Seawolf on the Ammersee

Wolf Huber sails on the lovely Ammersee in Bavaria, which I have fond memories of. I rowed the lake one bright autumn morning, nursing a horrible hangover as Luftwaffe Starfighters roared overhead to protect Germany against their natural enemies, the Swiss.
Wolf got third prize at the Water Craft competition at Beale Park in 2003 for his boat Elgol, but Elgol has proved a bit too large for cartopping, so he converted the rowing tender he built for his yacht. into an easily cartoppable rowing/sailing dinghy. Unfortunately, he as he had to do it in a third floor apartment, as he relates:

Dear Chris,
My problem in the past was getting my 3m boat Elgol on top of my car. My solution is Seewolfchen or Little Seawolf, designed and built by me eleven years ago as rowing tender for my self-built 5m cabin yawl and sold together with her some years ago. The new owner took her to Lake Mueritz.
Last year when sailing with him I found Seawolf in his garden looking very neglected and found out that he had no more need for her. So I bought her back with the plan to alter her to a good sailing/rowing combi boat.
I did the alterations in two months in our third floor living room, building first a 2.5 x 4m compartment with transparent plastic sheets hanging from the ceiling and a strong one over the floor. Without  a tolerant wife I had no chance to do that, so I'm very happy with her understanding.
I first cut out the lengthwise sitting substructure, then built up a forward buoyancy chamber with mast partner and daggerboard case. When sailing I sit on a detachable thwart with  foldable side flaps on a detachable underconstruction. When rowing this  bench  is used lengthwise as it was before. All  the fittings were leftovers from earlier boat projects or made up by me.
For varnishing spars, daggerboard and rudderparts I used our little balcony.
Last I sewed a comfortable watertight sitting mat with three layers of foam mats inside as used for camping and three long watertight sacks for sail, spars and oars.
I have had a couple of nice sailing days with Seewolfchen on my home lake. Predictably, such a short sailboat is not at its best in big waves and sailing upwind can be difficult. Often wind was thrown out of the sail by the strong multidirectional movements of the boat between the waves. But nevertheless she sails very dry, taking in little water, and sailing on a broad reach is a real pleasure. Even so, with her tiller fixed she sails a straight course for long distances like all my boats do and I can make small course corrections by shifting  my weight a little to left or right. Naturally my 3m long Elgol will remain  my normal and my favorite boat when sailing on my home lake, but now I have a nice boat to take away for future voyages and in the colder out of sailing season she will be a good future rowing partner. We possibly leaving for Brittany mid of  August coming back mid of September and  I hope enjoying sailing  her on some nice spots there I still visited often without a boat.
Nice greetings,
Wolf

A disturbing trend...

...is highlighted by news stories here, here and here.
The Moral: Cobbler, stick to your last. Rower, stick to your oars.
Or perhaps they should each have bought a Sculltrek.

Sulkava churchboat racing

Tony Shaw teaches English in Helsinki, and has become wildly enthusiastic about rowing Finnish churchboats. He took part in the amazing mass churchboat gathering at Sulkava, claimed to be the largest rowing event in the world with more than 7,000 rowers competing. The boats leaving for the race through the islands in the lake near the Russian border make a spectacular sight.
Tony writes:

Dear CP - Thanks for the VERY FINE collection of rowing trivia and triumph on your blog - it ties in with my excitement about Sulkava, which is its participatory aspect.
My scratch crew of 14 exceptionally varied rowers, aged from 20 - 70, including five women, bonded to manage 70 kms in 2 days with very little discomfort - maybe thanks to perfect summer weather...churchboats were all about spirit!
Though many boats are sponsored by companies for their staff, there is a very powerful fun element, eg the interim evening dance and karoke!
I used to row at school, and even turned out for York University in their Roses Weekend vs Lancaster Uni - in the 1970s. Over here I hardly touched an oar until three weeks ago when I joined a scratch crew for a public invitation row in Helsinki. I seem to be hooked again (as many 50-something readers of yours are!).
ALL regards
Tony

Tony took the pictures, except for the top one which comes from a massive album of excellent photos of the event. There's a longer report from Tony at Hear the Boat Sing.

