Long journey to Sarasota for World Rowing Championships boats

The race boats used during the 2017 World Rowing Championships might not be the most important water crafts needed for smooth sailing during the eight-day event.

It’s another set of boats that will make all the difference.

The racing boats, often referred to as shells, usually are loaded into a shipping container and onto a much larger vessel to make journeys from around the country and around the world.

Robert Whitford, the director of facilities and operations at Nathan Benderson Park, said racing boats can be as long as 60 feet. After moving the shells became too cumbersome for manufacturers, shippers and teams, the World Rowing Federation (also known as FISA) required the boats to fit inside 40-foot shipping containers.

“They used to have huge problems transporting them in America,” Whitford said. “They would transport them on railroad trains and on big ships when they would go overseas. And there was a time they actually shipped full-size rowing shells in large aircraft.”

All boats manufactured after FISA’s size ruling are built to be broken into pieces for shipping. Boat manufacturers such as Filippi and Empacher, two of the largest providers for the 2016 World Rowing Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands, decide how and where the disassembly mechanisms will be built into each boat.

Racing boats are quite narrow and long in comparison to other types of boats. They’re built with durable composite materials like carbon fiber and Kevlar constructed into a honeycomb pattern, according to the Filippi website. Shells can range in length from 26 to 60 feet and from 10 to 22 inches in width, and they are built with a semicircular cross-section to reduce water resistance. Ergonomic design and load balance are important attributes in determining the boat’s maximum speed, though even the best-constructed racing shell can be sabotaged and easily tipped by rowers’ poor handling.

Racing boats for the 2017 World Rowing Championships likely will be received through Port Manatee, said Kristen Hartley, athlete services and volunteer manager for the event. Virginia Zimmermann, the port’s senior communications manager, said the facility has yet to be contacted about arrangements for shipping the shells, but is ready when the opportunity arises.

World Rowing Championships staff will work with Filippi and DeWido Botenwagen to transport the racing shells, Hartley said, though teams are free to choose another company. Local trucking companies will assist with ground transportation once the boats have arrived on a shipping vessel, Hartley said, but specifics are unknown.

“We are most concerned about ship date, expected arrival, delivery and pickup from our venue,” Hartley said.

The shipping container portion costs about $3,000 to $4,000, Whitford estimates, but that doesn’t include the manpower necessary to break down the shells, load them and unload them.

While the boats are making the journey across the ocean, athletes likely will travel via the highways in the sky. Most rowers will arrive in Sarasota on commercial airlines, Hartley said, but U.S. and Canadian teams may opt to use charter buses. Teams are permitted to arrive up to four weeks ahead of the event’s start.

“Some may consider setting up regular training camps for the spring/summer months each year, starting in 2017,” Hartley said in an email.

This story was originally published October 9, 2016 at 10:30 AM with the headline "Long journey to Sarasota for World Rowing Championships boats."