Forward facing rowing for canoes and rowboats
Forward-facing hands-free rowing.
What we do
Ron Rantilla invented and makes the revolutionary new FrontRower™ rowing system for installation in canoes and touring rowboats. The patented system gives you the power of a pair of oars in a forward-facing position and with the ability to row and steer hands free. You can row it with your feet or your hands (or both). It is easier to use, faster, and more efficient than rear-facing sliding-seat rigs, and it is becoming the system of choice for long distance touring, daily exercise, and wildlife photography.
Most ordinary canoes make excellent rowboats, and that's what most of our customers are using—canoes they already own. But for those who want something really special, we custom build wooden rowing boats designed specifically for use with the forward facing FrontRower™.
And we offer plans and kits for building these special rowboats yourself.
If you are not familiar with the FrontRower™, we suggest you watch some of our video footage here, then check out this review in Small Boats Monthly. Additional reviews are listed here.
Most ordinary canoes make excellent rowboats, and that's what most of our customers are using—canoes they already own. But for those who want something really special, we custom build wooden rowing boats designed specifically for use with the forward facing FrontRower™.
And we offer plans and kits for building these special rowboats yourself.
If you are not familiar with the FrontRower™, we suggest you watch some of our video footage here, then check out this review in Small Boats Monthly. Additional reviews are listed here.
Why we needed a better propulsion system
Ron Rantilla grew up with three brothers in a small town in Ohio. When he was 16, he purchased a used canoe. This canoe became a part of life for him and his brothers as they explored the local lakes and rivers and went on camping trips in Canada.
Years later Ron moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he worked as an engineer for Polaroid Corporation. He brought his canoe with him and in his free time began exploring the islands off the coast of Maine. His usual canoe partners were far away so he did a lot of solo paddling and canoe camping. The coast of Maine can be very windy, and solo paddling a canoe can be difficult in strong wind. On one occasion, he was stranded on a deserted island for three days waiting for the wind to die down enough so that he could paddle back to shore.
When he got back to Cambridge, Ron decided he needed a better way to propel his boat and began studying existing human powered boat propulsion systems and experimenting with his own designs.
The problem with paddling
The basic problem with solo paddling a canoe is handling the boat in strong wind. You need a lot of power to make progress against a strong headwind. And the wind can produce strong turning forces on the boat making it difficult to steer.
With two people paddling, the bow paddler can generated forward motion while the stern paddler can use his paddle as a rudder to turn the boat. Two skilled paddlers can generate enough power and turning force to handle a considerable amount of wind.
But a solo paddler cannot generated that much power and turning force with a hand-held paddle. He can be blown broadside to the wind without the ability to turn, and then blown downwind, which could be disastrous.
Oars and oarlocks (better than a paddle)
An oar is used in conjunction with an oarlock. An oarlock (a.k.a. rowlock) holds the oar at a pivot point attached to the boat.
When using a hand held paddle, you generate force with a twisting motion of your torso centered around your spine.
The main advantage of an oar is that it allows you to generate force with a pulling motion of you arms and back rather than a twisting motion of your torso. This is a more powerful and ergonomically comfortable way to generate power.
Another advantage of an oarlock is that it positions the blade out farther over the side of the boat, giving you greater turning force. Yet another advantage is that (using a pair of oars) you can apply power on both sides at the same time.
Using a pair of oars with oarlocks gives a solo boater a lot more power and turning force than a paddle—enough to handle a reasonable amount of wind.
Some rowboats have the oarlocks mounted on the gunnels (the side of the boat). Some narrow rowboats (like racing shells) have the oarlocks mounted on outriggers (arms extending out from the sides of the boat). Outriggers allow the use of longer oars.
The problem with oars
But the awkward rear-facing position of conventional rowing makes it impractical for exploring unfamiliar waters.
Old school solutions
Mirrors, push-rowing, and bow facing oars (aka articulated oars) are solutions have been around for a long time. They may solve the problem of going backward, but they don't do anything to improve rowing beyond that. The FrontRower™ solves that problem in a better way, and goes way beyond solving just that one problem.
