ROWING FOR PLEASURE

2012-01-31T17:55:00.002Z

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

2012-01-28T22:20:00.001Z

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....

Queen's Diamond Jubilee Pageant

2012-01-26T09:17:00.002Z

I had a little rant the other day about how nice it would be if Her Maj was rowed down the Thames in a suitable State Barge for her Silver Jubilee Pageant, and now we find that one is indeed under construction.
Gloriana is nearly 90ft long and rowed by 18 oarsmen, 17 of the Royal Watermen and Sir Steve Redgrave.
The boat is gilded from end to end and the carvings include a mermaid and a sea serpent. The planking is sweet chestnut from the Duchy of Cornwall estate owned by Prince Charles. A discreet engine is fitted, which goes against my puritanical instincts but is probably a wise precaution.

The Queen won't be aboard on the day - apparently it will be used for heralds and trumpeters - but it is expected she will use it in future events. The royals will be aboard the specially decorated pleasure boat Spirit of Chartwell.
More on the build process here.
Further details of the procession have been released. It seems that Langstone Cutters' boats Bembridge and Mabel will be in the first section, so we should get a jolly good view of Gloriana.

The Lore of Punting

2012-01-25T09:07:00.000Z

G.D. Leslie compares and contrasts the benefits of punting against rowing at some length in Our River. Punts are the simplest boat you can devise, capacious, agile and easy to push along, he points out.
They are slow, he concedes, but "the person who shoves a punt has many advantages over the rower; the extreme monotony of the work of rowing, after a long spell, becomes very tedious, the hands get blistered, and the body cramped; if you are sculling without a coxswain the constant twisting your neck around to look ahead proves irksome, and if you have a coxswain, it is ten to one that altercations will be continually arising as to errors of the steerer."
Err, I recognise a lot of that, especially about the often fractious relationship between cox and crew. But then Leslie goes on to discuss the finer points of punting in a deep and wide river like the Thames, and gets very interesting.
Rowers may have to twist their necks to see where they are going, but punters are totally blind to the surface that is essential to progress - the river bed. However, there are many hints at the water's edge for an experienced punter.
"When the bank is low and flat, and the edges fringed with sedges, mud is certain to be found, as is the case also where where floating persicaria or water-lilies are seen, whilst round rushes and steep cliff banks generally indicate that the bottom is gravelly and the stream swift," he writes.
When punting upstream it is best to hug the inside bank of a bend where the current is smallest, though Leslie warns of the danger of being dragged out of the punt by low branches, like Absalom from his chariot.
Another tip is that great big holes are often encountered near bridges, where material was dredged out to build the bridge and its approach roads.
Leslie also greatly enjoyed the ability to collect passing flotsam simply by leaning out of the punt and picking it up. He would collect firewood, bottles, old boots even, on one occasion, a 'No Trespassing' sign: "I kept it as a trophy, on account of the dislike I have to these eyesores on the river."
Hear, hear!

Sailing a punt

2012-01-23T08:58:00.000Z

One of G.D. Leslie's eccentricities was sailing his punt. "I never saw any other punt but mine with a sail," he writes in Our River. I'm not surprised as it strikes me as a good way to get a soaking, but Leslie claims "by using the lee-board when the wind is across the river, a punt sails even better than a rowing boat."
A likely story. I am reminded of Philip Bolger's mystification when people said "that's a nice rowing boat, let's sail her", and that applies to punts with knobs on.
The rig is appealingly simple, however. A loose-footed lug sail with plenty of area high up, needed for water that is mostly sheltered by trees. Steering is done with the pole, and when the wind is abeam the passenger uses a floorboard as a makeshift leeboard.

Bee construction starts (again)

2012-01-21T19:31:00.003Z

Construction of my Bee restarted this week with the assembly of the bottom and side boards the right way round (though I am still comparing them with the plans every five minutes or so, just to check).

I am learning more about epoxy all the time. The joints on the bottom plank had lots of air bubbles, the same problem that I had with Nessy, but this time Geoff the bosun, who is restoring Langstone Cutters' new arrival in the same shed, lent me a wonderful corrugated roller that squeezes the air bubbles out and creates a really good adhesion between the wood and the tape. I used it for the sides and it works a treat.

Next step: getting the bits together into a hull shape.

How to Punt

2012-01-16T20:29:00.001Z

G.D. Leslie poled his punt all along the upper Thames, but was mainly based in the area from Maidenhead to Henley. Punts are rarely seen be seen below Oxford these days, and Leslie's poling style has practically vanished as a result.
In Oxford, punts are propelled by 'pricking'. The punter stands in the stern on the sloping part, lifts the pole and pushes in the right direction, correcting the course by moving the pole like a rudder between strokes. This method has the advantage that the punt can be filled with indolent passengers.
Leslie, however, 'ran' his punt in the old-fashioned way by walking forward to the middle of the boat and pushing the pole with his whole body until he reached the stern again, a much more powerful action that he claimed was less tiring than pricking because the legs provide most of the power rather than just the arms.
Leslie also advises practicing poling on both sides of the punt because it is often necessary to hug the bank to keep out of the main current, something Oxford punters don't have to worry about so much.
Leslie completely ignores the deviant practice of punting from the till (the flat area of decking) that one sees in Cambridge.
The picture shows his punt at St Patrick's Stream in Shiplake.

Punting

2012-01-15T21:07:00.000Z

Punting is a great way of navigating a relatively shallow, slow-moving stream such as the Thames. The Victorian artist George Dunlop Leslie, a member of the St John's Wood Clique, was an avid punter and described the joys and vicissitudes of punting in his book Our River, published in 1881.
The book is again available by the miracle of modern technology, both as a free download and as a print-on-demand volume from the British Library. I came across this lovely book by chance - I was researching Leslie as a previous owner of my grandfather's house, Riverside in Wallingford.
The picture shows G.D. Leslie in his own punt, built in Maidenhead where, Leslie claimed, the best punts came from. The book is a treasure-trove of punting technique, river lore, boating advice and rants on the steamboat menace. More over the next few days.

Gig Rowing on the Telly

2012-01-12T16:04:00.000Z

Caroline Quentin, who used to be quite funny, has been reduced to making tourist videos for Cornwall, where she claims to have family roots. Most of her programme Caroline Quentin in Cornwall was a canter through the usual vineyards, tea rooms and so on, but one section made it worth recording and skimming through to get it without all the fluff. It followed Devoran Gig Club as they prepare for a race in drag with worryingly professional-looking makeup. They were clearly there for the beer, a very laudable attitude I say.

Boat Construction Starts

2012-01-10T19:38:00.001Z

Construction of my new Bee started on Sunday. I epoxied the bottom planks together.
Today I examined the joints to find that the epoxy had set perfectly. But the planks were the wrong way round.
I sawed them apart.
Construction restarts when I calm down a bit.

London Museum Docklands

2012-01-07T21:34:00.000Z

Thinking about State Barges recalled my visit to the Museum of London Docklands last year. The museum has several models and pictures of the barges of the Guilds or Livery Companies, and the shallops operated by the rich and powerful.

Picture quality is fairly rubbish, I'm afraid, due to everything being behind glass. If you want to see better, go and see them! Now!
The model to the right is the barge of the Company of Fishmongers, built in 1773. It was 75m long and had gilded figures of St Peter and various mercreatures including mermaids, mermen, boys riding on dolphins, and merhorses or hippocampi.
Shallops were smaller and plainer, operated by the livery companies to attend their ceremonial barges on big occasions such as the Lord Mayor's Show, and by aristocrats as water carriages.
Watermen were dressed in the uniform that is still familiar from the Doggett's Coat and Badge prize. The scarlet cap, tunic and knee breeches must have made a splendid sight. I think the outfit ought to be compulsory for all oarsmen at the Olympics this year.

Queen's Diamond Jubilee Pageant

2012-01-06T20:23:00.000Z

I'm so exited - Langstone Cutters has been invited to send two boats, the Solent galley Bembridge and Clayton skiff Mabel, to the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Pageant, a flotilla of a thousand boats going down the Thames from Richmond to Tower Bridge on June 3.
Time to break out the bunting that was last used to dress my grandparents' launch to celebrate the Coronation.
It looks set to be a great occasion, bringing rowers together from all over the country including Ullapool Coastal Rowing Club who will be bringing their St Ayles Skiff Ulla from the north of Scotland. It will be great to meet up with them.
The Queen will be riding in style in a Royal Barge converted from a pleasure boat, the Spirit of Chartwell, decorated to a design by film and TV designer Joseph Bennett. This caused raised eyebrows in the stuffier papers, but there is a precedent - the most lavish and impressive Royal Barge in history was designed by William Kent, not a boatbuilder but a sign painter before turning to furniture design and architecture.
His State Barge is preserved in the National Maritime Museum.
The ideal Royal Barge for the Diamond Jubilee would be a new rowing boat, designed by Lord Linley with Iain Oughtred, and crewed by the Royal Watermen and Doggett's Coat and Badge winners in their regalia, but there would be tedious security objections. The Spirit of Chartwell will have to do.

Evening Row

2012-01-03T09:50:00.000Z

Well, we did get out rowing briefly last night. Many frustrated rowers went out for a lunchtime bike ride, and the wind declined during the day. There was just enough time between the arrival of water at the Langstone Mill slipway and sundown to get out for a quick bash round the harbour.
As we returned, a shadowy presence of a single rower in a Teifi skiff was seen under a rather dramatic sunset.
In the pub later, we got to discussing what the two stars we could see actually might be, and one of our number flashed his iPhone and demonstrated a star chart application that showed them to be Jupiter and Venus. It really is a wonderful app, all you do is point the phone at the part of the sky you are interested in and it tells you exactly what you are looking at. So I have downloaded Google Star Maps for my Android phone, and now I am an instant expert.

Winter Rowing

2012-01-02T08:50:00.000Z

What with the tides and the weather, rowing is very hit and miss at the moment. High tides right now are before dawn and after dark, and a line of fronts rolling in from the Atlantic has brought rain seemingly on most of the times when the tide was in and the light on simultaneously.
On the last day of the year, there was a window of opportunity at the end of the day so I went out in Kittiwake to Marker Point, a sticky-out bit of Thorney Island. You can tell it is Marker Point because opposite is this great big post, which has 'Marker' on it in big letters.

As I rounded the post I heard a distant voice. Someone on shore was hailing, but I couldn't see who it was or hear properly. I think it was Steve - if it was you, why weren't you out rowing in your Alden, eh?
Today, the plan was to row to the Isle of Wight from Lee-on-the-Solent and meet Henley Whalers for lunch. Unfortunately, the low tide means we are restricted to the slipways that go all the way, and all of them are blocked by banks of shingle. And the wind is predicted to be an easterly F4/5 right onto the slipways, which will mean launching will be wild and wet. So it is all off. Today I will go and photograph all the mass dials in Sussex.

Rowing for Heroes

2011-12-29T10:46:00.001Z

I recently posted a lengthy whine about the condition known to doctors as 'skiffer's arse', but the latest blog post from transatlantic rower Rory Mackenzie puts it all in perspective.
Cpl Mackenzie, an Army medic, had his right leg blown off by a roadside bomb in Basra. Now he is taking part in the Atlantic Challenge with an Army crew including three other amputees - Row2Recovery.
However hard you train, the real thing is always tougher and Rory discovered as then pushed westwards that the pain was unbearable. Some previously undetected fragments of shrapnel, just pinhead size, were working their way to the skin as the muscles were working.
So this was Rory's Christmas:
"On Christmas Day I dosed myself up on some pretty hard core painkillers and spent ages gazing in the mirror at my behind – not recommended – and picking away with a pair of tweezers to try and pull out the offending shrapnel. I also scrubbed the area pretty aggressively as well. To be honest I was pretty spaced out while I was doing it but it seems to have done the trick."

