Tours Of The Trent River.

New Bern, NC

Libby was helping me with a task yesterday when she remarked that her arms felt weak. She hasn't had her usual quota of rowing exercise since leaving Lake Champlain. Fortunately, this week the weather is great with near 70 F temperatures every day, so Libby set out to explore the Trent River by dinghy.

Isn't that dangerous with the frigid water temperatures. I did insist that she wear a life jacket and stay close to shore. However, Libby is about as expert a rower as one could find. In 8 years she hasn't fallen out once, even though she's rowed though some pretty rough conditions. I think she's safe enough.

Speaking of Libby's rowing skills, I've had people in Boot Key Harbor remark that she looks like an Olympic rowing athlete as she zips around the harbor. How did that come to be? Just fortunate chance. When we bought Tarwathie, she came with a Fatty Knees dinghy but with no outboard motor. The Fatty Knees is the finest dinghy ever made for rowing properties. So put those things together and Libby got lots of practice and learned to love it. (She was not at her best yesterday. Note in the picture that her weight is too far forward. )

By the way, what is today's finest dinghy? We boaters were having a discussion about that yesterday in the lobby. We agreed that the Portland Pudgy is the finest hard dinghy made today. I think the Trinka, made in Vero Beach, is second. But the Trinka has a smooth bottom which does not aid in directional stability.

The Portland Pudgy rows very well (ask Bob on Carpe Diem), but the Fatty Knees has many lapstrake grooves which make it the best for rowing. Alas, they stopped making Fatty Knees in 2012, so they are not current.

In addition to rowing, the Portland Pudgy has a long list of superior features that set it apart. It is as if someone gathered 30 years of dinghy suggestion box slips and implemented all of them. Pudgies are very expensive but are probably worth it. (And no. I am not paid to plug the Pudgy.)

My comments apply only to hard dinghies. We never owned an inflatable, so I can't say much about them.


p.s. the other open secret to rowing pleasure is to use the longest oars possible. We have 7.5 foot oars; the longest we can stow in an 8 foot dinghy. Even the difference between 7 and 7.5 foot oars is dramatic. If we could stow 8 or even 9 foot oars we would do it. We see many frustrated rowers with 4 or 5 foot oars. I suspect that many of them don't realize the source of their frustration.