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The FrontRower™ gives you three ways to row your boat:

1. You can row using just your hands
2. You can row using just your feet
3. You can row using your hands and feet together 

For some owners, the FrontRower enables them to plan and take the journey of a lifetime. For others, it gives them healthful cardiovascular exercise on a regular basis. For still others, it allows them to engage in other interests (such as photography, bird watching, or fishing), while propelling and steering their boat with their feet.

The FrontRower is so easy to use that many people who are not able to row conventionally can row quite well with it. This includes older people and people with disabilities such as arm or leg amputations. See adaptive rowing.

 

 

The official FISA rules of the sport of rowing require all rowers to face backward. They also disallow any method of developing leg power other than using a sliding seat.  That's why rear-facing sliding-seat systems are standard equipment at race oriented rowing clubs.

 

The FrontRowerä breaks both these rules.   And the FrontRower is not designed to fit in racing type shells.  So you will not see it in elite sanctioned events.

 

But in some less formal races, FrontRower owners in touring type rowboats have found themselves rowing along with similar boats using conventional rigs.  It's pretty clear that the FrontRower has the advantage.  See Blackburn Challenge 22 mile open water race.

 

Long distance rower "Philly Joe" rowing his boat through Rhode Island

 

It's a common belief that sliding-seat rowing is the fastest and most efficient way to propel a rowboat.  The sliding seat lets you add the power of your legs.   But a lot of that power is wasted in the back and forth movement of the rower on the seat.

 

The inefficiency of the sliding-seat system was demonstrated in 1981 when a fixed-seat boat with sliding riggers (the overhanging structure with the oarlocks) won the Men's Singles at the World Rowing Championships in Munich. By 1983, all the Men's Singles finalists were using fixed-seat rowboats with sliding riggers. Then sliding riggers were banned from sanctioned racing.

 

The FrontRower uses a fixed seat with moving pedals to develop leg power. This is even better than a sliding rigger, reducing efficiency losses due to weight shifting to almost zero. Tests show the FrontRower™ to be as much as 19 per cent more efficient than a sliding seat rig in the same boat. See rowing efficiency.

You can watch our movie "Rowboats for Touring" on your home DVD player. It's educational. It's fun. Show it to your friends. They will be amazed. We'll be happy to send you a free copy. DVD movie

Top 100 rowing sites

 

Owner built Odyssey 18 touring rowboat

Touring in a rowboat is traveling on the water for enjoyment—rather than racing or logging miles strictly as an exercise routine.

 

But most people don't think of using a row boat for touring, because conventional rowing is done facing backward, making it impractical for enjoyable activities such as exploration, sight-seeing or photography.  Conventional row boats have uncomfortable seats without any back support.  And you have to keep your hands on the oars at all times order to propel and control the boat.

 

The FrontRower™ rowing system is designed form the ground up for practical and comfortable touring.  You row it facing forward.  You can row it hands free, using only your legs to power and steer your boat.  Or you can add your hands for powerful full body rowing. It has a big comfortable seat with a backrest.  The oars lift and feather automatically.

 

And in the process of designing from scratch we were able to make our system more efficient and faster than conventional sliding-seat rowing.

 

The FrontRower™ fits in many conventional rowboats and in many canoes (which make excellent rowing boats).  And our Odyssey™ rowboat kits and plans are designed around this unique system with the intent of giving you the best touring type rowing experience possible.

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Canoes can make excellent touring rowboats.