Amazingly, he is back in the rowing seat and pleased as Punch: "I feel like I’ve been given a new lease of life. It’s so good to really feel like I’m playing my part in things rather than just being a big lump that the rest of the boys have to row across to Barbados."

We saw Row2Recovery come in at the Great River Race, when they got a storm of applause. They are clearly going from strength to strength, currently positioned fourth in the twelve boats still in the race.

You can follow them here, and please donate lavishly here.

Ralph Stockton's Rowing Girls

2011-12-24T20:23:00.000Z

I love this. Modelmaker Ralph Stockton, based at Setley Pond in the New Forest, has created a remote control coxless pair.
The girls have a very odd circular rowing action and they can't feather, but they have the boat under complete control and manage to avoid a threatening narrowboat half way through the film.
I'm almost inspired to create a model rowing boat with a proper stroke including feathering, but I'm too busy rowing.

Slow Rowing

2011-12-23T21:02:00.000Z

This should be the worst rowing boat ever. She is short, fat, flat-bottomed and has a 'bow' that is even wider and blunter than my Simbo. Rowing should be a mighty pain, taking huge amounts of effort to get nowhere in a very long time.
But for Water Dancer's builder, Thomas Mauer in Pennsylvania, she is the best rowing boat ever. As he relates in an article in the brilliant online boating magazine Duckworks, she is great for fishing from, as a base for swimming and as a picnic table (as shown in the picture).

The design is the Puddle Duck Racer (PDR), a sailing boat for youngsters designed to be as much fun as an Optimist at a tiny fraction of the price. The box shape makes it easy and quick to build, and she sails well because it forms a V in the water when heeling. But she was not designed to row.

Thomas's big discovery is that you can often go out under oars when sailing is impractical, and that a wide, stable boat is great for a lot of things that aren't rowing, such as fishing, birdwatching and picnicking.

I have discovered this recently. My sliding seat skiff Snarleyow (pictured in the masthead) is not getting used as much as she used to be, because I like doing the stuff that you can't do in a boat so narrow you can't let go of the oars without risking a sudden immersion.

There are always times, of course, when nothing will hit the spot except a fast and furious bash round the harbour in Snarleyow. For all those other times, a boat designed for comfort rather than speed is what I need.

Slow Rowing? Yes please!

Shortest Day + 1

2011-12-22T22:58:00.000Z

Went out in Kittiwake at dawn, which at the winter solstice at 50 degrees North is 0803 hours. Not hot, but not cold either. Light breeze. And had the whole harbour entirely to myself.

Skiff Calendar for sale

2011-12-19T22:01:00.001Z

Here's the ideal present for any traditional rower - the Skiffs of Loch Broom calendar for 2012, featuring lots of lovely glossy pictures of St Ayles skiffs by Ali Foote, Chris Perkins and others. A slideshow of the pictures is here. Tremendous value for a fiver plus P&P - just drop an email to ullacoastrowing@btinternet.com to place your order.

Rowing Tat

2011-12-18T11:26:00.000Z

I am fairly tolerant when people assume that because I love rowing I will love to own rowing-related ornaments and display them in my home, but I wish to announce right now that if anybody gives me this for Christmas there will be swift and bloody vengeance.

Anyone know Chesapeake Bay?

2011-12-14T17:37:00.000Z

I have received the following email:

I enjoyed reading about you and your little craft. I have a Tanzer 16, and hope to camp cruise the innerside of the Delmarva this spring. Any thoughts on availability of sandy beach, camp grounds, laws pertaining to beach camping, etc.?
David J. Cortes

Unfortunately I know nothing about waters below 50degN, so can anyone help David out?

The picture above, by Pink Pfeffernüsse, shows racing at the Mid-Atlantic Small Boats Festival at St Michaels, MD, last year. See the splendid blog 70.8% for a report on this year's event.

Traditional Rowing at the Carrow Cup

2011-12-12T19:19:00.000Z

There were some lovely traditional boats at the Carrow Cup Festival. Above is Adrian Hodge's lovingly restored Thames double skiff JoJo, complete with video camera on tripod. I'm looking forward to the film!

Sliding seat skiff

A couple of Victorian sliding seat doubles with outriggers made an appearance (right), looking very elegant with their slender planks and little transoms.

Raineach

Roland Harris bought Raineach, a Shetland faering designed by Iain Oughtred and built in real tree-wood by Adrian Morgan in Ullapool. Apparently the larch of the planks took up faster than the oak of the frame which caused some problems in the first few years, but she has now stabilised. That's real wood for you, I suppose.
Finally, the ferry from the Norwich Rowing Club to the Carrow Yacht Club where we launched was a totally non-traditional plastic dory. Adrian rowed us back after the prizegiving as the sun went down on a truly great day.

Carrow Cup Traditional Boat Race

2011-12-10T18:13:00.000Z

BREAKING NEWS
Solent Galley Bembridge rowed in the Traditional Boat Division at the Carrow Cup in Norwich today and we won!
Only by 12 seconds over a Cornish pilot gig, but that's good enough. Especially as their crew was a lot younger than us (the codger crew of 60 year olds that have had a very good year).
More later when the pics ~~come back from Boots~~ get uploaded.

Currach for Sale

2011-12-09T10:37:00.001Z

The Irish currach is one of those survivals that win because they are still the best boats for the job in the wild Atlantic swell off the west coast. Skin on frame, they are rowed with narrow sea oars that may lose on grip in the water but don't clip the waves so badly on the return (and it may also be something to do with short supply of long knot-free timber thereabouts).
Mike Morris in Chester has a nice example for sale. He writes:

Hi Chris,
I have a currach for sale and was wondering if anyone would be interested in her.

She is a 14 ft Toraigh (Tory) Island currach made by Holger Lonze as part of the Loch Neagh boat project he ran. She has a replacement skin which I put on.

These currachs have the advantage of a false keel, which means you can drag and launch them more easily than others, and she tracks much better, which is good for river rowing, although she is designed for the sea. The history of this type is set out on the Meitheal Mara website. She is very stable and good for a single rower plus passenger (she can take two rowers if desired). I imagine she would be good for lake fishing. Drawback is that although she can be put atop a large car or van, this is quite a task and she really needs a trailer, in which case she can be launched single-handed. She has original oars but really needs a set of new ones, which are fairly easy to make. She can also be fitted out with a rudder and for sailing.
She's a nice little boat with a real pedigree and I'm only selling her because I already have a 16 foot Naimhog from Meitheal Mara and have now built a wood/canvas canoe which I can car-top myself.

She really needs someone who loves rowing and has an interest in skin on frame boats to get her out on the water. For anyone who hasn't rowed a currach, the narrow oar blades used are a revelation, and never fail to surprise people over the power they generate.

Her name is Branagan Mhara, ('Little Crow of the Sea') and I've cut and pasted the original canvas patch with her name on onto the replacement skin.
If anyone is interested, I'd be happy to discuss her further and go for a test row on the Dee in Chester, which is five minutes from my house. I can also make suggestions about usage, maintenence, etc. based on my trial and error experience of currach ownership. The sail can be included but there is no mast or rudder.
Cheers
Mike

If anyone is interested, drop me an email and I will put you in touch with Mike. I'm off to Norwich now, to take part in the Carrow Cup Festival tomorrow. Should be a hoot (but a bit chilly) - a report will follow.

Frozen Rowing

2011-11-30T22:49:00.000Z

I went rowing today and found it hard work in a F5 breeze against the tide.
Exhausted, I slumped in front of the telly to watch David Attenborough's latest triumph, Frozen Planet. And he showed people who have it really tough.
The Aleut peoples of Chukotka, the bit of Russia that Sarah Palin can see from her bedroom window, hunt in boats made of walrus skin on wooden frames. They kill walrus by throwing huge weighted harpoons attached to inflated walrus bladders to stop them from diving.
The unfortunate walrus even provide puncture repair outfits - holes in the hulls are repaired with dobs of walrus fat.
I admire the hardihood and self-reliance of these people so much. Their timing could be better though. And they used a very short, sharp stroke. Could that be to cope with rougher conditions?
The Frozen Planet series is the best thing on the TV right now by a country mile - if you are in the UK and haven't watched this superb programme already, watch it on BBC iplayer NOW.

Cockups make rowing interesting

2011-11-27T19:56:00.003Z

This is what happens when you leave a boat unattended on a rising tide with the wind offshore.
Embarrassing. Everyone walking their dogs along the foreshore stopped to watch. Luckily the breeze blew her into the shadow of the pub and the tide brought her back in before anyone had to get wet waist deep to stop her floating off to France.
Later, an inexperienced cox failed to notice a mooring buoy, catching the rope with the rudder and bringing us to a sudden and inglorious halt.
As I hung over the stern up to my elbows in cold water disconnecting us, a voice rang out from the pub: "Should've gone to Specsavers!"

Soaked again

2011-11-26T18:24:00.000Z

The Cutters met for a row to Emsworth in what the met station said was a Force 3 gusting 4, but turned out to be a lot brisker than that.

We had an awkward number of crew, so Marcus and I took Lottie out without a cox, always hard work in any sort of breeze because she has a strong tendency to lie beam-on to the wind. We laboured down to Marker Point, much further than the other boats who went directly to Emsworth for coffee.
Coming back, we took the short cut along the north channel. A pair of channel markers have recently been put up. I mean, I know the channel is narrow there, but they were so close together we couldn't row between them.
Got back straight into the wind, smashing down into the waves and getting thoroughly soaked.
We do this for fun, y'know.

An Evening Row

2011-11-19T18:12:00.000Z

I had to spend the day writing a very boring piece on Business Strategy Change Execution, so when I finally finished and looked out of the window to see a cloudless sky, I just had to go for a quick row in Kittwake before sundown. There was just enough tide.
Passed a plastic boat with the three occupants trying desperately to make some way against the tide using two very small paddles and the bailer: their outboard was doing what outboards do best, sulking. I rowed over to a fishing boat across the harbour and got them to go to the rescue.
As the sun went down, nothing but the cries of the birds, now over for their winter stay, and the roar of the waves on the harbour bar a mile away.
The Royal Oak was a welcome sight on my return.

Rowing and Towing

2011-11-14T09:14:00.000Z

No, this isn't my car. The picture was posted on Proper Course, where ace Laser sailor Tillerman says he doesn't know much about rowing but isn't something wrong here?
I spent much of the weekend towing stuff, as it happens, including taking our majestic 30ft long Solent galley Bembridge to the Hamble. Proceeding at a stately 60mph past a motorway turnoff, I looked in my wing mirror and saw a hot hatch zoom up on the outside lane trying to overtake me before the turnoff. Then he (yes, of course it was a guy) discovered he had totally misjudged how long the boat is and had to hit the anchors and drop round our stern so he could make the turn. Much slower. HAHAHAHAHA.
Which reminds me. Doing the same trip a few weeks ago with our Clayton skiff Gladys behind, I was overtaken by a house. It is very alarming to look out of your side window and see a front door drifting past just a few inches away (it was a very wide house) at a good 70mph.

Outriggers

2011-11-12T22:13:00.000Z

Rowed up the Hamble in Bembridge with Langstone Cutters today and it was fab - the trees are taking on their autumn golds and russets, the water was flat calm, the sun was warm and the beer was cool.

