As we're well into winter, I felt it was time to finally update the jackets on the Row West website.   As a response to customer feedback and requests, I have posted a new low cost Helo (and Mithril) jacket - the RW Bones, available in 6 different colours and 2 choices of fabric weight.   My very first jacket design was the Darksky, and although this is a nice looking jacket, the reflective detailing is expensive and labour intensive.  Making a basic jacket without all of that detailing allows the possibility of a $100 softshell.   So, for those looking for a basic crew jacket with minimal cost and maximum function, this is where to start.

I have also added new variations of the Helo.  The Uninvisible Camouflage Helo is available in 4 different camouflage colour schemes.   The I Row Canadian jacket is also available now in two colour choices: black and red.   http://rowwest.com/clothing/Jackets.html

More radical print ideas are in the works.

We're well into the new year and the spandex is flying out the door to freezing cold junior rowers.   Surprisingly (to me) I'm also getting emails from Quidditch teams in the middle of winter.  Those are tough broom jockeys out there.    Sorry for the long gap in posting - there are a lot of projects I've been working on but I often don't want to post an image until something is ready to for actual ordering.

I was doing the year end accounting while taking breaks between clothing orders and found some old sketches - rough ideas for paintings so I though I would post those here.

As to upcoming regattas, I plan to send Row West to Monster Erg and then the Shawnigan Regattas in February.   Inventory goals for those events will be pogies, tights, and hopefully some new jacket designs.  If anyone happens to have specific requests for items at regattas, just send me an email from the link on the Row West website.

Pogies are good for you.

I'm in the process of posting all the new designs for dri pogies on the Row West website so check them out as they go up.  Dri pogies use a lightweight softshell material that is waterproof and breathable for the main hand as well as the oar-cuff.   The wrist cuffs are made from the same quick dry technical fabric used in MAXRAD high performance clothing.  Stretchy and quick drying.

Smash water.

 Aside from the serenity of gliding across still waters, rowing is really about getting in touch with your inner beast.   Grab oar.  Smash water.

top of pogies

underside of pogies

Coming soon to www.rowwest.com

Was that the Fall season?

Well, after 60 straight days in the workshop hammering out team uniforms, I'm getting close to 'catching up'. Not that I would ever want to be totally caught up because that would indicate a lack of orders - but I'd sure like to be able to ship something the same week someone orders it!   Perhaps wishful thinking for the moment.   I am, however mopping up orders that are overdue to customers that have been very patient (thank you to any of you who happen to read this).

For those of you looking for gear to trim the pain of winter rowing, check back next week for a batch of new pogie designs.  I believe strongly that there's no better pogie out there than my dri-pogies and I'm taking that to a new level of visual design.  Hopefully my new designs will help people keep track of their pogies too.  It's such a hassle to lose your gear and distinct designs can help make it easy to see if someone else is using your stuff!  Photos to come soon!

I'll take a quick paragraph to thank Kerry Poulsen who attended the Fall regattas here on Vancouver Island for me.  She's a great people-person and in addition to hauling around my tent and inventory to weekend races, she worked hard in the workshop production frenzy to help get customer orders out the door.    As we enter winter, my hope is to work with her to help her interface with customers that I don't regularly reach - local people and particularly paddlers.

If anyone is craft oriented (pretty much everyone is here at the house of Row West), David Landis is in the last days of a Kickstarter push.  You can check him out if you search for Desktop Gremlins - Kickstarter.   We really enjoy his whimsical and clever paper-craft designs.

Horizontal stripes

Ummm....

So, as a resident in the small township of Shawnigan Lake, I sometimes get requests from the neighbours for custom clothing for sports such as motocross.  If you don't recognize this design, apparently you need to watch Talladega Nights (or so the recipient of this jersey informs me).

\