to be well suited to very lazy, short-stroke, arms-only rowing, and probably for rather short oars too. If that works for you, no problem, but I like a longer stroke, with a fair amount of forward and backward lean being part of every stroke, unless it's at one of those moments where just putzing along is all I need.
Possible adjustments:
You may want to re-position the oarlocks a bit farther in front of your seat (toward the rear of the boat). My setup is such that if I sit straight up with my arms fully extended, the oars are pretty close to mid-stroke, or sticking straight out to the sides. This adjustment need not be perfect, but the way that boat is set up wouldn't work well for the way I row, or for using 7- or 8-foot oars (the handles will probably hit you in the stomach). You may also find that you want to lower the seat. Canoe seats are fairly high, and you might find that the oar handles hit your legs on the recovery stroke, limiting how high you can lift the blades from the water. Lowering the seat will let you lift the blades higher. Finally, you will need a footbrace, which can be anything to push your feet against while your legs are fully extended in front of you (or nearly fully extended, if that's your preference). Moving the oarlocks and lower the seat are both easy to do. You might even have the option of ordering the boat with the oarlocks not installed.
In my opinion, you should not consider using oars that are any shorter than 7 feet. 8 feet is probably better for a boat that size, but you'll find very few people who would agree with me about using an oar that long.
Getting Used to Rowing and Facing Backward:
For open-water work, facing the "wrong way" isn't that big of a deal, but I often find myself barely missing things like docks or marker bouys that I either thought I'd miss with room to spare based on an earlier appraisal of my course vs the obstacle, or which I failed to notice in time. Failing to notice stuff has less to do with any discomfort in twisting around to look than it does with having too much faith that there's nothing out there to watch out for. Still, when you need to do lots of turning to see where you are going, it will probably give you a bit of a stiff neck after a while. Do a lot of rowing and you'll get better at looking where you are going by using less effort (turning to the side that gives you a better view of where you will go next with less neck-twist). For example, when rowing in a crosswind, I usually turn and look on the downwind side, because that's the side toward which my boat is drifting, and looking that way is closer to matching my "true" direction of travel.
Most newbie rowers have a really tough time going in a straight line. Going a straight line is just as easy as when paddling, however. Instead of concentrating on where your boat is aimed, concentrate on the alignment of the boat with what's behind you. Once pointed the right way, pick a feature in the distance that lines up with your stern and keep it there. You'll probably find that you do fewer and larger course corrections than if you were paddling forward, because some of the time you'll notice reasons to change course a bit later than a paddleer, but this works pretty well.
Rowing on rivers is a whole other matter, and if you do that, you'll need to get really good at frequent head-turns. There are a few really cool tricks for using the current to your advantage when manuevering past fixed obstacles with oars, but it doesn't sound like we need to talk about that.
Guideboatguy nailed it … also consider
There are other royalex canoes that work well too. The boxy Wenonah gunwales accept Old Town oar sockets perfectly (easy drill and bolt affair). This means you can set up any of their hulls for rowing solo or tandem. I have set up both their Adirondack and Saranac for rowing with good results. If you get the Osprey, just reposition the oar sockets a few inches further from the seats … no problemo.
A 15 footer allows the placement of one set of sockets (midway between the carry thwart and bow seat) that serve both solo and tandem modes. A 16’ also works this way with long torso rowers. But there can be as many socket placements as you want to trim for variable loads. The socket sets only cost about $15 I think.
One or two sets of oar sockets on the gunwales transforms any canoe into a higher level of propulsion efficiency, power and control. Add a set or two of spoon blade oars from Spring Creek and you have a very inexpensive yet high performance combination.
Try it … you’ll like it … in whatever flavor you choose! All modern canoes row great … they can’t help it … leverage advantages work when you properly implement them. Deeper hulls (14") are easier to set up with lower seating arrangements that make for unimpeded stroke dynamics. Bean bags solve nearly all solo seating problems. Dialing in a good rowing arrangement is fairly easy.
Guideboatguy nailed it … also consider
There are other royalex canoes that work well too. The boxy Wenonah gunwales accept Old Town oar sockets perfectly (easy drill and bolt affair). This means you can set up any of their hulls for rowing solo or tandem. I have set up both their Adirondack and Saranac for rowing with good results. If you get the Osprey, just reposition the oar sockets a few inches further from the seats … no problemo.
A 15 footer allows the placement of one set of sockets (midway between the carry thwart and bow seat) that serve both solo and tandem modes. A 16’ also works this way with long torso rowers. But there can be as many socket placements as you want to trim for variable loads. The socket sets only cost about $15 I think.
One or two sets of oar sockets on the gunwales transforms any canoe into a higher level of propulsion efficiency, power and control. Add a set or two of spoon blade oars from Spring Creek and you have a very inexpensive yet high performance combination.
Try it … you’ll like it … in whatever flavor you choose! All modern canoes row great … they can’t help it … leverage advantages work when you properly implement them. Deeper hulls (14") are easier to set up with lower seating arrangements that make for unimpeded stroke dynamics. Bean bags solve nearly all solo seating problems. Dialing in a good rowing arrangement is fairly easy.
Guideboatguy nailed it … also consider
There are other royalex canoes that work well too. The boxy Wenonah gunwales accept Old Town oar sockets perfectly (easy drill and bolt affair). This means you can set up any of their hulls for rowing solo or tandem. I have set up both their Adirondack and Saranac for rowing with good results. If you get the Osprey, just reposition the oar sockets a few inches further from the seats … no problemo.
A 15 footer allows the placement of one set of sockets (midway between the carry thwart and bow seat) that serve both solo and tandem modes. A 16’ also works this way with long torso rowers. But there can be as many socket placements as you want to trim for variable loads. The socket sets only cost about $15 I think.
One or two sets of oar sockets on the gunwales transforms any canoe into a higher level of propulsion efficiency, power and control. Add a set or two of spoon blade oars from Spring Creek and you have a very inexpensive yet high performance combination.
Try it … you’ll like it … in whatever flavor you choose! All modern canoes row great … they can’t help it … leverage advantages work when you properly implement them. Deeper hulls (14") are easier to set up with lower seating arrangements that make for unimpeded stroke dynamics. Bean bags solve nearly all solo seating problems. Dialing in a good rowing arrangement is fairly easy.
I think you will really like it
I row my Old Town Disco 160. It came from the store set up well for an average sized rower and 7 foot oars.