Rowing Footwear

Before you all groan 'Not another picture of himself, the egoist', this is really designed to show off the items I am wearing on my feet.
Readers with long memories may recall that I have tried several ways of keeping my feet dry on the foreshore.
The standard welly boots are not quite long enough, and nothing takes the shine off an apres-row visit to the pub like icy, sodden socks. My experiments with waterproof socks and yachting boots were expensive failures.
But when one of the Langstone Cutters pointed out at the AGM that rowing in wellingtons is probably not entirely safe, I decided to try something different. As ever, eBay had a promising solution.
I bought a pair, and also invested in a few pairs of deck shoes.
The thigh-length waders are brilliant. I can get round the other side of the boat in the picture to hand the ropes holding the cover on (you can see the knots in the picture) without risk of getting a bootful. They fold down to calf length when not in the water.
When I get in the boat, I slip the waders off and the boat shoes on, which are safer, more comfortable and much less sweaty.
The downside is that the waders are a bit of a faff to get on again, but I think it is worth it.
Thanks to Robina Bream for the picture, a symphony in blues. Even though the waders are green. That's mobile phone cameras for you.

Rowing with the Stars

A few weeks ago we took the stars out rowing. Comedian John Bishop is doing a Week of Hell for Sport Relief, involving cycling from the Arc de Triomphe, rowing the Channel and running to Marble Arch.
He and fellow masochist Davina McCall came down to Chichester Harbour to learn how to row in a pilot gig. Here is John with me, Colin McPhee, Debs Gilbert, his coach and a BBC producer. Davina had already left by this time.
Both seemed fit and determined, and picked the rowing basics up quickly. Whether this will be enough for a 20 mile row in the open sea remains to be seen.
Bishop doesn't seem to be relishing the prospect though. In an interview with the BBC, he said: "Rowing is boring."
After the announcement, this picture appeared in the Metro, emailed by alert reader Ben Meakins.

Another sailing punt

George Dunlop Leslie may have pioneered the sailing punt (he claimed never to have seen any but his own) but the idea refused to die. Gavin Atkin of intheboatshed has alerted me to a later and much more sophisticated design by none other than Captain R.F. Wykeham-Martin, inventor of the famous foresail rolling gear.
Leslie mounted a simple lugsail but otherwise used the stuff to hand, steering with the pole and using a floor board as a leeboard. Wykeham-Martin has a proper rudder, pivoting leeboards and leg'mutton sail with a jib. Details are on the brilliant River Thames Society website.
I have to confess I don't see the point. The tiller will get in the way when you are punting and the rudder means you lose the ability to go over very shallow water that is one of the punt's main advantages. The complex rig will take time to put up and take down when you want to change from one mode of propulsion to the other. Going  under bridges will be a nightmare - Wykeham-Martin didn't face this problem because he sailed his punt on the Shatt-el-Arab.
Frankly, if you want to punt, punt. If you want to sail, get a Laser.

Icebreaker Row

A very early neap tide today so got out in Kittiwake just after eight. It was still and clear but bitterly cold, and the bow crnchd crshsd scrshd through the thin layer of ice. Despite the scale difference, the sound was exactly the same as you hear in the monster ferries plying the Baltic from Stockholm to Helsinki in winter.

I am always surprised at how often the water in the harbour freezes, at least at the edges. It is salt, after all. Apparently, the ice forms on the mud flats and saltings, and the tide floats it off as it come in.

Another Bee Mess

Construction of the Bee proceeds from one disaster to another. Having got the bottom boards assembled the right way round, the boat went together quite nicely, although the bow needed a big shove to get into the right shape.
Then, just as my back was turned, I heard a hell of a bang. One of the bottom boards had cracked under the strain.
After a few words, I undid the ties in the area and screwed a patch on the area, protected by a piece of epoxy-proof plastic. Epoxy was applied, with tape over.
Next morning, the epoxy was hard and all seemed well. It bent nicely into shape as new ties were tightened. When the patch was removed, it cracked again. The epoxy had not gone off properly - the tape peeled off in my hand. Last night's frost is probably responsible.
B. B. B.
I will wait for the weather to warm up a bit before trying again. Judging by the BBC weather forecast, it could be some time.

Rowing for Pleasure reader Nick Vowles is a member of that fine body of sailors, the Dinghy Cruising Association, and posted some interesting thoughts on their Yahoo forum the other day. He said it had been 18 months since he asked for the forumite's advice on buying an outboard for his Tideway dinghy Baggywinkle. Everyone was rather dismissive of outboards, so he decided to go for a year without one and see how he got on.
Now he writes:

In that year we managed about 15 day sails and three weekend cruises and cannot recall once wishing we had an engine on board.
Thank you to Oliver for the encouragement to try and tack up the narrow creek we launch from at Saltfleet. We managed it several times with the wind bang on the nose and a little current against us. When the wind was not strong enough, rowing was the easy and enjoyable solution.
It has been a strange transition in mental attitude from thinking of rowing as a chore best avoided if possible, to rowing being our other reliable, effective and enjoyable form of propulsion.
For the first time in my life I went on the water this past Sunday knowing full well I would have to row, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
I used to think there was no point taking the boat out if there was no wind - I now know differently.
I know there are situations where having an engine might suit, but I am now sure for us, where we are and the boat we have, sail and oar is ample.
Nick

As you can see in the picture, all the Vowleses now row including daughter Elsie who is clearly giving it some welly and enjoying it. Fab!

A last word on punts

This delightful little cupola is on the boathouse of Riverside, the house in Wallingford that George Dunlop Leslie had as a country house shortly after he had written Our River. It was later split into three, my grandparents owning the central part but not, to my regret, the boathouse which was 'next door' to us.
Today, most punts are hire boats for the hordes of tourists in Oxford and Cambridge, but I think the classic punt would make perhaps the perfect canal boat.
Rowing is difficult and tedious on canals because they are narrow and winding, so the sculler must look behind almost continually and the spread of the oars makes navigation difficult when a narrowboat approaches.
A punter, on the other hand, looks forward and the boat is so narrow it can squeak past any barge. The water is not deep, there are no unexpected holes in the bottom, and a speed close to the speed limit of 4mph can be maintained with little effort. The huge internal space makes camping a pleasure.
The only possible drawback is that the bottom of every canal was sealed by a process called 'puddling', lining the bottom with mud. Does that make punting difficult? There was a punt hire business on the Regent's Canal in east London but it didn't last long - was this because there is no market for punting in the land of the Cockney or was it because punters were getting their poles stuck in the mud all the time? Please let me know, otherwise I might be building a punt for canal cruising soon. Paul Fisher does some nice plans....