Gear Garage Live Show | January 14th 2025

This podcast is the audio version of the Gear Garage Live Show, where we answer submitted questions and talk all things whitewater.

Topics and links that Zach talked about this episode

• GoRafting Sponsor
• Answer Questions

Some of the Questions that Zach covered in the Q&A section of this episode

Topic: 2nd Boater

Without getting into full details, I was in a situation where I was the second boat. We were an eight boat trip. This was the Middle Fork a few years ago. A signal came up the line to stop and eddy out. For some reason the lead boat didn’t stop. I stayed with the lead boat and the third boat stayed with us. Again we signaled up to stop and again the lead boat did not try to Eddy out. We were running up on Sulpher and the lead boat went ahead and entered the rapid. I followed and stayed with the lead boat until it finally eddied out before Ramshorn.

It turned out a boat in the back had gotten pinned and didn’t come off until everyone hiked back and joined together to get it off.

My question is was I right in staying with the lead boat when it didn’t stop. My gut was telling me to eddy out because someone was in trouble behind us, but I felt a responsibility to the lead boat as I was his safety. The rower on the third boat felt the same.

Topic: Oar setup with Tall Torso

Hi Zach,
Been watching your oar setup video to help dial in my boat this winter. I'm rowing a 13' Otter, 60" wide NRS frame, older 6-7" oar towers (wasn't exactly sure where to measure from), 8'-10" oars, and sitting on the dry box. The geometry has never been fully customized for various reasons. Anyways, I'm hoping you have some thoughts on a couple things and how they relate to oar setup. 1.) I'm fairly tall (6'-1") but most of my height is in my torso (32" inseam). 2.) In the past, I have sometimes been hitting my legs while rowing (probably some operator error involved). I was set on getting newer/taller oar towers to accommodate these issues, but your video inspired me to hit pause and think this through. I appreciate what you do for the boating community, and I want to say thanks for the videos and thanks for any advice you can give on my setup.