At the hard at Swanwick we met Bernard with his Selway Fisher-designed skiff. He wanted removable outriggers, especially as he transports the boat on his car roof. I know from bitter experience how scratchy outriggers are on a car roof.
Bernard developed a simple and elegant removable outrigger to solve the problem. One end fits in a hole in the thwart and the middle slots into a fitting on the gunwale, secured by a grub screw. He sawed aluminium tube to fit and got a local welder to weld it up.
Judging by the speed Bernard got from the Horse and Jockey back to the hard at Swanwick, this is a very egronomic arrangement.

Ruderboot

2011-11-10T23:18:00.002Z

The Swedish illustrator Brynolf Wennerberg (1866-1950) produced some charming stuff including some attractive images of ladies rowing.
Unfortunately, his work has two drawbacks for today's British art lovers. One is that his best-known work was propaganda for the First World War German High Command - he had emigrated from his native Sweden to Munich, where he changed his name to Bruno and worked for various magazines. Actually it is pretty fluffy stuff including a series of postcards of horrific war scenes such as a girl tending a gruff soldier convalescing from what is clearly a flesh wound, and another of a girl greeting a postman bearing the grim news that her fiance has a slight hangover after winning a bar to his Iron Cross. In the card on the right, a couple of girls are taking a brave soldier out for a good time on the lake, the lucky fellow.
From a rowing point of view, however, Wennerberg commits the cardinal sin of portraying the lovely oarslady above sculling right-over-left. Tsk tsk.

Museum of London Docklands

2011-11-05T22:59:00.000Z

I was forced to go up to that London last weekend despite the tides being perfectly suitable for rowing, to take my darling daughter and her delightful cousin to a gathering of exhibitionists called Comic Con at the exhibitionists centre on the Royal Victoria Dock. While they were there I visited the new outpost of the Museum of London in Canary Wharf.
Frankly, I was expecting to spend half an hour looking at a poster display, but the Museum of London Docklands is brilliant and I ended up spending most of the day there. An all-inclusive history of London as a port, starting with the Romans. There is a superb model of Old London Bridge, based on all the known sources and probably the best representation now possible, and 'Sailortown', an evocation of the darkness, squalor and smells of the old East End.
And, of course, there is lots of stuff about rowing, with models of the wherries, peterboats and barges that used to ply their various trades on the river. It is not easy to take pictures of exhibits behind glass, but above is a model of a wherry with a waterman in traditional garb with his badge on his sleeve, plus a crutch (not a rowlock). Another model is shown below.

Fin de siecle elegance

2011-11-03T21:12:00.000Z

There was a young lady from Thrace,
Whose corsets grew too tight to lace.
Her mother said, "Nelly,
There's more in your belly,
Than ever went in through your face!"

This ad is for sale on eBay.

Spring in New Zealand

2011-11-02T11:12:00.000Z

Owen Sinclair is out early this spring - spring in New Zealand, of course. An early trip was to lovely Lake Rotoroa (above), dramatic scenery that we don't have much of in England.
Owen writes:

Lake Rotoroa is great. It is one of two vehicle-accessible lakes in the Nelson Lakes National Park and the Department of Conservation discourages waterskiing and jetskis from it, in favour of them using the other (Lake Rotoiti) This helps maintain the serenity to some extent. The fisherman on the lake are normally in powerboats but there aren't too many and they are generally orderly.
The lake looked prettier in some ways a few months ago when the mountains were coated in snow. On the other hand, when I rowed there the weekend before last the kowhais (yellow flowers) along the lakeside were in flower with tuis feeding on them and calling and there was native clematis (white flowers) relieving the green of the forest in places. Plus eels at the Durville Hut jetty (sorry no photos of those)
Cheers,
Owen

Here is a slide show of Owen's recent trips from Marahau to Falls River and return, and around Lake Rotoroa. Thanks Owen!

Carrow Cup

2011-10-31T10:14:00.002Z

The Carrow Cup has been fought for most Decembers since 1822 on the River Wensum in Norwich. Originally the boats were traditional wherries with fixed seats, but as sliding seats and outriggers came in the racers adopted them. Nowadays, the main race is for fine boats but last year Norwich Rowing Club added a second race for traditional boats, organised by the Norfolk Skiff Club - judging by the pictures, they had a jolly festive time.
Just a few boats took part, but this year the turnout looks set to be very much larger with at least 17 boats planning to enter, including Langstone Cutters with our Solent galley Bembridge and possibly a Clayton skiff as well. All the members of the old codgers crew that triumphed in the Great River Race have signed up, so we should be in with a chance of some sort of win.

Bottoms

2011-10-23T18:07:00.000+01:00

I look very jolly in this picture, taken by that intrepid sailor Liz Baker at a picnic lunch on Fowley Island last weekend. As you can see, the weather was fabulous, the last knockings of our Indian summer, and it had been lovely to catch up with members of the Dinghy Cruising Association. I am rowing Kittiwake, which is rapidly becoming one of my favourite boats for aimless paddling.
But under the smile was bitter pain. I was trying out a new set of high-tech underpants in the hope that they would prevent my recurring problem with chafing on the bum.
A pair of Berghaus trews made of spandex had helped, but I had come to the conclusion that the main culprit was the Marks and Spencer cotton/polyester boxer shorts I favour. There seems to be very little advice available on the web concerning this fundamental problem, though I bet it is more widespread than many admit.
Cyclists are much more open on the subject, and they recommend special underpants to prevent saddle sores. So off I trotted to the cycle shop and invested more money than I have ever spent in my life on a pair of knickers - a score. Outrageous. And when I got them out of the box and saw the thick pad that is supposed to protect you from the saddle, I just knew they wouldn't work.
In fact, they made matters far worse, causing an extremely painful chafe that took all week to heal.
So the next day I popped into Aldi and there found a running set consisting of breathable vest and pants in some sort of stretchy polymer for the very reasonable price of a tenner (Aldi is cheapskate heaven).
On Wednesday I tried them out on a trip round Langstone Harbour in the teeth of a Force 5, and they gave no trouble in the botty department at all. I hope I may have cracked it.

Oar length

2011-10-20T12:01:00.000+01:00

I've been discussing oar length with Gavin Atkin of intheboatshed. He has received the exciting news that the first Oarmouse has been built to his plans for a fast, stable, easily-built sculling boat that can be made from just two sheets of ply.
The builder, Fred Rodger in the US, says it fulfils all his expectations but needs a skeg to stop it turning too fast. A skeg is under construction. He is also rethinking the outrigger and thole pin arrangement.
Thole pins are very ancient and still used in many parts of the world, mainly in traditional fishing communities. The rope holding the loom of the oar against the thole is called a humlibaund in Scotland and an estrop in Catalonia.

Fred doesn't say how long his oars are but Gavin thinks they may be too short.

There are lots of formulae for calculating the 'correct' length of oars of varying complexity ranging from a simple 'half the span, times three, plus six inches' (span is the distance between the thole pins) to the widely-quoted Shaw and Tenney equation that you need a computer to calculate.

I personally use trial and error. Start with oars that are too long and take them out for a thrash. Then cut them down by half an inch. Repeat the process until you feel really comfortable. Then go rowing.

With modern oars, you will need to adjust the button that holds the oar in place against the rowlock to maintain balance, but with Fred Rodger's thole pins it will mean simply repositioning the strop.

It is also worth looking at the height of the rowlock. Even a small change in the height will make a big difference to the height of the handles above your knees - raising the rowlocks just a little can transform an uncomfortable and cramped stroke into a lovely casual swing.

Flatpack Rowing

2011-10-19T12:21:00.001+01:00

As a fully paid-up gadget freak, I love this. Demonstrated at a design show on the Regent's Canal in London last month, the Foldboat is cut from a single 2.5 by 1.5m sheet of polyethylene, cleverly creased so to pop up into this little rowboat.
The designers claim it can be assembled in a couple of minutes, bolting together at the bow and the ends of the transom.
The Foldboat was developed by Max Frommeld and Arno Mathies, students at the Royal College of Art. They also created the novel oars with blades cut from the same sheet of plastic as the boat - the shafts are ash.
The Foldboat comes in two versions. This one is quick to set up but must be stored as a single sheet, though it would easily hang on the garage wall.
Another version folds down into a flat pack a mere 1.5 by 0.6m, so it could be transported in the back of a car or even carried around.
More information on the designers' very stylish blog.

Man on the Danube

2011-10-17T21:13:00.000+01:00

I love this picture. Partly because it shows the wonderful Hungarian parliament building in Budapest, which rivals the British parliament in its Gothic splendour and riverside setting. But mainly because it is one of those pictures where you have to look closely to find the real subject - that little boat in the bottom left-hand corner.
It is Giacomo De Stefano's Clodia, a Ness Yawl designed by Iain Oughtred, which he is rowing and sailing from London to Istanbul via the Thames, Rhine and Danube. You can read about his exploits and aims in full on his blog, Man on The River.
It seems that Giacomo's epic voyage will pause for the winter in Budapest.

Free Fleet Trow on offer

2011-10-15T22:03:00.000+01:00

The Fleet Trow is one of the most specialised of traditional boats, having been developed for use on the Fleet, a lagoon in the lee of the Chesil Bank, one of the largest shingle banks in Europe. The trows are flat-bottomed and with hardly any rocker, designed to be rowed around the shallow waters of the lagoon, especially to transport mackerel landed on the beach by seine-netters to railheads inland.

Traditional wooden Fleet Trows are still being made by Clark's Boatworks in Portland, and Daan Eysker owns a rather nice example. He writes:

"I have an 12ft 9 inch Fleet Trow made by Clark's Boatworks in Dorset. It is in a very good state, varnished inside and out.
It’s free , so if you know some one who wants it , let me know!
I live in the Netherlands though.
Greetings,
Daan Eysker"

If you are interested in Daan's Trow, drop me a line and I will pass the message on.

Technique

2011-10-14T20:49:00.003+01:00

This guy rowing what looks like a Cornish flashboat is Exhibit A in a British Rowing poster explaining the definitive method of fixed seat rowing. It is excellent, by which I mean that it reinforces all my prejudices. Download it here.

A baby St Ayles Skiff

2011-10-11T21:19:00.000+01:00

Alec Jordan, originator of the Scottish Coastal Rowing project, has created a little sister for the St Ayles Skiff that is proving a roaring hit round the world.
Designed by Iain Oughtred, the Wemyss Skiff is a single or pair sculling boat, that can be rowed with or without a cox. It should be a valuable addition to any coastal rowing club where members want to broaden their oarsmanship skills or simply get out when they can't get a crew together for the big boat.
A very interesting aspect of the boat is its complete adjustability. The stretchers (1) can be moved, of course, but so can the thwarts (2), which rest on flotation tanks running down the sides of the boat. And the swivels (3) can be moved too, so rowers at both ends of the height spectrum can tune their position to get the best possible action.
Alec writes:

Just thought I would let you know that there is a smaller skiff in build here. I'm meant to be taking the prototype up to Ullapool next weekend, but it is touch-and-go as to whether I will have her finished in time. I had intended launching on Wednesday, but I think it is probably going to be next Saturday morning in Ullapool!
It is called the Wemyss Skiff because I live in East Wemyss, and it was hearing about the coal miners' regattas here in times gone by that planted the seed for the St Ayles project. Length is 16'7", beam 4'9". Disp 610lbs.
Iain Oughtred has made some changes to the hull form, and I am wanting to make mods to the planking - giving her a 9mm garboard and some changes to the buoyancy arrangements. The kit will need to be completely re-designed!
The idea is that she can be used as a single, a coxless double, or coxed double for youngsters.
She will be in Watercraft's Grand Designs in the next issue - maybe on the water, maybe not...

