More on www.Liteboat.fr The Liteboat is a new concept of rowing boat, designed by Mathieu Bonnier and Sam Manuard. The boat is light, safe and easy to handle for all the family members. It is fast and secure.
I've owned a Lite Boat for over three years in Naples, Florida. I regularly row the 4.2 mile round trip on my Golden Gate Canal. I'm in my 50's. I'm a lifetime athlete. I bought the boat to reduce the loads on my legs during runs. I can truly say every time I get in my boat and start my first pull on the oars, I get excited and want to yell yahoo. I love to row! It's great during sunshine or rain. I get to see beautiful wildlife and amazing ski scapes. The last two times I rowed in my canal I saw a family of three otters. They were very cute. It only took me about eight times to get the stroke down. I only used RU-vid videos for instruction. If you can't afford to buy one by yourself, you could organize a club and do shared use. Be unique and learn to row. Fraternally, mark
I would certainly be interested if there was a vendor here in central Canada. For on alder rower like me (70), the enhanced stability afforded by the wider beam is attractive. But I agree with the anxiety a reviewer posted below about risk from 'following seas', and wonder why a small thwart across the beam, behind the footboards, couldn't be provided that rises slightly above the plane of the seatwell, to create at least some sort of rear 'bowsprit' to hold water back from the footwell...unless the surge forward at the catch simply empties the footwell on every stroke, and maintains a constant rearward trajectory for any onboard water...?
The cost of my boat about four years ago was $6500 plus the $500 oars. I believe there about two dealers in the USA. I had mine shipped for about $400. Their web sight will tell you about the dealer availability.
buy used sculling oars from a University of if possible a Rowing Club. Saves you... There are plenty of Oars if you look around. Concept2 out of Vermont is excellent to deal with.
I love the sleek design just wished they would design the oars to row forward. I can't stand not seeing where I am going. The reason I have stuck with canoe's all my life. I have seen some boats that row forward but some are bulky or jerk too much. This boat however is sleek and would fit the bill if the oars were reversed.
This is a good boat for rivers where the water is still and with no waves. Unfortunately the open sea has some waves and so when one designs for the waves it is always better to have a rocker on the boat and my philosophy is that since any boat which is moving through the water will always create its own wave, the bows of the boat will dig into the wave. Also with a following sea when the wave attacks you from the back, the transom lifts and the bows dig into the the water. So my philosophy of designing boat is to make the bottom fit the wave and so I normally shape the rocker in the form of a shallow sine wave and the idea is that the bottom of the boat will fit into the wave. All rowing boat are normally displacement boats so there is a limiting speed depending on length and such is the speed of the wave one must fit into. The mathematics are rather easy to follow while the dynamics of sagging and hogging and broaching is something every one should look into. The above is a neat boat for ideal flat conditions but it could be very uncomfortable in two foot waves. Apart from that it is a convenient boat as it will never swamp and that is fine if the rower does not mind being soaked during a long journey.
agreed, but if you like rowing, you are likely not to row in two feet waves unless forced to do so ! I row at sea a Virus skiff, and above 1 foot swell it gets tricky not to touch the water with your oars on the preparation move