Years later Ron moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he worked as an engineer for Polaroid Corporation. He brought his canoe with him and in his free time began exploring the islands off the coast of Maine. His usual canoe partners were far away so he did a lot of solo paddling and canoe camping. The coast of Maine can be very windy, and solo paddling a canoe can be difficult in strong wind. On one occasion, he was stranded on a deserted island for three days waiting for the wind to die down enough so that he could paddle back to shore.
When he got back to Cambridge, Ron decided he needed a better way to propel his boat and began studying existing human powered boat propulsion systems and experimenting with his own designs.
The problem with paddling
The basic problem with solo paddling a canoe is handling the boat in strong wind. You need a lot of power to make progress against a strong headwind. And the wind can produce strong turning forces on the boat making it difficult to steer.
With two people paddling, the bow paddler can generated forward motion while the stern paddler can use his paddle as a rudder to turn the boat. Two skilled paddlers can generate enough power and turning force to handle a considerable amount of wind.
But a solo paddler cannot generated that much power and turning force with a hand-held paddle. He can be blown broadside to the wind without the ability to turn, and then blown downwind, which could be disastrous.
Oars and oarlocks (better than a paddle)
An oar is used in conjunction with an oarlock. An oarlock (a.k.a. rowlock) holds the oar at a pivot point attached to the boat.
When using a hand held paddle, you generate force with a twisting motion of your torso centered around your spine.
The main advantage of an oar is that it allows you to generate force with a pulling motion of you arms and back rather than a twisting motion of your torso. This is a more powerful and ergonomically comfortable way to generate power.
Another advantage of an oarlock is that it positions the blade out farther over the side of the boat, giving you greater turning force. Yet another advantage is that (using a pair of oars) you can apply power on both sides at the same time.
Using a pair of oars with oarlocks gives a solo boater a lot more power and turning force than a paddle—enough to handle a reasonable amount of wind.
Some rowboats have the oarlocks mounted on the gunnels (the side of the boat). Some narrow rowboats (like racing shells) have the oarlocks mounted on outriggers (arms extending out from the sides of the boat). Outriggers allow the use of longer oars.
The problem with oars
But the awkward rear-facing position of conventional rowing makes it impractical for exploring unfamiliar waters.
Old school solutions
Mirrors, push-rowing, and bow facing oars (aka articulated oars) are solutions have been around for a long time. They may solve the problem of going backward, but they don't do anything to improve rowing beyond that. The FrontRower™ solves that problem in a better way, and goes way beyond solving just that one problem.
Rethinking rowing
We threw away all our preconceived notions about paddling and rowing and started with a clean slate. We wanted to look at it from the point of view of ergonomics—making the system meet the needs of the operator, rather than making the operator meet the needs of the system. There was a lot of back and forth and trial and error in the development, but in the end, here is what we came up with.
Oars, oarlocks and rigging
To solve the rear-facing problem, we moved the oarlocks from the sides of the boat to a pedestal in the center of the boat. Then we connect the oars by their innermost ends to these oarlocks. Then we positioned the handles in the middle of the oars. With this arrangement, when you pull on the oars with your hands, the oar blades move in the same direction as your hands.
This gives you forward facing rowing with a pulling motion on the oars.
And it eliminates the need for outriggers on a narrow boat, making it easy to come up close alongside a dock for easy boarding.
Using leg power
Some boats are set up with a sliding seat (which is usually on wheels riding on a track). This means that you can use your legs to push your torso away from the oars and get a longer stroke. Your feet are held in place by stretchers (which are footrests with straps), so you can pull your torso back on the recovery stroke.
We tried a sliding seat for leg power, but soon realized that it wasted a lot of energy. It takes a lot of energy to move your entire body back and forth on the slides, reversing direction twice per stroke. And the weight shifting makes the boat "hobby horse" and makes the boat accelerate and decelerate significantly during each stroke, interfering with efficient travel through the water.