As you can see, Alec got her into the water at Ullapool last weekend where Chris Perkins took these pics (more are at the Ullapool Coastal Rowing Club site). Chris reports that the Wemyss Skiff is lovely and quick despite not being quite finished - the buoyancy tanks are not fitted yet and the stretchers are still missing.

It should make another great rowing boat kit.

Notes for non-pedants:

(1) Footrests

(2) Seats

(3) Rowlocks

Summer is Icumen In...

2011-10-10T21:29:00.000+01:00

...well, south of the Equator it is. In England, as the poet Timothy Shy trilled. "Winter is icumen in, Lhude sing goddamn!"

In Australia, Alec Morgan is planning a summer expedition to Fraser Island, which is something close to paradise if the pictures on Panoramio are to be believed.

Alec's blog follows him preparing his home-built boat, a Flint dinghy designed by Ross Lillistone, and plots his course up the landward side of Fraser Island, a national park on the coast of Queensland, to Wathumba Creek.

This is my type of cruising. Alec plans to float with tide and wind, do a bit of fishing and have a relaxing time generally.

His boat is my type of boat too. He has rigged it with a small sail right in the bow, the shape taken from Micronesian examples. The whole rig can be put up or taken down in a couple of minutes at sea, and the spars fit inside the boat. Alec says it has good downwind performance, which is what you want.

The latest operation has been to prepare the oars, which are standard chandlery oars improved by shaving so they balance better and give a nice bit of spring, but are still strong enough to use for the inevitable fending-off.

Alec leaves next month, when I suspect we in the frozen north will be fretting indoors, cursing the weather.

(Picture of Wathumba Creek at top by JWarnes on Panoramio)

Brighten up your walls this Winter

2011-10-06T15:27:00.000+01:00

This shows how propagandists fail to understand anything. The woman rower is not HANDICAPPED - she is EMPOWERED. The wind just has to veer round and she will still be progressing when that smug sailor is tacking fruitlessly and quite possibly backwards. And at the end of the race, she will be much fitter and he will still be a fat slob. Go girl!

A reproduction of the poster is available on eBay at eight quid.

Also on eBay, an essential weapon for any rower competing for space on a congested jetty (about £13 but unfortunately in Texas).

Discussion Point

2011-10-04T17:32:00.000+01:00

“When one rows, it’s not the rowing which moves the

ship: rowing is only a magical ceremony by means of

which one compels a demon to move the ship.”

Friedrich Nietzsche

Indian Summer

2011-10-03T22:20:00.000+01:00

You wouldn't believe this pic was taken today, October 3. An Indian summer has struck southern England, bringing the warmest October days since records began. So we are all furiously getting out to enjoy it as it will be the last chance we get for months and months and months.
One of the few joys of being one's own boss is that one can give the worker permission to skive off occasionally, so as the rest of the year is predicted to be dreary and cold I sloped off in the afternoon to take Kittiwake out for a little fishing trip down the harbour. Didn't catch anything, predictably, but had a lovely, lovely time.

See how the current holds Annie against the pontoon.

On Saturday I rowed up the lovely River Hamble with Langstone Cutters, but left my phone in the car so these pics are courtesy of crew member Graham Lloyd. No fewer than 13 people turned up wanting to get the good row in before it gets cold, so we took Clayton skiff Mabel and Mike Gilbert's Cornish pilot gig Annie. Hamble River Rowers were out in strength too.
Lessons learned:
1) When launching into a river with the tide making at high speed, don't move the boat from the slip to the pontoon however convenient it looks. The current will jam you up on the pontoon and you will have to fight the boat off. Launch directly off the hard where there is no current.
2) When securing the boat on the trailer, check the loose ends of the tie-downs are properly secured or they will wrap round the axle and bring you to a complete halt on a busy intersection and you will be very embarrassed.

Smallest Ocean Rowing Boat?

2011-09-30T20:26:00.001+01:00

Master Boatbuilder and Photographer Chris Perkins got a surprise visit from an American oarsman a few weeks ago, wanting to see the secret project (teaser pic right).
His visitor, Chris Duff, had just been forced to abandon a row from Scotland to Iceland in a 19ft rowing skiff bearing a strong resemblance to my own Sprite skiff, Snarleyow.
In fact, it is based on a Merry Wherry Two, a stitch and glue kit made by Wayland Marine in Washington State. Chris added cabins front and rear to make a sort of miniature version of the thing Matt Craughwell plans to row the Indian Ocean in.
Now, I am a huge admirer of the seaworthiness of my Sprite, but I really wouldn't fancy having to sleep in that forecabin in the open ocean. Chris is not totally mad, however, as he did not attempt his ocean crossing in the challenging weather of this summer despite being clearly psyched up for it. His fascinating reports are here (including the great pic by Ken Nicol).
The boat is now hanging in the roof of a cowshed near Ullapool awaiting better weather next year.
At Wayland Marine, however, the idea of an ocean-going skiff has taken root, and they are offering a kit of a similar sort of thing, called the Merry Expedition, with a snug cabin at the front, a storage cabin at the back and a self-bailing cockpit for good measure. It will be interesting to see if the idea takes off.

Double Ender Down Under

2011-09-27T22:03:00.000+01:00

I would never dare alter a design by someone clearly much more capable, experienced and talented than I am, especially when that person is John Welsford, boat designer supreme. But Peter Murton in Nelson, New Zealand, has bravely done just that.

He decided John's elegant rowing boat Joansa would make an even more elegant double ender, so he simply went ahead and built it. He writes:

"I just used the bow sections of John's drawings. The centre frame was the center of the boat. Next time I would make two centre frames and space them 600mm apart so you end up with a boat about 5.3m long. She is a lot lighter without the transom at about 75lb and still rows very well.
Our next boat is going to be a double ended Whitehall, 17ft long with sliding seat and outriggers."
The result is a lovely looking boat, and it probably goes a bit faster without the transom as well as being lighter.

Rowing in Portugal

2011-09-26T21:14:00.000+01:00

So Anders Eliasson took his new Thames skiff over the border to Portugal for a short holiday. As promised, he reports:

Lago Alqueva is an artificial lake in Portugal. Its in the south in the Alentejo province and part of the lake is on the border with Spain. It’s the biggest artificial lake in Western Europe and its more than 80km (50 miles) long. The region is also considered to be the least populated part of western Europe.I was there for 4 days with my 12´ Selway-Fisher Thames skiff and my dog, rowing some 3 to 4 hours a day.The place was a very pleasant surprise. It's late summer here and everything is very dry, but the feeling was fresh and lush. The water is not clear but it seems to be very clean with a lot of plants and fish. The whole zone is pretty deserted and accomodation is scarce. No campsite, very few hotels or B&Bs. I slept in the back of my Ford Focus van and enjoyed the loneliness. That was what I was looking for.I could imagine that the lake would be a really great place to do some serious dinghy cruising. There are an endless amount of small islands and hidden bays where you can camp wild. There´s no need for sleeping in the boat. The weather was warm but not overly hot, a maximum of some 32 degrees celsius. Most days there were a stable wind of some 6 to10 knots, in the afternoon a little stronger and in the morning less.The little skiff did great. Its not the ultimate rowing machine. Its too short and fat for that (12 x 3´8) but it is a dedicated rowing craft and you reach max hull speed with little effort. I´m looking forward to going back. Its only a two hours drive from where I live.

Thanks Anders - the HBBR folk have been discussing more far-flung cruising grounds and I think this one is now on my personal list.

Southampton Boat Show footnote

2011-09-23T19:18:00.000+01:00

The Southampton Boat Show coops most of the nice boats up in a fenced-off ghetto accessed only over a bridge, to isolate them from the Sunseekers.

This year, Stirling & Son showed their lovely and glowing traditionally-built, real wood rowing boat (above). You can see why Princess wouldn't want it next to their stand, it would show their plastic monsters up rotten.

Ian Thomson of Nestaway Boats was showing his new Trio 16, a big boat that splits into three to fit in the back of a Focus estate. His new outriggers were fitted, a robust design that bolts onto the gunwale rather neatly (right).

Craftsman Craft had on display a 16ft 'yachtsman's launch', which I was a little tempted by - just the thing for pottering about the Solent.

I particularly liked the plaque below the gunwale, placed there solely to get round the provisions of the Recreational Craft Directive. I wish other Euro-nonsenses were as easy to circumvent.

Bursledon Gigs at the Great River Race

2011-09-22T10:22:00.000+01:00

Bursledon Gigs from the River Hamble were out in force at the GRR, with boats from Hamble River Rowing and the Sea Scouts, who won in most of the Scouts classes. Smartest boat on the river was Mistress, the Hand family gig.

GRR injustice

2011-09-21T10:08:00.003+01:00

Starting at number 14 at the Great River Race was Kingfisher, an Iain Oughtred-designed Acorn skiff rowed by Hamble-based father-and-son team Philip and Ben and crewed by a couple of lads from their sailing club. Here is Ben with support crew at the Millwall slipway before the race.
The Meakins led the field until close to the finishing line, when they came up against the Richmond half-tide lock, a barrier that maintains water levels upstream at low tide. There they were prevented from going further by a PLA official until the barrier was fully raised, delaying them for about five minutes.

"We were spitting!" Philip writes, with British understatement. "It seemed like we were waiting for ages but I gather we were timed at 4.5mts ahead of Maggie [a previous race winner starting at number 20] at Hammersmith (ie 1/2mt faster than the starting gap). Maggie arrived at the lock about 30 seconds before they let us through."
A few minutes after their arrival, a Celtic longboat and two dragon boats came up and also had to wait a while. Of course, immediately the way was open they stormed to the finish.
Kingfisher eventually came in 9th and Maggie 11th.
You can see the event unrolling on the Great River Race's satellite tracking page, though it isn't easy as the display software is a bit rubbish, and you can't see the lock because the map only shows road bridges.
This is clearly grossly unfair - small boats like Kingfisher and Maggie have no reserves of speed to draw on if they lose time in this way. It is entirely possible that Kingfisher was robbed of the trophy.
This is not a one-off problem either - apparently it has happened before.
The raw GPS data should enable the organisers to assess a new time for Kingfisher and Maggie with some exactness and should do so immediately.
This is a problem that needs to be addressed for future years.

Great River Race Results

2011-09-19T17:15:00.002+01:00

Launching at Millwall

The preliminary results are in and, while not wishing to brag HELL NO! None of that English Classic Yacht reticence here! Gladys was AWESOME!
Not only did we retain both the Veterans over-60 and Fastest Clayton skiff cups, we cut five minutes off last year's time and came 8th in the Veterans over-40 class, which means we beat 73 boats crewed by people twenty years our junior! Take that, puppies!
AND we came 13th in the Four-oared boat class, which includes no fewer than 169 boats.
Well rowed Geoff Shilling, Chris Bream, Chris Penfold and Mike Gilbert (from stern, and that's me at No2). And thanks to Passenger 1st Class Jake Gilbert for uncomplainingly putting up with the wind and rain, and unwrapping food items for his dad and me.

Coxwain Geoff Shilling gives a passing dragon boat a few words of encouragement and advice

Great River Race

2011-09-18T09:12:00.000+01:00

What a great event the Great River Race is. Everyone goes out to have a good time in a spirit of friendly rivalry (although this frays round the edges a bit when boats jostle for position on the water). It's great the way everyone mucks in to get everyone's boats in and out of the water.
The water was incredibly rough in the Lower Pool, where a westerly wind came in against the tide, and in the Upper Pool it started to rain hard and long. We were completely soaked, but the days training in the challenging conditions of Langstone Harbour stood us in good stead and Gladys clipped roughly five minutes off last year's time of 3hrs. So victory was ours! Fastest old beardies on the Thames! And the fastest Clayton skiff too.

