Crew Commodore Chris Kerber reports that the new (2007) club is not only rowing three Heavyweight eights 6 mornings a week, but is innovating with a mock HOCR buoyed course setup in Casco Bay. Kerber reports that while the course isn't exactly like the 3.1 mile Cambridge serpentine... it's close enough.
More interesting to this reporter was the fact that the rigging on all 3 Dirigo eights was setup with 5 Starboard and 3 Port oars. Kerber explained that tests conducted last November on the Charles point to a heretofore hidden insight that more than 76% of the HOCR Course is a Turn-to-Port. With this 5/3 rigging set up, the boat is designed to naturally 'pull to port' and do so without slowing down. One coxswain from Belmont Hill School - Ted MacMahon has verified that he did indeed steer the entire HOCR race once without using the rudder for steering, relying instead on the husky Starboard side to pull the boat through the winding arches and curves of the Course.
If all goes well for Casco Bay Crew, they'll have a chance this October to put their practice to the test in Cambridge in the Mens Club 8 event. HOCR Rules Committee Chair, John Lambert noted that while this is unconventional, it is not (as yet) disallowed so long as all 8 rowers are in a fixed rigger/sliding seat configuration.