Better Ways to Carry and Store Oars at Regattas

It’s easy enough to carry two sweep oars—one in each hand. But we’ve probably all tried to carry four, or even eight. They get heavy surprisingly fast, and they’re just not very cooperative. One starts to slide and tips to the ground, so you shift your grip, which causes another one to get out of balance, and the blades scrape together, and pretty soon you’re forced to put them all down and regroup. When you get to the dock, you put them down as gently as you can, but it’s hard to avoid more scraping and bumping, especially if the dock is not made of wood or other forgiving material. And this happens day after day.

There has to be a better way.

At the 2014 Head Of The Charles Regatta, we introduced a simple new oar carrier that holds four sweep oars or two pair of sculls. Made of 1/2" thick Baltic Birch Plywood, six carriers can be cut from a single 5’ x 5’ piece. You can find the plans here. We also plan to sell carriers directly from Concept2 for $25 each, plus shipping. (Estimated availability is early December.) We will be selling them like “unfinished furniture.” You can finish them in your team colors for easy identification.

Have you designed your own oar carrier? If so, we’d love to see it. Please send photos to rowing@concept2.com, and we’ll share the best ideas via social media. We’d love to see your oar carrier designs!