Squeak Squeak

Stuart, FL

No LL

I've mentioned before that Libby and I are both fond of rowing in our dinghy. When the run between boat and shore is not too long, we don't mount the outboard engine at all. We have the advantage of having a nice 8 foot Fatty Knees brand hard dinghy with 7.5 foot oars. If we had an inflatable boat with 3 foot oars, we wouldn't like rowing at all.

Libby is especially fond of rowing at night when the air is totally still. One glides silently through the water and admires all the sight so intensely. The silently aspect is my topic today.

Our oar locks go squeak squeak with every stroke of the oars. The squeaks from from the metal-to-metal contact between the movable part fastened to the oar and the fixed part fastened to the boat. I hate that squeak , and it has been my habit to use special marine grease on the oar locks to silence them. I need to re-grease them about once a week.

The other day I was rowing ashore. When you row, you're looking backward not ahead. I usually don't worry about running into other boats. Motor boats can see me coming and maneuver around me much easier than I can avoid them.

That day some sixth sense made made me turn around and look. There was a man in another dinghy rowing toward me. We came within 3 feet of a head-on collision. Luckily both of us sensed the presence and looked around just in the nick of time. Libby had about the same experience on a different day.

What was the sixth sense? It finally occurred to me. It was the squeak squeak. That, along with a little creaking and little splashing noises is what alerted us to the proximity of another boat.

As much as the squeak annoys me, I've changed my policy and I no longer grease the oar locks. It is analogous to the problem of introducing noise to electric vehicles so that blind pedestrians can hear them coming. As an alternative, I could grease the oar locks and compensate by singing "Row Row Row Your Boat..." as I move along, but then I'd annoy everyone else.