Great River Race

2011-09-17T07:51:00.000+01:00

It's the Great River Race in London today. I'll be rowing with Langstone Cutters in Gladys. Also out are the Solent galley Bembridge, Clayton skiff Mabel and Salter skiff 15 Seconds. So if you are in London this afternoon, get on a bridge and cheer us on our way!

Rowing for Pain

2011-09-16T21:47:00.000+01:00

To Soton for the Boat Show. Hidden away in the fleet of white plastic stuff was this three-seat ocean rowing boat, manned by Matt Craughwell, an affable loony.
Actually, he is very pleasant and articulate and clearly pretty damned fit, not mad at all. Until he tells you that next year he and five other bedlamites are going to row from Australia to Africa 'because nobody has done it before' you don't realise how deeply bonkers he is.
He does know he is insane, but justifies it on the grounds that 'sometimes I wake up for the early shift and row through a sunrise, and then I know why I do it."
Which seems reasonable.
Details of Matt and his Indian Ocean expedition are here.

A Chester Yawl in New Hampshire

2011-09-06T10:13:00.000+01:00

Malcolm Forbes lives in southern New Hampshire, one of the lovely places of the world with its woods, lakes and rocky coast, so clearly he needs a rowing boat. Back in May he found what he wanted at the Chesapeake Light Craft Okoume Festival when he spotted the Chester Yawl. In fact, he was so taken with it he bought the kit even before he got a chance to row the demo boat - 'buy before you try' isn't the usual advice.

Malcolm writes:

It has taken me three months to get her into the water. Several names for the yawl are under active consideration, one to be selected after the "sea trials" are complete. I do have favorites, one in particular which would look well on the transom in Celtic lettering, is appropriate in my mind, but does not quite roll off my tongue. I have always had trouble coming up with names - the worst case was when the hospital told us that unless we named our newborn baby, they wouldn't let us take her home.
I live near several nice lakes and the Merrimack River, all suitable for rowing. The ocean is about an hour's drive away, ranging from Boston to the south and Portsmouth to the north. All in all, I have plenty of opportunities. Now I need to find a good spot for a cruise in the Yawl, with shoreside camping. In the meantime I need to row as much as possible before winter closes in on us in order to get in shape for next summer (where did this summer go?)
Malcolm

What a nice job. The boat has lots of features I like, such as the movable rowing seat. This means it can be taken right out of the way if you want to use the middle of the boat for gear, and can be adjusted as well as the stretcher so the rowlocks are in exactly the right position for a good swing. I noticed only the other day that despite my long arms I don't reach as far forwards as others in the crew, and realised that it is because even with the stretchers in the most forward position I am sitting right on the back of the thwart. Everyone else sits right at the front of their thwart. Lack of enough adjustment is a big pain for rowers of average height such as myself (6ft 5in).

Malcolm has created a really nice photostream on Flickr showing the construction process.

And I love his sun hat. Where did you get it, Malcolm?

A Thames skiff built by a Dane in Spain

2011-09-03T21:50:00.003+01:00

Anders Eliasson built this fabulous 12ft Thames Skiff to Selway Fisher's design in an astonishing four months, launching it last month in a lake near his home in Spain.
But he is a professional woodworker, albeit a maker of guitars for flamenco rather than a boatbuilder. His expertise in guitar construction came in handy when he needed to pull the stem on while the epoxy set.
He used a very simple technique that none of the boatbuilders seem to have acquired - a sort of cats cradle to hold it in. But apparently it is centuries old in the guitar business.

Anders also provided the quote of the year with: "Life is empty without a hull. A hull means dreaming, possibilities."
Anders is now off on holiday to southern Portugal, taking his new skiff for use on nearby waters. He has promised a report.

Pathfinder rows backwards

2011-09-01T09:36:00.000+01:00

Rowing for Pleasure has exclusive pictures of Colin Cumming's new Pathfinder 3, featuring a completely novel 'rowing backwards' arrangement.

Rowing a sailing boat involves compromises, because the masts, centreboard and fore and aft buoyancy/dry storage compartments mean that legroom and weight distribution are poor. In one of those lightbulb moments, Colin realised that a double-ender doesn't have to be rowed 'forwards' - it can rowed 'backwards' just as fast.

The new arrangement releases room for both crew to get the most out of the oars. A single-hander can row the boat conventionally, sitting on the forward thwart and using the aft pair of rowlocks.

The only drawback is the need to take the rudder out to row. Getting the rudder back in will involve squirming round the mizzen mast over the very small stern deck and no transom, which will not be an enticing prospect in a stiff breeze on exposed water.

Pathfinder 3 recently went through some proving trials and was found to sail fast in light airs but with plenty of reserve stability for when the wind picks up. The narrow beam at the waterline meant she rows "very smartly indeed" according to Colin, and the broad beam at the gunwale (6ft) means that full-size oars can be used. Interestingly the theoretical advantage of the underwater hull shape for rowing backwards was seen in practice. Colin, rowing single handed, tried both directions and found her to be easier and faster stern first.

Pathfinder 3 gives a large volume boat for very low material outlay – she used 5 sheets of 6mm Robbins elite for the Hull and bulkheads, one sheet of 9mm for the CB case and thwarts with offcuts used for the rudder, one sheet of Robbins 4mm super elite for the side decks and tank decks. A couple of planks of utile were ripped up for the solid timber trims, mainly the wide (50mm) outwales and CB case framing . She can be lifted by two people – which isn’t bad for a boat of this size.She is already entered for SailCaledonia 2012 - her performance will be watched with interest.

Atchafalaya Basin Piroque

2011-08-31T08:58:00.000+01:00

Doryman today features a type of boat I hadn't come across before - the Atchafalaya Basin Piroque from Louisiana. It is designed to be rowed forwards through the still, narrow, congested channels of the bayous.

It would be a great boat for England's canals - you can see where you are going, and I imagine that you could push the boat along close to the 4mph speed limit. I think I would try and design it to keep the bow in the water to maximise the waterline length, however.

Rowin' in the Rain

2011-08-29T08:34:00.001+01:00

It's happened again. We went out in the Clayton skiff Gladys yesterday in broad sunshine, ignoring the black cloud just to the west. At exactly the point of no return, the cloud dropped its load all over us. Cox Chris Bream looks miserable in this pic, and I assure you we all looked similar. When we got back to the beach ten minutes later, the sun was out again.

Airport Travelator Rowing - Britain Triumphs Again

2011-08-24T16:50:00.000+01:00

The British men's eight had some time to kill at Munich Airport on their way to the World Championships at Bled, Slovenia, recently. The Devil finds work for idle hands to do.....

Scottish Coastal Rowing on telly

2011-08-24T08:59:00.001+01:00

The Scottish Coastal Rowing project has been featured in an hour-long documentary on Alba, the Gaelic-language channel of the BBC (with subtitles). It is great stuff - catch it now because it is only available until August 29th.

Rowing a Guideboat in Canada

2011-08-18T22:25:00.000+01:00

Once again, Kim Apel reports from a fabulous location for rowing, this time British Columbia where he is pictured in an Adirondack Guideboat. The Guideboat has legendary rowing qualities that I was always a teeny bit sceptical about, but Kim reports that it delivers. Of course, it might not be the boat - he could have been the fittest guy on the water, or rowing could be intrinsically faster than paddling. You decide:

Chris: I thought you might like a trip report from the far west. I was part of a group of six preparing for a wilderness canoe trip in Canada. One dropped out, leaving two canoe-pairs and me, the odd man out. So I borrowed an Adirondack Guideboat, and found rowing solo, rather than paddling tandem, to be a wonderful option. Remarkably, the 14 ft. hull easily kept pace with a pair of longer, sleeker, lighter performance canoes. It’s faster than it ought to be for its length. We were in Wells-Gray Provincial Park in the Cariboo Mountains of British Columbia. There is no road access to 25 mile-long Murtle Lake. One must portage boats and gear 1¾ mile to the water’s edge. The lake is restricted to “paddle-only,” though oars seem to be acceptable as well.
Google Adirondack Guideboat for background on this 19th century American type. Note the unusual bottom shape of the Guideboat hull. Though the photo is of a Kevlar-composite hull, the shape reflects the design of the traditional wooden hull, which included a substantial flat keel-plank or backbone, to which very light ribs and topside planking were attached.
Kim Apel
San Clemente, California, USA

Fairey Pixie on eBay

2011-08-15T17:33:00.002+01:00

A Fairey Pixie canoe with its oars has appeared on eBay.

Fairey Marine built the Pixie in the 1950s and 60s, mainly for use as a tender to their yachts though they did try and sell them to the Special Boat Service. They could be split in half and stowed on the foredeck of the yacht or the back of the Volvo estate. Or, of course, in a submarine if you happened to be the SBS.

A beautifully restored Pixie was shown at the Beale Park Boat Show in 2008.
This one is the 10ft version, with decks (the owner rather charmingly calls the decks 'upper front and back sections') and a pair of oars (though the owner confesses it has no 'oar holdings'). The hot moulded hull seems to be intact, so it would make a rather satisfying restoration project.

Prams or Praams

2011-08-14T09:42:00.000+01:00

There's been a curious outbreak of prams (more correctly, praams) on Facebook.
I have a soft spot for prams. The front transom gives them a jaunty look and gives them a lot of extra space for the length. Rowing into the wind is not nice, though.
HBBR member Peter Nobes launched his pram Diya (above), after 18 months work. And well worth while - she looks lovely. More pics at the album Diya Launched.

In New Hampshire, Nate Carey launched his Joel White-designed Nutshell at Lake Elkins. The boat is to be raffled today at the 78th annual League of NH Craftsmen's Fair at Mt Sunapee Resort. More pics at the album Nutshell launched.

At The Dory Shop in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, a pair of prams are taking shape in the workshop. Now this is the sort of work environment I would love to have. More images at the album The Dory Shop.

This last Facebook post is not a pram but a sequence of pictures of a really nice evening row from boatbuilder Jake Miller in New Jersey. He found this tie-dyed rowboat abandoned in the reeds, like Moses' basket but happily without any baby prophets inside. Now it is back on the water and looks like total fun. More images at Jake's album An evening row with Judi.

Evening on Chichester Harbour

2011-08-08T08:29:00.000+01:00

Last night after club rowing I went for a little bonus row in the pilot gig Annie. I took this with my mobile phone on my coxing stint. Another in the long line of 'this is what it is all about' clips.

Bits'n'pieces

2011-08-05T21:51:00.000+01:00

Clint Chase has blogged about one of my little obsessions, the ability of a rowing/sailing boat to make good way upwind under oars even if you sacrifice a bit of speed on a broad reach. "I like the idea of rowing and then sailing home downwind!" he writes.
Clint and his wife often made the lunch stop first because they could row upwind, an achievement I can relate to. But he does admit that 'you have to love to row'. That is the rub for most sailors, I have found.
Southbourne Sea Scouts close to RfP Towers are selling their Virus Yole double scull like this one, but without the dog. The Yole is not pretty but sea-capable, safe and a good deal of fun. It has been kept under cover and has not been used very much, so would be an ideal choice for a sporty couple who fancy rowing offshore. Drop me an email and I will pass your details on.
The Lake Dillon Challenge in Colorado is claimed to be the highest regatta in the US. It is all a bit heavingly athletic for me, but it includes a nice variety of boats from eights to those precarious stand-up paddle jobbies.

