'Chinese' sculling boats
Edgar
(in Germany I think), the hulls of which are apparently made in China by
'Flying Eagle'.
Had to say that I have never heard of them. Has anyone any experience, good
or bad, with these boats?
Edgar
Yutaka Sato
'Flying Eagle' is the manufacturer's name. They are one of FISA official
partners. Their products are known as 'WU DI". The Chinese word 'Wu Di'
means 'invincible'.
Please visit http://www.wudiboat.com/ for more information.
In international regattas in eastern Asia, Wu Di boats are seen as
rental boats provided by the organization committee.
Unfortunately, I can not give you any comments, because I have not used
Wu Di boats as I've left from competitive level rowing for years.
Yutaka Sato
Ollie
It feels very light and I am very happy with it. Other club menbers have
other versions and they all seem pleased with them. The club has one
training sculling boat which is used very often and it seems hardwearing and
robust. I don't know of any wins at a high standard however, and I can't
comment on bigger boats.
Ollie
"Edgar" <ejc...@online.no> wrote in message
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Edgar
Thanks,Ollie and others who have replied. I understand Wudi boats were
supplied to Athens Olympic committee, being one of only 6 makers recommended
by FISA. Also gather that their boats are sold as Wintech in USA and Lola
Ayling in Uk. Oarsport are sole agents in Uk and Germany. The brand name
Wudi is owned by Flying Eagle, who claim to be the world's largest producer
of racing boats.
All very interesting....
Edgar
Ollie <ollie[at]fricker.surfdsl.net> wrote in message
news:42b47691$1...@spool9-west.superfeed.net...
Carl Douglas
>
>Thanks,Ollie and others who have replied. I understand Wudi boats were
>supplied to Athens Olympic committee, being one of only 6 makers recommended
>by FISA. Also gather that their boats are sold as Wintech in USA and Lola
>Ayling in Uk. Oarsport are sole agents in Uk and Germany. The brand name
>Wudi is owned by Flying Eagle, who claim to be the world's largest producer
>of racing boats.
>All very interesting....
FISA put a lot of effort into starting up Chinese boat-building. FISA's
Klaus Filter was very much involved. So the FISA partnership would be
all that unsurprising. How many Wudi boats were actually raced at
Athens I don't know.
Naturally western traders will be keen to buy & import these
cheaply-sourced products, for they allow a handsome profit. Many of the
hulls are Empacher rip-offs.
Naturally western rowers will buy them.
And, equally naturally, the result will be the usual - a sharp decline
in western manufacture, with a loss of further skilled manufacturing
jobs, especially among the large-volume western manufacturers.
Is that a "good thing"? The market will decide.
Carl
--
Carl Douglas Racing Shells -
Fine Small-Boats/AeRoWing low-drag Riggers/Advanced Accessories
Write: The Boathouse, Timsway, Chertsey Lane, Staines TW18 3JY, UK
Email: ca...@carldouglas.co.uk Tel: +44(0)1784-456344 Fax: -466550
URLs: www.carldouglas.co.uk (boats) & www.aerowing.co.uk (riggers)
Jens Brandt
or http://www.schroederrowing.de/boote/index.html)
We got the "Carbon Racer" model.
Until now they seam to be OK. Acceptable quality and price.
/Jens
Aalborg Roklub
Denmark
--
----------------
reply my mail:
remove 'nomail.'
-----------------
J Flory
standard of living) to the point that it becomes cheaper to make boats
someplace else, much as has happened to a lot of Japan's manufacturing.
I hear that already Cambodia and Vietnam are undercutting Chinese
manufacturing in some areas. Manufacturing wanders the globe seeking
the cheapest labor...
But this works only as long as shipping costs remain low, so one also
wonders whether rising energy costs will ever increase shipping costs
to the point that labor cost savings are offset.
Interesting that the latest top-of-the-line Wintech boats are priced
about the same as most other boats in the US and Canada.
Some of the Wintech hardware is definitely junk. We just received two
new boats (not Wintech) with Wintech tracks in them, and all six tracks
had dents in them as delivered. The material must be too soft. We
replaced them with CD Aussie Rails - >twice the price but they last
>twice as long (and run far smoother too) so you come out ahead. I hear that hardware has been an ongoing problem with Chinese boats, so perhaps this is why they have not gained wider acceptance.
pbc76049
"Carl Douglas" <Ca...@carldouglas.co.uk> wrote in message
news:rYhIWLBK...@rowing-cdrs.demon.co.uk...
>> Naturally western rowers will buy them.
>
> And, equally naturally, the result will be the usual - a sharp decline in
> western manufacture, with a loss of further skilled manufacturing jobs,
> especially among the large-volume western manufacturers.
>
> Is that a "good thing"? The market will decide.
>
> Carl
Carl Douglas Racing Shells -
Bravo Carl.
You hit the nail on the head.
Outsourcing of product has a temporary effect of providing
product to the consumer at a decent price but carries the hidden
problem of erosion of the workers standard of living.
Too bad you're on the other side of the pond.....
Scott.
>
John Maxwell
proportions of Asian industry producing "Lowest Common Denominator"
level products, do rowing clubs really want to trust their cash to
something where the standard of workmanship is unknown and the factory
is significantly less accountable than one in convenient distance.
At the end of the day most people will go with what they know best and
trust - European or American engineering and workmanship.
Andrew
I guess that would account for why some European boatbuilders have
passed off Chinese made boats as their own. Can't say that I would
trust them mind.