Then we tried a fixed seat and sliding pedestal (moving the rig and the oarlocks with your feet). But this was complicated and noisy. And we didn't like the feel of hands, feet, and oarlocks all moving at the same time.
So we came up with a stationary seat and moving pedals. Two independent pedals connected to the oars with ropes and pulleys. This was better for a lot of reasons. Simple, quiet and efficient. No detectable weight shifting when using a full body stroke.
And it did something else that changed everything. It created a separate paths for leg power to get to the oars. And this created the possibility of hands free rowing.
Hands free rowing
We counterbalanced the oars so they would lift out of the water unless leg power tension was applied to the ropes. We added springs to pull the oars forward when leg power tension is removed.
So the oars dip, deliver their power, lift, and return to the front automatically based on foot pedal movement. So you don't need to use your hands at all.
Self feathering
Some oarlocks allow "feathering" the oars, meaning that you can twist the oar in the lock so the blade is flat. This is usually done by means of wrist rotation. Feathering presents less resistance to the air as the lifted blade swings forward, and is especially useful when going into a headwind.
We achieved self feathering of the oars by attaching the leg power rope and the return spring off center (on the top of the oar shaft). The oar shaft rotates in a slot which limits the rotation for the "squared" and "feathered" positions. Tension from the return spring "feathers" the oar, tension in the leg power rope automatically "squares" it.
Comfortable seat with a backrest
When you row hands free, using your legs for power, you need a backrest to push into. But a backrest is also a great comfort feature if you are just setting there and relaxing. We don't understand why all human powered propulsion systems don't include this feature. We made our backrest with adjustable reclining positions, and swiveling so it will follow your upper body motion when using your upper body for power.
Oars, oarlocks and rigging
To solve the rear-facing problem, we moved the oarlocks from the sides of the boat to a pedestal in the center of the boat. Then we connect the oars by their innermost ends to these oarlocks. Then we positioned the handles in the middle of the oars. With this arrangement, when you pull on the oars with your hands, the oar blades move in the same direction as your hands.
This gives you forward facing rowing with a pulling motion on the oars.
And it eliminates the need for outriggers on a narrow boat, making it easy to come up close alongside a dock for easy boarding.
Using leg power
Some boats are set up with a sliding seat (which is usually on wheels riding on a track). This means that you can use your legs to push your torso away from the oars and get a longer stroke. Your feet are held in place by stretchers (which are footrests with straps), so you can pull your torso back on the recovery stroke.
We tried a sliding seat for leg power, but soon realized that it wasted a lot of energy. It takes a lot of energy to move your entire body back and forth on the slides, reversing direction twice per stroke. And the weight shifting makes the boat "hobby horse" and makes the boat accelerate and decelerate significantly during each stroke, interfering with efficient travel through the water.
Then we tried a fixed seat and sliding pedestal (moving the rig and the oarlocks with your feet). But this was complicated and noisy. And we didn't like the feel of hands, feet, and oarlocks all moving at the same time.
So we came up with a stationary seat and moving pedals. Two independent pedals connected to the oars with ropes and pulleys. This was better for a lot of reasons. Simple, quiet and efficient. No detectable weight shifting when using a full body stroke.
And it did something else that changed everything. It created a separate paths for leg power to get to the oars. And this created the possibility of hands free rowing.
Hands free rowing
We counterbalanced the oars so they would lift out of the water unless leg power tension was applied to the ropes. We added springs to pull the oars forward when leg power tension is removed.
So the oars dip, deliver their power, lift, and return to the front automatically based on foot pedal movement. So you don't need to use your hands at all.
Self feathering
Some oarlocks allow "feathering" the oars, meaning that you can twist the oar in the lock so the blade is flat. This is usually done by means of wrist rotation. Feathering presents less resistance to the air as the lifted blade swings forward, and is especially useful when going into a headwind.
We achieved self feathering of the oars by attaching the leg power rope and the return spring off center (on the top of the oar shaft). The oar shaft rotates in a slot which limits the rotation for the "squared" and "feathered" positions. Tension from the return spring "feathers" the oar, tension in the leg power rope automatically "squares" it.
