WaterRower

WaterRower goes back to John Duke, a Yale engineer and US national rowing team candidate who built the first water-resistance rowing machine in 1988 in the coastal town of Warren, Rhode Island.

A paddle wheel in the tank creates both drag and sound – the harder the stroke, the higher the resistance, with no settings at all. Frames are solid hardwood such as ash; the machine stands upright in a corner instead of disappearing into the basement.