Pedalo

Pedal boats ( Swiss: pedalos ) are nowadays mainly located in the leisure sector. The term pedal boat goes back to the type of drive in which the energy required for locomotion is reacted with muscle force pedals.

History

Probably the first pedal boat was invented in 1810 by Joseph von Baader and rebuilt in 2005 by Piotr Ramczykowski as part of a thesis at the University of Munich.

Design features typical pedal boats

Most pedal boats are driven by the force acting on a kind of crankshaft leg strength by two people. The introduced leg power is transmitted via a drive chain to a paddle wheel which is usually located at the rear of the pedal boats. At the rear are also the rudder, which are synchronized via a linkage and controlled via a steering wheel and cables or rods. Sometimes the impeller sits in front directly on the crankshaft.

Regatta pedal boats

In addition to these robust lightweight pedal boats, there are also sporty regatta pedal boats. These are easily built to reach high speeds ( displacer to ten knots, as Hydrofoil up to 20 kn). The drive train is designed as simple as possible in order to minimize friction losses. Therefore propellers are preferably used, but also about an eccentric ( which has a high efficiency ) controlled paddle wheels are conceivable, for example, for displacement.

Championships

Further distinctions are after IHPVA single and multi- person boats. The races will be (2004/2006 / ...) and discharged as European Championships in even years in odd years as World Championships. The World Championships are aligned alternately with Europe in the even years in the United States.

Next there is in the spring (usually in April / May ) still a student Cup ( International Water Bike Race / IWR), which serves the exchange of experience and networking of European shipbuilding students.

A world record for 24 -hour driving with hourly changing crew was on April 28, 2013 placed on the Weissensee in Carinthia by 42 athletes at the Trieste Waterbike team on a three seater Katameran with 270.5 km distance.

The world record for 24 -hour driving ( non-stop) noted the extreme athlete Ingo- Kai Schoffer from Esslingen am Neckar on September 2, 2001 with his canoe bike, designed as a recumbent bicycle pedal boat, on the Neckar. After 24 hours, the then 31- year-old had traveled 194 km, surpassing the old Best of the American John Howard by 28 miles - new world record in the category " Human Powered Boat ".