Andrew
douglas_geo...@virgin.net
erosion of workers starndards ect, but how about making boats that are
more affordable/better value for money and then people would not buy
boats from Chinese boat builders!
Doug
Carl Douglas
To which supposedly fat cat do you refer, I wonder?
And how much better value for money do you get than a boat which is
still competitive & pot-winning after 30 years?
Do you really not understand why costs are higher in the West? Perhaps
you are blissfully unaware, in your ivory tower, of the following:
1. We must pay our workers a living wage which relates to, but probably
does not nearly equal, what you would consider a living wage or perhaps
not even worth getting out of bed for. Otherwise they'd be unable
afford to live, let alone bring up their kids, in the same country as
you.
2. All UK businesses have overheads not found in certain other
countries, e.g.
a) Insurance - ever higher, thanks to the depredations of
contingency-fee lawyers & the claims-happy "culture" on too many
businesses
b) NI
c) Paid staff holidays (argue that one with government if you like, but
I bet you get paid holidays whereas I don't)
d) Rents related to inflated property values (discuss that with
developers & speculators if you like)
e) Meeting health & safety requirements (no open drums of epoxy allowed
here, unlike in China - on I have received multiple eye-witness reports)
f) Worker protection against dismissal
g) Proper first aid facilities
h) European machine safety regulations, which make all machinery bought
in the UK a goodly percentage more costly than in the far east
j) Working time directive
k) The increasing number of fancy checks imposed on businesses such as
the fatuous electrical inspection which recently cost us 2k, found
nothing amiss (of course), but will be around again in a twinkling of an
eye
l) Business rates charged on work space
m) Maternity leave entitlements, not to mention paternity leave
n) Statutory sick pay
I could go on, but it might get awfully boring.
The nub is that it is far more expensive to live in the west & that
industry here works under far more costly & restrictive conditions than
in the free-booting far east.
When you buy a cheap product from the far east, be it shirt, jeans, boat
or whatever, you have not a clue as to the health, welfare, working
conditions & terms of employment of those who made it - unless you also
read the papers or watch the hair-raising TV reports. Nor do you know
about material sourcing policies, or waster disposal practices, or inner
product quality. You have no certainty that the manufacturer can/will
repair it if you bend it. You can't visit the place it was made & talk
to those who made it. You just know that it is cheap. And that in
buying it you have exported a fellow national's job.
When you buy a shell made anywhere in the west, you know it was made
under controlled conditions with a high regard for employee welfare.
And that you can speak personally to the manufacturer. And that the
people who made it contribute their taxes and other efforts to the same
economy which supports your own comfortable existence, including your
foreign holidays (through foreign currency earned) &, ultimately, your
pension & all other benefits of this cosseted society to which you also
belong.
Mao Tse Tung some 40 or more years ago said of the west, "We shall bury
you". It wasn't a threat, it was a promise. I don't resent it, I
respect it. And unless the west understands that the fat cat days are
coming to an end, & that China will soon be the master, I fully expect
it to come to pass. China, with the help of the naive west, has us by
the balls & is about to start squeezing. That squeeze will become ever
harder. Is that what you want?
Cheers -
Carl
--
Carl Douglas Racing Shells -
Henning Lippke
> China, with the help of the naive west, has us by
> the balls & is about to start squeezing. That squeeze will become ever
> harder. Is that what you want?
A very interesting discussion...
I heard that the advanatage of the chinese economy is decreasing...
with increasing wealth (of a very few there), those who made this wealth
possible (the workers) will of course ask for their share of the cake.
There's such a huge gap between poor and rich there, I expect that some
day the workers will refuse to continue like they do now. And then it
won't be the power of the chinese economy but the lack of local
production that will force our economy in huge problems.
I think it's ok to set up production for the local market there, but to
move the whole lot and transport the goods back here is simply foolish.
Short-sighted greed.
Apart from that, quality products need quality work, which you won't
find cheaper anywere else. (Living costs & salaries in the centers in
China are comparable to those in big european cities, I've just been told.)
Alistair Potts
> China, with the help of the naive west, has us by
> the balls & is about to start squeezing. That squeeze will become ever
> harder. Is that what you want?
Quite right. I, for one, welcome our new Oriental overlords.
paul_v...@hotmail.com
anytime in the near future? [;o)
- Paul Smith
pbc76049
<douglas_geo...@virgin.net> wrote in message
news:1119437365.7...@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
Hi Doug.
I've got some distressing news for you..... I manufacture Carbon Fiber Race
car components
and I've gotten a few quotes for my products from China. Many times they
can get me the product
delivered FOB Vancouver BC for LESS THAN MY RAW MATERIALS BILLS in the USA.
They have a huge advantages in labor cost, not paying for EPA compliance and
a number of other factors
like lawyers or health care. Things are swinging back our way a bit since
their labor cost increases exceed ours on a percentage basis but we will
never be able to compete heads up until their standard of living is equal to
ours.
It will be a while. UNTIL THEN, small builders of cottage industry products
such as shells will be somewhat protected
by the fact that their market is small and the gross dollars will keep the
big fish looking for easier kills.
I've seen 1 CD shell in my life. NICE NICE work, and I think worth every
pound or euro he gets.
Thank God the Chinese will not add the 40% increase in touch labor needed to
make a 95% product
competitive in the performance marketplace for discriminating customers.
Johan_de_Haan
ALSO OARS AND SCULLS available