Finally, Hear the Boat Sing has a simply spiffing video that encapsulates the enduring appeal of Henley Royal Regatta as a social rather than a sporting event.

Postscript to the HBBR meet

2011-08-03T20:54:00.000+01:00

Previous posts on the HBBR meet on the River Severn have concentrated on the boats, so here are a few snaps of the social aspect of the event. The company is what makes the HBBR special.

2011-07-30T22:36:00.000+01:00

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I have finally managed to upload a video of Graham Neil launching his new design canoe Katie Beardie at the HBBR event last week. You can hear a commentary by designer Chris Waite in the background. She whizzes over the water very elegantly I thought, even though Graham is facing the wrong way....

A new Linnet at the HBBR

2011-07-26T21:50:00.000+01:00

New on the water at the HBBR meet on the Severn was Puddleduck, a superbly-finished rowing/sailing skiff by Ken and Sonja Norman.
The design is the Woods Linnet skiff, intended mainly for rowing but also with a small rig and daggerboard for broad reaches and downwind sailing.
Sonja confessed when they were launching that she was a little apprehensive about the sail on such a narrow boat, and she prefered to row anyway. When they returned, she had a big smile on her face (pictured) and said that sailing had been unscary and in fact fun.
This is great news. As readers with long memories may recall, I have a kit for a Woods Bee awaiting construction, and I had slight concerns about her sailability. I think my fears may be unfounded.
Chris Adeney rowed his Linnet down to Tewkesbury from his home near Upton on Severn on Saturday, and back again next day. So clearly it rows like a train also.

HBBR at Tewkesbury

2011-07-25T14:43:00.003+01:00

I've been rowing on the Rivers Severn and Avon with the Home Built Boat Rally people, and had a fabulous time, since you ask. The weather was overcast for much of Saturday but the evening barbie was a great gathering. Sunday brought blue skies.
The limitations of mobile data were brutally brought to the fore by the off-and-on coverage by my network at Lower Lode, a place that is only a mile away from Tewkesbury but seems to be off most mobile coverage. This was the only pic that made it, and it was cruelly low quality and failed to oreintate correctly. So here it is again.
Graham Neil brought is new canoe Katie Beardie for a trial run, not an official launch because the decks aren't on yet and a lot more remains to finish.
Watched by designer Chris Waite, Katie floated exactly to her marks, seemed speedy and turned quickly but not too quickly. She looked fabulous too, with Chris's trademark curved stem.
The pictures show Graham up the Mill Avon, which is the old stream of the river before the mill was put up and the main stream of the Avon diverted down a cut to the Severn. The tower of Tewkesbury Abbey is in the background - we could hear the bells on Sunday.

HBBR at Tewkesbury

2011-07-23T21:33:00.001+01:00

Graham Neil paddles his new canoe Katie Beardy on the Mill Avon.

The Sulkava Churchboat regatta

2011-07-21T21:35:00.000+01:00

Anthony Shaw has completed the 60km Sulkava race in Finland (something which I think is outside the ambit of Rowing for Pleasure but thoroughly admirable nevertheless). He reports:

With threedays to go to my very first serious rowing marathon, much had nowbeen clarified (the kit, the timetable, the goal!) – and yetequally much remained uncertain. My position was still unsure,although experience of the last two training outings suggested Iwould be one of the stern four, since I had volunteered as one of thepart-time coxes.

At leastthe route was clear, a single circuit of a very scenic 60 kilometrecourse around one of the multitude of islands that dot the waterwayin eastern Finland known as Saimaa. Although it is officially a lake,the name also refers to the basin that includes the numerous locallakes that formed the heartland of the tradition of Finnishchurch-boat rowing. Local communities traditionally designed,financed, constructed and rowed their boats to services in lake-shorechurches, sometimes involving 50 persons at the oars, and sometimeson trips lasting overnight.

Todescribe these participants as oarsmen would be a major error, sincewomen in these near-subsistence economies were expected to take anactive part in many farming or hunting activities, which invariablyincluded laying nets for fish or crustacians by boat. Today thecountry's economy is far from subsistence, but for many of the urbanbased populous the summer holidays (typically taken during the wholeof July) involve return to their country roots to relish thepleasures of the simple life in a cottage by a lake, with of course aboat on hand.

The crewof my Statistics Finland sponsored boat were just such an urbancrowd. Our outings in the Helsinki archipelago attracted folks fromall around this broadly spread metropolis whose approach to rowingnowadays is exclusively recreational. But now that the primary targetof the last two months training loomed close, the level of commitmenthas suddenly become more serious. There was much talk during thefinal session of the benefits of various types of preparatory diets,alternative solutions to the tricky issue of onboard toiletarrangements, and suddenly the word 'race' was used. Refreshmentbreaks now seemed to be planned with an emphasis on minimising thetime lost from maximum application of energy. Even the anticipatedoverall time is being re-calibrated, and somewhat alarmingly reducedbelow previous estimates.

I mustconfess that this is just what I had hoped. My previous involvementin this marathon was a leisurely, yet still determined, excursion asa member of the two-day Sulkava Rowing Trek.

Tony rowing in an earlier event in Turku - that's him on the left in the grey shirt.

Thisyear's crew was almost as sociable if not quite as vociferous as theprevious year's. But the physical demands were distinctly moreathletic. Even with an hour's stint in the cox's seat, the completionof the final 25 km was an experience I am still currently wary ofrepeating. Unlike my neighbour with his strap-on pulse/general healthmonitoring device, my exhaustion was readily apparent to me by theslight dizziness, the pulsing headache and a desperate desire to liedown and cool off. Even though the row commenced at 6pm (a gun-shotin front of the capacious stadium), the weather during thisparticular week had been exceptionally hot, with about 28C as we setoff. Thankfully it cooled steadily as we continued, but the regularstops for drinks (every 20 minutes one pair at a time taking a breaklong enough for a couple of swigs of fortified water/energy drink)offered only brief respite from the oar. For a considerable timeduring the latter half of the trip I was only dimly aware of thebeautiful sights (wooded islands, open watery vistas and hugecolourful skies) the major contribution I made to forward thrustbeing to stay out of the fellow rowers way, dipping my oarsymbolically in the water and lifting it out in synchronised time. Myneighbour at this time thought it worthwhile to fill me in with alitany of stories of his own marathon achievements over the years, onbike, in canoe, even with walking sticks – the Nordic ones.Challenging as this was to my state of consciousness, as well as mymodest language skills, he did keep me awake as I struggled to followthe details of his story old in his colourful native language.

There weresurely others in the boat who took it much easier than I had doneinitially, especially those with more experience of marathonexercise. The bow couple (a pair but not an item) whom I had watchednattering 10 metres away during my helming seemed to have plenty tosay to each other, and in the latter stages of the trip there weresome barbed comments about them from the senior cox, which of coursewent unheard! However the final 10 minutes produced an unparalleledcoordination of power as we surged towards the finish line with atruly impressive singularity of purpose, effort and even skill, inorder to complete the course in just four seconds under 5½ hours.

Themixture of competitive and cooperative effort, which is surely thegreatest reward for participants in this sport, had continued throughthe spring and now carried on well into the night, as we gathered sit(suitably clean and sauna'd) around an open fire outside ourovernight cottage accomodation to receive our medals andcertificates. The time was past 2 am and my own enthusiasm for beerand barbecued sausage was minimal, but it was actually the first timeI got to meet and trade a few words with some crew members who hadmaterialised just for the race itself. They all had had a clearerunderstanding of the physical requirements of such a commitment andgladly sat around on the old garden chairs to replenish liquid andenergy reserves. As part of the post-race wind-down, certificateswere distributed to all, with one of the crew receiving an especiallygaudy paper proclaiming him, amongst the curliques, to be an ExpertVeteran Rower (to my own simple Rower) having now completed thecourse 33 times! Physiologically I have no chance of matching this,but given the merely modest discomfort at 48 hours distance (thebuttocks being the only really sore muscles I notice) there is aserious chance that I will be back next July to face another strugglefor modest, but pleasingly collective, aquatic glory.

Rowin' in the Rain

2011-07-17T17:54:00.001+01:00

It is amazing how you can delude yourself. The sun was momentarily out, so although I could clearly see the cloud like a monstrous crow trailing long tails of rain, I convinced myself it was going inland and it was safe for a quick row round the island.
So I went out in Kittiwake, and Nigel went out in Millie (that's him in the middle distance).
And it came down in stairrods.
Nothing is nastier than driving home in wet underpants.

2011-07-16T19:23:00.008+01:00

Edward Hutchins is coming to Europe this autumn and wants to row the French canals, but needs to know more.
Giacomo de Stefano, the man on the river, has just passed through the French canal system on his voyage from England to Italy, as this video shows. Love the music - more Star Wars than Wind in the Willows. There is a lot of narrative on Giacomo's blog manontheriver.com.
Brian Anderson, an American in Europe, has done a good deal of paddling on the rivers and canals and wrote about some of his trips in Duckworks Magazine. He is also, by the way, the editor of a lovely collection of writing about boats, Small Boats on Green Waters (available on Amazon - if you haven't got a copy, buy it now!).
Edward writes:

Hello,
I have a query of sorts. I have read your blog for sometime, which I find very interesting.
I was hoping you might have some information on rowing in the French canals as I am currently planning a trip with my girlfriend to France with the hope of going down either the Canal du Midi or the Bourgogne. However coming from New Zealand we are having a bit of trouble finding a boat. We had planned to row a dingy or skiff during the day and either camp or stay in hotels or hostels at night. We both have two weeks off work this September and are keen as mustard on the idea.
Any information you might have in regards to buying or hiring a boat, or suggestions on the choice of waterway would be very much appreciated.
Kind Regards
Edward Hutchins
Christchurch, New Zealand

Has anyone any advice and wisdom to pass on to him?

Night Rowing

2011-07-14T10:06:00.000+01:00

I've rarely rowed at night, though it is a particular pleasure. Last night Langstone Cutters went to Fowley Island, an old oyster bed near Emsworth, for a midnight feast.

We set off just as the sun was setting, and Marcus fried up bacon and Graham produced home-baked bread for top-hole bacon butties. People brought a strange variety of drinks from hot chocolate and coffee to brandy, whiskey and even sloe gin.
Rowing back in Bembridge, the predicted 20 per cent cloud cover closed in to nearly 100 per cent and the full moon disappeared. Gliding across the mirror-like water in the dark with no sound but the splash of the oars was rather magical.
Just glad we didn't hit anything.
Also, sorry about the quality of the picture - my phone does not do well in low light.

An Englishman rowing in Finland

2011-07-10T17:27:00.002+01:00

Tony Shaw, English teacher in Finland, is entering the Sulkava churchboat rowing regatta again - you can read his account of last years event here.

He has sent this account of the preparations, painting a charming picture of the cameraderie that builds up in a crew, however disparate their ages, professions and nationalities (the picture is from the Flickr stream of kai.e.g).

Rowing in a Finnish church boat has many similarities to joining a cult meeting - one sets out regularly to meet up in a remote location, there one a participates in a highly intense ritual ceremony involving close (almost intimate) contact between members, as well as a number of arcane words and orders that sometimes are even chanted by the 'leader', and after which one returns home feeling in some ways purged, if not elevated to a higher state of being.
No doubt for many rowing has a similar restorative effect and, despite the frequent aches and blisters along the way, it is a highly social sport with many elements of cooperative participation as well as an intense individual focus, if not pain! This hobby in Finland has very social if not spiritual origins, the boats having been used to transport parishioners from distant households and hamlets to the highly community-focused services in local churches. Even more so than in Anglo-Saxon countries, the church was The Establishment: the centre of administration, the prime place for social interaction outside the family nexus, the source of learning and news and of course gossip. Preparation for worship during the outward voyage was apparently solemn, with restrictions even on the clothes as well as language. The homeward leg might be relaxed, even revelrous, with participants singing together and the boats joining in competitions with other local crews.

