Roll boom
A roll boom is the implementation of the concept of a movable boom in combination with a rigid seat in a sport rowing boat . With this construction, the rower can use his legs to lengthen the stroke by moving the boom along the longitudinal axis of the rowing boat.
In conventional rowing boats the situation is exactly the opposite: the boom and the stretcher are firmly connected to the hull, while the roll seat allows the oar stroke to be extended. The conventional boom concept is easier to implement in terms of construction, but leads to the hull pounding through the displacement of the upper body in the boat and thus to lower boat speeds.
An example of a boat with a roll boom is the Pohlus boat .
Advantages of the roller boom
- The adjustment of the rowing place to the size of the rower can (mostly) be omitted.
- The rower always sits in the same position on the rigid seat in the boat. There is almost no shift in the center of gravity along the longitudinal axis of the boat. This eliminates the need to “pound” the boat, so that it runs more smoothly overall.
Disadvantages of the roll boom
- The construction of a roller outrigger boat is considerably more difficult than that of a conventional rowing boat.
- The use of a roller outrigger boat has been prohibited by regulations in rowing regattas since 1984.
history
The principle of the movable jib for rowing boats was invented by the English engineer James Pacher and registered with the Empire's Patent Office on December 11, 1883 in London. Although the idea worked theoretically, it could not be implemented at the time due to the available materials. The key difficulty in constructing a roller boom boat is to create a continuous footwell through which the stretcher attached to the roller boom can be moved. The footwell must therefore not be broken through by ribs to reinforce the boat hull. For a long time, however, a boat construction without frames was not possible without serious losses in the boat weight or the stability of the boat hull. The mechanism of the roll arm is more complicated and heavier than that of the roll seat.
In 1946, the German industrialist Georg von Opel built a rowboat with a roll boom and won a show race in Offenbach. In 1948 he won the German Spring Regatta against the top sculler Messerschmidt. Nevertheless, von Opel considered the boat and the roll boom construction to be too heavy and both disappeared in his private museum. Since 1962, Klaus Hinz has been experimenting with the roll boom construction in collaboration with the Gehrmann shipyard. Your boat was tested by the legendary German rowing trainer Karl Adam and the leading sculler Moritz von Groddeck .
Rediscovered the rolling boom by Volker Nolte in 1980. Volker Nolte was won in 1981 at the German championships rowing in Essen the bronze medal behind Georg Agricola and Peter-Michael Kolbe in one of the men. The defeat against Agrikola and the surprising success of Nolte prompted Kolbe to test the roller outrigger boat. That same year, Kolbe was in the boatbuilders Leo Wolloner for Empacher shipyard constructed rolling catamaran world champion . At the same time, the newly developed boat created another innovation in rowing: the wing arm .
The advantages of the roller boom were quickly recognized and scientifically proven. However, the FISA reacted with a ban on the roller boom for international championships from January 1, 1984 and did not extend the license for the roller boom in the single until December 31, 1983. The reason given for the ban was that small national rowing associations did not have the necessary financial means to renew their boat fleet with the technically innovative boats and thus continue to be internationally competitive.
In the 2003 rowing season, the roller boom experienced another renaissance and public attention when it became known that Marcel Hacker was using a roller boom boat for training purposes in order to further optimize his rowing movements.