| Seat Height and Seat Packers |
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The latest Carbon Seats used in the Sykes Racing Carbon Composite boats have a lower profile than timber/synthetic seats and hence have a larger spacer/packer between the seat and undercarriage to maintain the seat height in the boat as with the Timber or Synthetic seats. This allows interchange of seat types when required by our customers but also has the added benefit of a greater range of adjustment should coaches wish to fine tune biomechanical set up within the boat. A change has also been made to the “seat packer” itself on the carbon seat, and a series of nylon bushes in increments of 6,12,18mm are used on the Carbon seats. Why do some coaches wish to alter seat height?
In the sculls and pairs, the limitations of the depth of hull and the heel height setting required by some rowers, means that they need to raise the seat height in relation to the water to achieve the required seat to heel height for comfort and efficient performance. It’s for reasons like this that slight variations are seen between boat classes in seat to water height and why coaches make their own modifications for individual rowers.It helps to understand that from a boat builders point of view, the seat to water height has been determined when the boat was designed and can only be modified by a small amount without effecting other parts of the boat such as rigger height. Each time the seat height is raised or lowered that has a direct effect on the height of the oarlock above the seat, which is the most common adjustment that rowers make when rigging a boat. We often have coaches make requests such as a very low heel height which often may mean a change in the construction of the hull to achieve this with the result being a higher centre of gravity for all the crew not just perhaps the individual that required the low heel height. This may affect the balance to some degree so careful consideration should be given to any changes requested to construction to ensure other problems are not introduced as a result. Determining the correct hull size to suit your use is the most important decision as a guarantee of the best set up for your crew is assured. Many clubs due to limited resources of course , try to purchase a boat to suit a very broad range of user which really means some users will be compromised to a degree or have to make many changes to achieve a more suitable set up, a time consuming and frustrating pastime. |
In general terms, rowers sit as low in the boat as possible to ensure a low centre of gravity for stability, however our experience over the years and individual build of rowers determines that we do not and cannot just set the seat as low as possible and expect rowers to fit in with that theory and years of experience have determined the best practical set up for all our boat classes.