Today was a short 9 mile row around some inner islands of Casco Bay. Pushed hard and maintained a little under 5 kts much of the time. One of the few times Ive really pulled much of a wake in Drake. One thing to look for in any great rowboat is the wake. The clean exit of water such that it is not attached to the boat, but rather breaks cleanly from the surface of the boat as the hull passes by means less drag. When power is applied to a boats hull, the stern is depressed as the hull approaches hull speed and tries to climb the bow wave created by the hull itself. The result of this is drag from the transom, if the boat has one. Others have commented about the lack of any visible wake left as we row by in Drake. The trade off of this low drag means that it is tough to hit top speeds...getting into the 5-6 knot range is something I have not done with Drake for any stretch, but have also not spent much time trying to do. This row I took, leaving the kids behind with Mom on the beach, saw a variety of conditions that reminded me how proud I am of designing Drake. Whether it was headwind, tailwind, a cross-breeze, a chop on top of open ocean swell, or bucking a strong flood tidal current, we were still able to maintain 4.5 + knots for about 2 hours. My wife, who was a top collegiate sculler, commented as I rowed back onto the beach, "Holy cow, that was quick! Howd you do that so fast."
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