The crew I have joined this year are a fairly typical cross section of the rowing populous. Of the full compliment of 14 rowers there are a handful of students and a similar number of pensioners, a couple of foreigners, some occasional normally middle-aged 'others', and then a very malleable hard-core of employees of one state-owned company, whose staff association is the owner of the boat. At least that is how I have understood the set up after the 6 weeks of sporadic participation I have shared. The fact is it doesn't matter who owns what, whom I sit next to or how I am dressed. We meet beside the boats at the edge of the very sheltered bay that is part of the Helsinki archipelago, even if this club is actually located just across the border in the neighbouring municipality of Espoo. There is a period of indefinite and slightly querulous chit-chat/deliberation as the assembly is divided between one of the three boats generally available to take out, with one boat normally reserved for a group from Fujitsu. This is the time for a little social exchange with people one has earlier been squeezed beside in the boat or knows from other contact but, for those who are familiar with the highly disciplined and typically efficient world of business or organization in Finland, this is a thoroughly unstructured and even chaotic process. But it is the way that every variegated individual who appears in time on the shore is somehow allocated to a seat and an oar of their own, and regardless of age, strength, sex or whatever, for the period of that outing are 'all in the same boat.'

Compared with the disciplined preparations of a racing eight, this form of crew composition is haphazard if not anarchic. But as a veteran participant in the sport the days of pre-dawn runs and outings in gale-force conditions are a thing of the past. This is a sport that appeals to students and pensioners alike, to all who enjoy being on the water and engaging in a degree of physical exertion, but whose enjoyment of competition is tempered by an appreciation of contemplation. An outing of 60 to 90 minutes involves very close proximity and opportunity for discourse with one's neighbour, but equally the opportunity for observation of the local environment or for introspection. However for the majority of crew on the last two outings the opportunity is for preparation for the Big Competition ahead, the mother of all rowing regattas (possibly even in the world) - the Sulkava World Championships, held every July in this very remote, eastern Finnish, lakeside town.

In the early years of this century this gathering attracted over 10 000 active participants rowing a selection of classes of wooden boat around the 60 kilometre course through the period of a long weekend in July. (It includes the strange Finnish version of a speedy working boat with one oarsman at the rowlocks and the other paddling 'Indian-style' at the stern, alternating positions when needed.) My crew this year will gather there on the Saturday evening to take part in the 'Churchboat Night Row', starting at 18.00 and finishing hopefully five hours later in the penumbra that is near midnight in these northern climes. Rowing in total darkness is quite a challenge to the senses, especially balance, but even if our energies fail and we are delayed we should have enough light to read the course map that will be provided with, and afterwards to find our way back to our campsite for an early morning sauna to loosen up those stressed muscles.

In the somewhat lackadaisical way that this version of the sport is organized in Finland, I still don't know who will be my seating partner for these five sweaty hours next weekend, even though the full complement is listed on the internet sign-up page. We have met once or twice a week for the past two months, sweated somewhat as we paddled around the beautiful islands of eastern Helsinki that make our training ground, heaved the heavy boat trailers in and out of the brackish Baltic water, and waved goodbye as we departed home on our separate routes. By the time of the 'race,' it's sure that I still won't know all their names even if the faces have become familiar during the last two months. And although post Sulkava rowing is bound to be something of an anti-climax, if it actually continues at all during the semi-official 'Scandinavian holiday month' of July, by then I will have bonded with the 14 other punters in my boat, taking one more step towards integration in this distant European land.

2011-07-07T20:38:00.000+01:00

David Thomson wrote:

Hi Chris
I enjoy reading your blog very much being an occasional, recreational rower in Perth, Western Australia.
Recently, my wife and I were doing the tourist thing in China, which was an amazing experience, and as part of our trip we went on a brief boat ride through a town (Zhujiajiao) built on canals, near Shanghai. I took some video footage (on my iPhone) of the yuloh being used to propel the vessel and posted it on YouTube.
The power that could be put into the stroke was very impressive as was the simplicity of the rope attachment which angled the oar correctly in both directions.
Cheers, and I hope you have great summer.
David

Many thanks for that, David - it looks as though you had a great holiday!
There was much discussion of yulohs on the recent HBBR raid down the Thames. Al Law yulohed his Paradox virtually all the way, and said he improved his technique (and endurance) significantly in the process. Chris Waite used his autoyuloh device as well.
I have been thinking about building a sampan for use on Britain's canals. Rowing is not really feasible - the oars are too wide and you need to look forwards on a narrow windy waterway. I hadn't realised how manoeuvrable the sampan is with a yuloh.
A 20ft sampan with a cabin in the middle would be the greenest, quietest and healthiest vessel for touring the canals, I suspect.

Aero's maiden voyage under oars

2011-07-04T09:27:00.000+01:00

Jeremy Harris's remarkable non-wooden skiff Aero went out under oars for the first time on Sunday, on the River Hamble. Also present were Chris Waite with his remarkable all-wood skiff Octavia and myself, with my remarkable Chippendale Sprite Snarleyow, which is mainly wood but a with bits of SS here and there.

Aero proved to be a bit tippy but with reassuring amounts of secondary buoyancy, and incredibly light. So much so that Jeremy complained that when he hit patches of algae (it's that time of year) the boat would come to a dead halt instantly. This is partly due to the sharp angle of the bow which digs in to the water like an axe.
The outriggers are made of carbon fibre on a foam mould originally intended for a leaf spring in an aircraft undercarriage (Jeremy's other obsession is planes). A pair of John Murray's GA swivels are slid into sockets in the ends. The outriggers seemed very stiff.
The oars are aluminium tubes with carbon fibre blades, not a very happy arrangement but necesary to win the bet to create a boat with no wood at all. Jeremy had weighted the handles to help with the balance but this meant the blades overall were quite heavy compared with my traditional Macons. They were also far too short (also, possibly, the outriggers 'wings' were not long enough).
The short blades meant that Jeremy struggled to push the boat along at the speed she is clearly capable of, but with a few tweeks to the rig, she will fly.
The next step is to install a front-facing rowing device.
Jeremy has built a high-tech version of the cranked oars that used to be used in duck punts, which looks like rowing as designed by rocket scientists. The cranks have a 20 per cent leverage and folding the handles out brings the blades in for convenient stowage. It will be very interesting to see how the design pans out.

Rowing Cornish pilot gig Anne

2011-07-03T10:26:00.001+01:00

I finally got the opportunity to row a Cornish pilot gig with thole pins yesterday, with Mike Gilbert's new venture Langstone Rowing. Mike operates grp pilot gig Anne, giving locals a chance to row her regularly and also providing training course for groups planning Cross-Channel rows but who might only have experience rowing sliding seat river boats or even be novice rowers.
So far, Anne has been fitted with crutches and the oars have had buttons, so this was a learning experience for us all.
Rock Gig Club makes it all look easy and smooth, but it is a difficult and counter-intuitive technique.
The first surprise was that the oars don't jar back against the thole pin on at the catch as I had expected - if you come forward properly, the oar almost jams between the thole pins and is automatically laid up against the rowing pin at the start of the stroke.
Holding the outside hand under the handle felt wrong, but I soon got used to it. What I still hadn't really sorted out at the end of the session was keeping the power on as the wrist moves round the handle as you pass it round the side of your body. Here's a video of my rather pathetic effort. No comments about timing please, it is a novice crew some of whom had never set foot in a rowing boat before.

A Sprite hits the River Dart

2011-06-28T21:43:00.000+01:00

Back in February, Alan Harper emailed from Totnes on the lovely River Dart in Devon about a Chippendale Sprite he had seen on eBay. He is 6ft tall and was concerned it might be a bit small. I wrote confidently saying the design is superbly stable and quite able to support me at 6ft 5in.
Then the HBBR Thames raid got closer and I started to fear that perhaps the Sprite was a little on the titchy side for me plus a tent, sleeping bag and clothes+food for a week. Eventually I had to just travel as light as possible and hope for the best.
I needn't have worried. Snarleyow could have carried twice the load perfectly safely. Damn. Life would have been much more comfortable with a gas cooker - I packed a solid fuel stove and the pellets disolved away in the first day's rain despite being in a sealed plastic pack.
Anyway, while I was away Alan emailed with pictures of his restored and repainted Sprite, and what a smashing job he has made of her. More evidence that Andrew Wolstenholme and Jack Chippendale created a classic design - simple, practical, fast and lovely.

A footnote from the HBBR Thames Raid

2011-06-27T21:12:00.000+01:00

You probably don't remember, but on the recommendation of Goran Buckhorn of Hear the Boat Sing, I took my copy of Frans Bengtsson's The Long Ships to read on the Home Built Boat Rally's Thames raid.
The volume was pristine when I packed it, but the bag proved to be much less waterproof than it looked and it got soaked in the rain that lashed down on the first day. You would not believe how long it takes to dry a book out - the pages are still a bit damp two weeks later. That the text was still legible was a stroke of luck as I had to spend some time in my tent over the next few days waiting for the rain to stop, during which time I discovered that The Long Ships is one of the best books ever written for being cooped up in a tent with.
It is a ripping yarn, fast-moving, exciting, funny and even informative.
The tale is of Red Orm, a Viking living at the time of Ethelred the Unready around the year 1000 AD. As a boy he is kidnapped by other Vikings and taken on a voyage to the south, where he is captured by the Moors of Spain and sent to the galleys. He eventually manages to return via the Ireland of Brian Boru and the Denmark of King Harald Bluetooth. Later, he joins the Viking invasion of England, taking his fair share of the Danegeld. His final voyage is through Russia to the River Dneiper in search of hidden treasure. There is never a dull moment.
Bengtsson is not always historically accurate, and accuracy always takes second place to a great story, in which he follows the tradition of the Icelandic sagas - his plain, unadorned writing style was deliberately based on the sagas. There are many details that ring true, however, such as:

"Throughout his long term as one of the Caliph's galley-slaves, he rowed a larboard oar, which involved sitting with with the oar on his right and taking the strain of the stroke on his left hand. Always afterwards, as long as he lived, he wielded his sword and suchlike weapons with his left hand, though he still used his right arm for casting spears. The strength which he gained through this labour, which was greater than that of other men, remained with him and he still had much of it left when he was old."

Only a few days ago someone was telling me that official British Rowing policy is to refuse to allow young rowers to specialise in stroke or bow side, because the growing body can become permanently bent out of shape if they don't swap sides regularly.
Goran, many thanks for pointing me to The Long Ships. It is the most entertaining book I have read in years.

A non-wood boat

2011-06-26T23:28:00.000+01:00

What we will do on a bet. Jeremy Harris rose to the challenge of producing a boat with no wood in it at all, and this is the result.
Of course, he could have bought a rotomoulded kayak but that would have been too easy, so he made this shrinkwrap-on-aluminium-tubing rowing boat instead.
He brought it to the Beale Park show to enter in the Cordless Canoe Challenge but was foiled by a bystander turning his motor on when the boat was on the ground and destroying the drive mechanism.
The riggers are the wrong way round in the picture, but Aero is an impressive design. I particularly love that custom dolly on the stern.

