Casper Rekers (Inventor of the Rowperfect and RP3)

This is how I remember Cas when I met him at the Holland Beker earlier this year. I made the drive out to Hardenberg where he lived with his wife Wily. The house was inventor-like meaning function and form beautiful. Cas and I worked on the RP3 and I got to see the great inventor at work. Wily graced us with playing the piano and was recovering well.

I got to row on Cas's own personal RP3 and he said big brother is watching. Cas and Wily also took me to their club and showed me their beautiful wooden boats made by Carl Douglas.

Wily and Cas laughed with me as they played some old records. We sat outside and drank tea and talked about various topics. To have had this opportunity to spend this time with Cas now holds even more precious. Finding out today that he died while rowing at his club was really heart-breaking. Carlos who spent many hours with Cas, in person, on the phone, on skype and through email has taken this news to heart and yet remains even more motivated to encourage the use of Rowperfects. After calling Frans Gobel, who encouraged me to keep focused on my my week of racing and with Carlos and Bandits team-mates racing continues here at Mercer Lake, NJ, and I remain calm and positive.

I look back to my first rowing lesson with Carlos, where he put me on the Rowperfect, and this is how we built my dream to be more achievable. With the Rowperfect I was able to learn the rowing stroke quicker. I was able to catch up to other rowers who had been rowing since they were 14! I could isolate and understand better all the aspects of timing, catch, acceleration, applying leg power, drive and finish. Yes we win on the water and not the erg, but certain aspects of rowing, like rigging, boat balance, weather and wind make it hard to learn the good boat feelings and understand the technical aspects needed to win.

I thanked Cas for changing my life, and now he is with me on every race, and every RP3 session.

Here are some links for Cas
His rowing club
Carl Douglas
NL Roei
Cas Rekers's page on facebook!

www.rowperfect3.com