Sliding seat for cruising rowboats

Sliding seats are a big problem for cruising boats, because they take up all the middle of the boat and get in the way when you want to for camp, cook or just laze around. Worse than a centreboard.
Rick Thompson in the San Francisco Bay area has built one of the most interesting rowing/sailing boat designs around, John Welsford's Walkabout. Now he has added an ingenious sliding seat mechanism that runs on the side flotation tanks, leaving the centre well free for other purposes, such as sleep. Rick describes it in the very excellent John Welsford forum thus:

I'm pretty happy with it so far. I know JW is not so keen on sliding seats, and I understand that it probably burns more energy and doesn't do anything to change the hull speed limit on this type of boat.

For me, it is a big help to be able to use leg muscles as well as arms and back. Next will be some type of hold-down so the seat can be used fixed as well.
It's really hot here in inland California now, hope others are having good
boating or building weather.
Rick

I have to say I rather agree with John Welsford about sliding seats on long-distance boats. When you are racing over relatively short distances, you need to transmit all the power you can possibly generate into the oars. It is a sprint, so it's anaerobic.
Over longer distances, it is physically impossible to row anaerobically - the power you can produce is limited by the amount of air you can pump through your lungs. And you can produce this power just as efficiently on a fixed thwart as a sliding seat.
If you use a fixed seat, you get the other advantages of better control over the oars in choppy conditions and a more robust and simpler setup. But with the sliding seat, Rick will be able to make a lot of money by challenging fixed seat Walkabout owners to a race to "that buoy and back". Go, Rick!

More Smuggery

Paul Zink, creator of the Clovelly Scull, has put the North Devon coast up for the title of Loveliest Rowing Waters on the Planet.
As with previous entrants, he makes a point.

Hi Chris,
I guess we've all been enjoying this summer's exceptionally good weather. The photos above were taken while out rowing my Clovelly Scull in idyllic conditions along the North Devon coast between Clovelly and Hartland Point. I think I must challenge Brian Pearson's claim that the waters out of Keyhaven are the loveliest on the planet. It takes a lot to beat the north coast of Devon and Cornwall, that is if you like rowing on the open sea with spectacular cliffs on one side and the sea horizon on the other with only the occasional porpoise, dolphin or seal for company as well as the likes of razorbills and shearwaters demonstrating their flying skills. In contrast there are days when rowing is very definitely out of the question. The photo on the right was taken just around the corner at Hartland Quay during a winter storm. Maybe Brian could have been out rowing from Keyhaven on that same day!
I do have to agree with Brian that Keyhaven is a great place for rowing. It is certainly my favourite out of the various places in the Solent area I have visited. While providing sheltered water in the various creeks and behind the spit it is also a good launch point for rowing over to the Isle of Wight or just going to have a bit of fun with the overfalls in the Hurst Channel during the flood tide.
Trust all is well with you,
Paul

Another major delight of Paul's home waters is the row to Lundy, also known as Puffin Island, a distance of 14 miles. The huge tides in the Bristol Channel makes this a row to be timed with care.
Last weekend Clovelly Pilot Gig Club held their annual Lundy Row. Nine pilot gigs rowed to Lundy on the Saturday morning, spent the afternoon walking the island and the evening in the Marisco Tavern. They rowed back next day, arriving in Clovelly just in time for the Red Lion to open, so a typically rowing time was had by all. There is a full report here.

River Yealm boat on the Solent

I have always admired West Country rowing boats with their combination of speed, practicality and style, and this is an attractive example from the River Yealm, owned and rowed by Alison Abrams in Keyhaven.
Brian Pearson relates:

"Alison had cancer a little while back and I am pleased to say things have gone well and she can get back to rowing again. She learnt to row on the Yealm and has had her boat for 20 years. To pay something back to the Bournemouth Cancer Unit she did a sponsored 12 mile row on Sunday out to Hurst Castle and back six times. Well done her!
Her boat is called Tom, after the man who taught her to row as a child on the Yealm and then when he died he left her a legacy with which she purchased the boat - a lovely story.
If anyone would also like to contribute they can at www.jigsawappeal.org.uk. Click on donations, then fill in amount, then under "Reasons" enter Alison Abrams Big Row, and please add Gift Aid My Donation."

Hog Heaven

This guy has it MADE. He is lazing in the sun while his girl paddles him towards the pub. Their dog is also enjoying himself top hole - he is alternately swimming and chasing ducks along the shore.
Spotted on the Hamble yesterday.