Breaking Oars

I recently I was speaking with a proprieter of a certain shop and he mentioned having a real low opinion of a certain make of oar. The story he told involved a guide breaking two oars in the same rapid and capsizing the boat dumping clients, gear etc. Now, I have been pleased with mine as have my friends who run this brand and everyone else I've talked to that owns a pair. I think the story he told could have happened to any oars, breaking first one and then losing control and breaking the other.

So, I don't want to get into brand bashing or anything like that . . . I'm curious though who out there has broken an oar? What happened and why in your opinion? What was the length and material and yes, the brand?

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Permalink Reply by Mike Dearing on May 24, 2009 at 2:44pm
I personally haven't broke any oars. I run two types, composite and wood for different boats. I also boat water from class 1 to 5. If you break and oar most likely YOU stuck it in a spot where its not supposed to be, simple as that.

On an Illinois trip last November I watched my buddy snap a composite oar in York creek rapid when he didn't ship it fast enough entering a steep chute that runs up against the wall. The oar got crabbed between the boat and the wall and snapped like a toothpick. The brand of oar had nothing to do with it, any oar would have broke under that kind of stress.

Another rafting buddy broke two wood oars on a recent trip, that trip was The Green Truss section of the White Salmon, if you know anything about this river then no other explanation is necessary.

Mike
Permalink Reply by Randy Dersham on May 24, 2009 at 2:49pm
I've never broken an oar. I'm too busy using the rocks to slow the boat down. Sanderson says I don't know how to row but perhaps I should call it an oar saving strategy. ;)

My other son Justin has broken a 9 ft fiberglass Carlisle oar in Box Car on the Deschutes. He was in a loaded raft. Any oar can go if you get enough pressure on it. It took a chip out of the blade and broke the shaft.

Here's an idea that might or might not be related. Custom made oar shafts could have been made from the same cant of wood. Sandy and I sometimes get a handrail that looks fine but has an odd grain that snaps when it is stress tested. We once had two hand rails snap in the same location because they were made from the same board. Some funny grain that looked ok was actually weak. I'm not saying that was the issue but I don't doubt the story and I do believe that something odd happened because having both break is very unusual.
Permalink Reply by Dave Z on May 24, 2009 at 6:51pm
Randy,

I have been there too. On two different boat builds, same thing- funky curl in the grain...SNAP!
Permalink Reply by Herb Jacobsen on May 25, 2009 at 8:30am
Over the years I broke two oars, one a 9' and the other an 8 1/2'. Both were Smokers. Neither one was jammed, both snapped below the wraps. The interesting thing was both were my left hand oar. Why did they break???? I think the wood grain just gave up at the point of breakage as both were snapped clean.

I had heard to keep the boat going straight witht the other oar if you could not get the spare into the oar lock. That works as I have had oars come out of the oar lock a time or two. That is exciting.......

I heard that Prince Helfrich said,"if you break an oar you are pulling too hard." Sometimes you have to do a "panic" pull. There is a picture of me in the "coffee pot" in Mule Creek Canyon on the Rogue. You can see I am pulling hard as the oars are flexed and I am lifted off the seat. That definitely was a panic pull.........

When I chose my oars, I always tried to get the stiffest and heaviest I could find. Those were the ones that held up the best for me. The oars that broke were picked out by other people.
Permalink Reply by Mike Dearing on May 25, 2009 at 6:42pm
Good point about stress on the oars over time Herb. I also hear ya on the panic pulls, everybody makes em.

Do you use the Whitewater Smokers or the Driftboat Smokers? I have both now and I think I prefer the Whitewater ones simply because they don't flex near as much. I will continue to use my Driftboat Smokers on easier water, but they wont be making any canyon runs with me.

Mike
Permalink Reply by Herb Jacobsen on May 25, 2009 at 8:17pm
Mike,

I usually use the White Water Smokers. I have tried a lot of oars over the years and those have been my favorite. There was a laminated oar years ago that I liked but they went out of business. I got them in Medford. Can't remember the name but they were not Sawyers....... They had a black shaft and clear blade.
Permalink Reply by Jeff Peak on May 25, 2009 at 8:02pm
I broke the blade off a Sawyer oar in the ledge hole at Lava Falls. funny thing: it was my spare...who knows exactly how that happened (needless to say I wasn't in the boat anymore when it broke), but I'll guess my usable oar got caught between the boat and my spare when its blade caught hold and ripped the blade off the spare...thats some power.
Permalink Reply by lhedrick on May 29, 2009 at 4:22pm
Jeff,

What were you doing in ledge hole? Last week I got scared just looking at the sucker. That hole is so bad and I wanted no part of it so I got too far right and bumped cheese grater but, that's not the terror of ledge hole.

Check out this youtube ledge hole video. Ledge hole rips the frame off the boat. I know it has nothing to do with oars but it's worth a look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38fzPEq2W1U&feature=related

I have not had the bad luck to brake an oar yet. It's not hard to do though. We had a guy on this trip hit the wall below lava and brake the blade of one of his spares. As for oars in general I like light strong composit oars. Cataract are my oar of choice. The big smokers are just to heavy and I like a bit of rebound. I don't like the feel of Carlisle oars at all but I do feel they are a good value.

L
Permalink Reply by Karl Mueller on May 26, 2009 at 10:03am
My suspicions are confirmed.
Permalink Reply by mitchell on May 26, 2009 at 6:38pm
Would someone tell me the difference between the white water smokers and the Driftboat smokers? I've got a pair of sawyer solid ash smokers. I've used them for 8 years and they had seen years of use before I bought them. All I know is they have very little flex. I'd like to find another pair of the same.
Permalink Reply by Mike Dearing on May 26, 2009 at 8:16pm
Mitchell,

The whitewater oars are thicker from the bottom of the rope wrap down to the tip of the blade. The thinner dirftboat oars are a very nice for day trips. They have more flex which seems to give a little spring in your stroke, and there easier on the shoulders. They are also very nicely balanced in the oarlock. The only downside to them is on a technical trip where you may be bashing lots of rocks I just don't see them holding up to the same kind of abuse the whitewater oars do, which is what the whitewater oars are designed for.

I bought the driftboat oars thinking they were whitewater oars. I wanted to use them as spares on trips with the pair of whitewater oars I have now. They looked damn similar compared to my whitewater oars side by side. After I got them refinished by Sawyer it was readily apparent that they weren't whitewater oars.

I'll probably keep them cause like I said above I do like them for day trips.

Mike

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