This is Joe McMullin’s experience with Empacher Racing Shells at the High School level from 2019 to 2022 that lead to two SRAA National Championships and a Stotesbury Cup Championship in the the Boys Varsity 8+

1) The kids know that Empaher is generally the preferred shell of fast crews, hence the “Yellow Magic.” There’s just something about them believing the boat is faster that helps them manifest it.

2) Labor of Love: I only got used Empachers because of Woodrow Wilson High School’s budget . Finishline Shell Repair hooked me up in late April of 2019 with USC’s 2013 women’s 8 ($20K). I needed 8 hours to get the shell into decent shape for a 182 lb boys crew. Shoes had to all be replaced, pins had to be adjusted. There was a lot of energy that needed to go into getting the shell “right”. I would spend every regatta in may 2019 tinkering to get it right. Much of it is trial and error. It took the kids about 5 weeks to finally feel great in the boat. The boat and crew missed out on making the Stotesbury final by .1 seconds to eventual winner Saint Joseph’s Prep and bronze medalist Walt Whitman crew in 2019. The following week the shell and crew would go on to win the SRAA National Championship over Bethesda Chevy-Chase, Gonzaga College High School, New Trier High School, Saint Joseph’s Prep, and Montclair High School. This was the first appearance for the team in the Grand Final at the SRAAs and the first gold medal.

In 2021 Finishline Shell Repair got me a gently used 2014 shell ($28K) that would be our Stotes winner in 2022 and the only big adjustment I needed to make was adding power link backstays in spring 2021. I did make a regatta adjustment at the 2022 Stotes that year for the ripping current by loading the pins up.

3) Steering: I was never happy with the steering at head races. Probably more an issue with weak coxswains in my final year, but I wish I had purchased the big head race rudder from Empacher. One thing to note: do NOT get a shell with the carbon fiber skeg and rudder combo. That was my biggest headache with the 2013 shell. Those things cost like $400 a pop vs aluminum skegs are like $100. Finishline ended up taking out the whole unit in fall 2021 and replacing it with the aluminum skeg and rudder.

4) Parts: Empacher does not make it easy to get parts. You have to order from their online site and the parts are shipped from Germany. We would combine orders with other DC teams to save on shipping. The shop ships with the priciest shipping options, so make sure you’re ordering a lot of stuff. Also, when you put the orders in online you then need to call the shop in Germany to give them your credit card info. I couldn’t do it online. It’s weird German thing, I don’t get it.

There are a lot of things to weigh when going Empacher. It is a huge labor of love, but the kids loved the shells and felt fast in them.

If I could do it all over I’d get two Empachers out of the gate so the 1V and 2V kids would have 2 even shells. 

Bonus: very easy getting an Empacher in the UK for a Henley run that is close to the size of your one(s) at home. This is probably one of the #1 reasons to go with Empacher if you’re end goal is to race at the Henley. It is extremely tough to track down other shells in the UK or Europe for racing at Henley.