Comfortable seat with a backrest
When you row hands free, using your legs for power, you need a backrest to push into. But a backrest is also a great comfort feature if you are just setting there and relaxing. We don't understand why all human powered propulsion systems don't include this feature. We made our backrest with adjustable reclining positions, and swiveling so it will follow your upper body motion when using your upper body for power.
Where does it fit in?
The Head of the Charles Regatta in Cambridge, Massachusetts typically has more than eleven thousand participants and a quarter of a million spectators lining the banks of the Charles River. This is what most people think of when you mention rowing—a highly competitive sport with elite athletes and requiring a lot of training. But the FrontRower™ does not fit in with this tradition. It violates just about every rule.
Wilderness canoeing
The FrontRower™ evolved out of a different tradition. One of taking occasional breaks from everyday life to experience the beauty of nature. This involves slowing down and focusing on your surroundings. Taking a trip in a small human powered boat is good way of doing this. Canoes are perfect boats for this purpose and a FrontRower™ is the easiest way of powering one. This is where the FrontRower™ excels. Taking you to interesting places and making it easier for you to focus on your natural surroundings.
“And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.” —John Muir.
The FrontRower™ makes solo navigation easy. In a boat like a canoe it gives you the ability to bring a passenger and some cargo along. It is perfect for watching the scenery unfolding around the next bend. Moving quietly and efficiently through the water. Sitting comfortably in seat with a backrest. Having the ability to switch between using your feet or your hands or both. Knowing you can handle all the conditions you are likely to encounter. Knowing you are getting good exercise without damaging your muscles or joints.
Wilderness canoeing
The FrontRower™ evolved out of a different tradition. One of taking occasional breaks from everyday life to experience the beauty of nature. This involves slowing down and focusing on your surroundings. Taking a trip in a small human powered boat is good way of doing this. Canoes are perfect boats for this purpose and a FrontRower™ is the easiest way of powering one. This is where the FrontRower™ excels. Taking you to interesting places and making it easier for you to focus on your natural surroundings.
“And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.” —John Muir.
The FrontRower™ makes solo navigation easy. In a boat like a canoe it gives you the ability to bring a passenger and some cargo along. It is perfect for watching the scenery unfolding around the next bend. Moving quietly and efficiently through the water. Sitting comfortably in seat with a backrest. Having the ability to switch between using your feet or your hands or both. Knowing you can handle all the conditions you are likely to encounter. Knowing you are getting good exercise without damaging your muscles or joints.
Other uses
Daily exercise
The FrontRower™ gives you the same high quality exercise as rear-facing sliding-seat rowing or indoor rowing on an erg. But it's really easy to use, has a quick learning curve, and is more fun than rowing in a gym. And you don't need to be athletic to use it. At low intensity levels it is easier than walking. At higher intensity levels it can be vigorous exercise for cardio and interval training. The forward-facing position makes everything more enjoyable and safer.
Photography and birding
The ability to handle photographic equipment or binoculars while rowing with your feet is a great feature for photographers and birders. And the forward-facing position lets you see wildlife before you scare it away.
Going fast
And for those for whom going fast is important it is nice to know that the FrontRower™ can outperform rear-facing sliding-seat rowing rigs in the same boats (see bragging rights).
The FrontRower™ gives you the same high quality exercise as rear-facing sliding-seat rowing or indoor rowing on an erg. But it's really easy to use, has a quick learning curve, and is more fun than rowing in a gym. And you don't need to be athletic to use it. At low intensity levels it is easier than walking. At higher intensity levels it can be vigorous exercise for cardio and interval training. The forward-facing position makes everything more enjoyable and safer.
Photography and birding
The ability to handle photographic equipment or binoculars while rowing with your feet is a great feature for photographers and birders. And the forward-facing position lets you see wildlife before you scare it away.
Going fast
And for those for whom going fast is important it is nice to know that the FrontRower™ can outperform rear-facing sliding-seat rowing rigs in the same boats (see bragging rights).