Rowing shell : competition four skiff with coxswain Kaschper Racing Shells
BIO-RIG

The BioRig is designed to make the most of the rower's output, has been tested and raced successfully and is undergoing further development.
Jakob Kaschper and Christoph Lueneburger with BioRig KL-4.6 shell

The fundamental aim of the BioRig is very simple: to maximize shell speed. Traditionally, this goal has been approached with two methods: by training rowers and by optimizing equipment. While the former category focuses on increasing the athletes strength, endurance, and technique, the latter encompasses hull design (shape, weight and corresponding drag) and layout of the positions (predominantly spread, pitch, inboard and outboard, through-the-pin, and height-of-work). Other variables are, for example, oar stiffness, blade shape and the (stern versus bow) position of the coxwain.

Although the evolution of composite materials has given rise to a transition towards lighter and stiffer equipment, little fundamental change has occurred in the arena of hull design and lay-out since Karl Adam pioneered the fully-adjustable position.

All efforts to optimize rowing equipment are, in their essence, attempts to maximize the efficiency of the rowing machine, consisting of an engine (the rower), a linkage (the shell and oars), and a fluid (the water). The goal is to increase the machine output (evaluated as boat speed) for a given engine input. In other words, if a given rower can maintain a certain average speed throughout a race, and, following some changes to the rigging of the shell, increases the average speed by some measurable amount in the same conditions without becoming a better rower, the machine is necessarily more efficient.

With the exception of the astute concept of a movable rigger, the vast majority of attempts at increasing machine efficiency have been incremental and evolutionary rather than revolutionary. One of the more recent efforts culminated in the design of the (BIG) hatchet blade, which now has effectively replaced the traditional (MÇcon) spoon blade. In the course of an examination of these two designs data was collected on representative force-output curves of rowers throughout the drive. These data can be obtained and reproduced easily by mounting strain gages on the shaft of the oar and measuring the deflection (which can then be correlated to the bending moment and load), and represent the starting point for any biomechanical optimization. A typical profile is illustrated below:

More specifications...