We need YOUR help with a new Coxed Four!
Our last news update, just a month ago, was on our major success in Boston, having both of our team’s boats automatically qualify for Head of the Charles 2024, in the coxed four events. Now, a month later, we need YOUR help to make sure we have the equipment we need to succeed again next year and into the future. For the last several years, we have been borrowing boats from other teams in order to compete at HOCR, because our own coxed fours are unfortunately simply no longer up to the task. To resolve this, we have a two stage fundraiser, and are kicking off the first stage this week. We need to raise $14,000 with the ILRA to place a new King Racing 4+ into production, a shell that would be available for us to practice and race in in the spring. You can donate on the ILRA page here, or at the donation buttons on this page. This new coxed four would go on to replace XXS as our main women’s racing 4+, and would also be suitable for use by the majority of the men’s team. Our women got to rest-row a similar boat at the Charles this year, and rower Sylvia writes: it felt very smooth, especially in contrast to the XXS. The seat would just glide right up to the catch. No squeaking riggers, no sticky seat, etc, was a bonus!
Our women in a King 4+ at Head of the Charles 2023.
Now, if you haven’t been on the team in a while, or at all, you might ask: what’s wrong with our current coxed fours? We have 3 4+ shells available, but unfortunately, none of them are suitable for high-intensity racing. They were excellent boats in the early years of the team, but none of them are suited for the modern racing environment. They’re also, for many of our athletes, deeply uncomfortable or incorrectly sized.
Lincoln, our only existing midweight 4+, is a 1999 Kaschper stern-loading boat, meaning that the coxswain sits in the stern, as in an 8+. This arrangement is obsolete for fours, with better weight balance and stability being provided by the modern bow-loading configuration. Additionally, Lincoln is in poor shape, with weaknesses in multiple key structural areas that render her unsuited for high-intensity rowing. Boat shells, made of carbon fiber, composites, and fiberglass, deteriorate and lose stiffness over time, and Lincoln’s 24 year lifespan is far beyond that of most shells.
The WN4+ in XXS at ACRA last year.
Currently, our women’s team, when racing in an Illinois 4+, must race in XXS. XXS is a girls’ (note: not women’s!) lightweight 4+ built in 2001. She was built for middle school and high school programs needing a shell for their rowers, not for college athletes, and is only two years younger than the Lincoln. We acquired the XXS in 2016 and refurbished her, and, while she has served the team well since, she is also simply no longer suited to racing. XXS is also too small for the majority of our women’s team athletes, the narrow hull form and slides that stick out into the footwells meaning that many rowers are faced with severe discomfort and the possibility of injury while rowing in the shell. Nevertheless, our women have done incredible work in XXS over the years. Last year, our novice women placed 4th at ACRA in XXS, and they have won gold in her in years past.
However, a second service-life extension on XXS would require at least 65 hours of work to repair soft spots in the hull, along with at least 30 hours of work to entirely replace the steering assembly, which currently has the rudder separated from the skeg by around 4 feet, an arrangement now considered obsolete. XXS also cannot be used by men’s team athletes at all due to her intended weight class, and given the issues with the Lincoln, this means that we cannot put two coxed fours from the same team side by side at present.
Lion Rampagent, our third 4+, presents some of the same issues from the opposite direction. She is a men’s heavyweight boat, meaning she cannot be effectively rowed by the majority of the women’s team. While in the best shape of any Illinois coxed four, she is still getting on in years, and has sustained structural damage in the past few years.
Our men’s 4+ at the Charles, in a borrowed Virginia boat.
With all that said, we need your help to put our athletes in a new coxed four. They put in incredible work in XXS and Lion to prepare for Head of the Charles this year, and they deserve a chance at training and racing in a new, Illinois shell next year. A new coxed four would see 15 to 20 years of service with Illinois Rowing, as our current boats have. A new shell would come with a manufacturer’s warranty, helping us to keep our 4+ in top shape before the boathouse project is finished, along with an Illinois paint job and certain customer service support. While we considered buying a used shell, used shells younger than 7 years old are rare and nearly as expensive as new, as only a very small number of elite-caliber programs will use a shell for less than that. Our women’s four got the chance to test-row a King 4+ at the Charles this year, and were very satisfied with the shell, which provided good maneuverability and an excellent, stable, and fast racing design.
Racing in a properly sized and modern 4+ would be a huge improvement for our team, and YOU can make it happen! The donation page is available on the ILRA webpage, and is also linked below!
Our women’s Charles 4+ at Music City, passing another crew.