The Three-day Skiff

2011-06-25T19:24:00.001+01:00

Trudging through the rain at Beale Park I was hailed cheerfully by a bloke in the Classic Boat tent, who wanted to give me a copy of his mag. He was clearly demented with boredom - by then most of the punters had gone home to dry out in front of a nice warm fire.
I explained that though Classic Boat is an admirable publication in many respects, I don't read it any more because it doesn't cover rowing. Whereupon he insisted on giving me the current issue as well, which features cartoonist Guy Venables building a rowing boat in just three days.
Well, he didn't build the whole boat in three days, obviously. The time-consuming process of laying out and cutting the plywood had already been done by kit makers Fyne Boat Kits in their factory in Kendal, and Guy went on one of their courses. Also, the boat was not finally finished in three days either - only the primer was on. The other time-consuming process, painting and decorating, was completed at home.
But the resulting Jimmy Skiff was round the back of the Classic Boat tent and jolly nice it is. Guy is an entertaining writer as well, chronicling his voyage past fear as he embarked on a process that was clearly well outside his comfort zone.
Chapter Two appears in the August issue, but I won't be buying it. The Three-day Boat article is the only reference to rowing in the entrie June and July issues, and it is not worth plowing through acres of stuff about the J class just for the one article on a boat I might actually step aboard.

Turk's shallop at Beale Park

2011-06-24T21:23:00.000+01:00

The film-star shallop that I really fancied when it went under the hammer at Turk's sale of assorted boats last year has found a new home at Beale Park, where it has become an attraction on the lake.
And, oh joy, I got the chance to row it. A crew of ten assorted sliding seat types, sailors, boatbuilders and me swung the oars round the lake.
It was very difficult for all of us to get into the groove. For a start, the close spacing of the thwarts and the fixed kabes limited the stroke length to a very short, stabby stroke. The oars are extremely heavy and not very well balanced. And the need to steer in ever decreasing circles to get round the lake without hitting any of the dinghies added to the problems. I'm amazed we didn't hit anything.
But it was great fun. I still want a shallop.

Lerret at Beale Park

2011-06-23T21:57:00.000+01:00

Just rewind a week. The Home Built Boat Rally started off from Beale Park Thames Boat Show near Pangbourne, which apparently was bathed in glorious sun until I got there on Sunday. Then the heavens opened.

Here is boatbuilder Gail McGarva showing off her superb lerret, a boat found only in Lyme Bay in Dorset and used for mackerel fishing. She built it by eye in the workshop of the Boatbuilding Academy in Lyme Regis.
In the newly-formed RNLI used two of them as lifeboats because of their sea-keeping qualities. So it was rather appropriate that Gail was sporting this rather fetching set of oilskins for the occasion.
The lerret's oars are tremendous planks pivoted on steel thole pins. Apparently they balance well and are easier to swing than might appear.

The Biggest Item of Rowing Memorabilia Ever

2011-06-22T12:11:00.000+01:00

Rowing past Chertsey Meads, I spotted this former college barge, used by one of the Oxford university boat clubs as a floating clubhouse in the last century.
When the City of London Livery Companies (the old guilds) started selling their state barges in the late 19th century, several colleges bought them and added saloons with rails round the top to watch races from. As time went by these were gradually replaced with purpose-built barges, some by top architects such as John Oldrid Scott and T.H. Jackson.
This one has been converted into a stylish houseboat with two bedrooms and all mod cons. It was sold recently for a sum not unadjacent to quarter of a million sovs. However, the agents don't know which college used to own it - can anyone enlighten me?

It's the people

2011-06-20T21:15:00.000+01:00

It's the people you meet that make a trip down the river specially enjoyable. We ran into Mushroom Paul at Penton Hook lock, in his amazing home-built liveaboard canoe. He has built a long tall cabin on a standard Canadian hull, complete with wood burner, and stabilised it with a platform and a float. The mast carries a jib, and it has the largest centreboard I have ever seen - a huge circular sheet of plywood pivoted between the main hull and the platform. He explained that he didn't know how big a centreboard should be so he made it as large as possible.
Paul's unusual profession in his home in the Cotswolds is carving giant mushrooms with a chainsaw, as garden ornaments. To finance his trip down the river, he was whittling small mushrooms with a Swiss Army knife. I bought a magic mushroom ("Hippy types love them!" he said). His Facebook page is here.
As we arrived at the campsite at Chertsey, a trio departed in a Canadian canoe they had bought on eBay, picking it up in Oxford and paddling all the way down to Richmond, where one of them lives. The aim was to sell it when they arrived, thus scoring a free holiday. Given the extortionate cost of living in Richmond, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they succeeded.
I was very concerned about the weight of all my gear in Snarleyow (not to mention myself hem hem) but they succeeded in cramming all three of them and a mountain of stuff in this one canoe. The only thing they couldn't fit in was a six-pack of beer, which they had to leave with us. That didn't last long...

Rowing down the Thames with the Home Built Boat Rally

2011-06-18T10:27:00.000+01:00


A rain-sodden fleet arrives at Reading

So the HBBR rowed, paddled and very occasionally sailed from the Thames Boat Show at Beale Park, near Pangbourne, downstream to Walton.
The first leg was miserable, in the teeth of an easterly gale of wind and rain, but we had to do it because campsites with moorings are rare on the lower reaches of the river and we couldn't afford to mess about. So we got soaked, although we still managed to light the barbecue at the first stop in Reading.

Watching the girls row by at Henley

The next couple of days were fabulous. Sunny weather to Henley, where we pitched in the grounds of Upper Thames RC and watched the girls practicing for their regatta this weekend.

Paul Hadley shelters from the rain under a bridge

Then down to Marlow where we stayed at the brilliant Longridge adventure centre, which was heaving with kids climbing, kayaking, dragon boating and generally having a great time. Next stop was remote Boveney Lock. Then the weather turned nasty again for a drenching row to Chertsey where we stayed at a campsite for monster motorhomes.

Damp but cheerful at Chertsey

Finally, a gentle amble to Walton where we pulled out and took a minibus back to Beale to fetch our cars and trailers.

HBBR rafting up to pull out at Walton

It was brilliant. More later.

Camping at Henley

2011-06-13T19:26:00.001+01:00

Training for the regatta passes our campsite.

Rowing in the Rain

2011-06-12T19:48:00.001+01:00

Rowed down the Thames to our first campsite.It rained and the wind blew straight from Siberia. Now I have to try and get a nights sleep in this thing.

Rowing is for Pleasure

2011-06-11T22:06:00.000+01:00

Today has been a blizzard of work, too tedious to detail. Tomorrow is the start of a week of pleasure, rowing down the Thames in the delightful company of the Home Built Boat Rally.
Each day we will cover about 12 miles, a good row but not painful. We will gather in the evenings for conversation, good food and good beer. It will truly be rowing for pleasure, as long as the rain keeps off, as it did a couple of years back.
Just as I strapped the oars on the roof rack, I got an approach from the dark side.
It reads:

Dear Blogger,

I'm writing because you've been identified as one of the top 100 bloggers in the fitness, multi-sport or well-being space worth talking to. We have gone into great detail and effort to look through your site, make sure that your point of view and quality of content was on par with our initiative. Which brings me to why I'm writing.

We are introducing a web-based series for fitness and multi-sport enthusiasts called Crossing The Line, with world champion rower, triathlete and fitness presenter, Josh Crosby. Within a few seconds of watching it, you'll see why we already have good buzz; it's high quality, engaging content.
We have free cases of Gatorade's new GSERIES FIT product line, a free subscription to Rowing News magazine, athletic accessories and other freebies.

I'm very flattered at being identified as one of the top 100 bloggers in the 'fitness, multi-sport or well-being space', or in anything really, but I suspect they haven't actually read my words.
Josh Crosby is a fine man in many respects but he is the opposite of everything this blog stands for.
He wants to get fit for the sake of it.
He eats carbs, proteins and fats. Not food.
He is a 'member of the fitness community', not a member of the human race.
So I think I may decline his kind offer. I am not at all sure what Gatorade is, but it sounds as though it is made in a factory in somewhere like Birmingham and is unfit for human consumption. I suspect it may not even have any alcohol in it, unlike beer which is scientifically proven to be the best drink for rowers.
Sorry Josh, but no. If you happen to be around Chichester way, drop by and come for a leisurely paddle round the harbour and pint afterwards. You are are in the chair.
PS
A message for Goran Buckhorn, Swede, oarsman and nice chap: here is my reading matter for the week.

Then and Now

2011-06-09T21:52:00.000+01:00

Peter Miller in Sydney has sent me a couple of pictures that show how things change.

Above is a picture of Fort Macquarie, built in 1817 to protect the harbour. This photograph was taken in late Victorian times, shortly before it was demolished to make space for a tramshed which was also built to resemble a castle, rather bizarrely.

Nowadays the site looks like this. I have no opinion on the architecture, but it is a pity that all the rowing boats have disappeared. Let's hope that more rowers follow Peter's splendid example and reclaim the harbour for real boats.

Coble launches at HBBR

2011-06-03T22:23:00.001+01:00

There is usually a new boat launching at HBBR events, and last weekend it was this lovely Selway-Fisher designed Northumbrian Coble.
The builder (seen at left) has a great talent for scrounging material including lots of lovely mahogany from an old bank building in the City, so it is a really superior boat.
It rows well too, as this picture of the happy couple shows.

OK, someone help me out here. I have forgotten the couple's names...someone pop them in the comments box, please.

Cordless Power

2011-06-02T21:45:00.000+01:00

The Amateur Yacht Research Association joined the Home Built Boat Rally at Barton Broad last weekend and far be it from me to imply they are a bunch of raging eccentrics. Jolly nice, though.

One of them has added electric power to his catamaran for the upcoming Water Craft magazine Cordless Canoe Challenge at the Beale Park Boat Show on the Thames next weekend. The challenge is to get round a dogleg course powered only by old cordless power tools (you can just see a couple of cordless screwdriver/drills in the picture). I thought of entering with a single-sheet canoe, but my cordless drill is so shot I wouldn't stand a chance.

Water Craft's website has details of the next issue, incidentally, and it includes plans for a new design of coastal rowing boat from Paul Gartside. Can't wait for my copy to drop through the door.....

A classical temple on the River Ant

2011-06-01T21:11:00.000+01:00

This little Parthenon in wood and corrugated iron stands on the River Ant at Wayford Bridge. It is a bit sad really, neglected and rundown, a storage space for unused boats. That lawn should be covered in deck chairs occupied by ladies in floaty Art Deco frocks and gents in striped jackets and boaters, drinking cocktails brought by stewards in starched whites.

Up the River Ant with the HBBR

2011-05-31T22:37:00.000+01:00

A really lovely weekend on Barton Broad with the Home Built Boat Rally started with a brisk row up the River Ant to Dilham, passing Hunsett Mill, a windmill that powered a pump for draining the levels behind.
I posted a picture back in 2008 when I passed for the first time, attracted by the fabulous boatshed which I lusted after something chronic.
The complex has now been restored and converted into a large family home. The old millkeeper's cottage has been extended with a fan of 'shadows' clad in charred Japanese oak boards to a design by Adams Kara Taylor of Acme. It won the uber-prestigious RIBA Manser Medal last year, though local opinion on its merits are, shall we say, divided.
The boathouse has been rebuilt and the staithe extended, but no boats were visible within when we passed, sadly.

Rowing and Camping

2011-05-28T08:16:00.000+01:00

Those amazing guys Colin and Julie at Angus Rowboats have produced a sliding seat rowing shell you can sleep in, designed for expeditions to remote regions.
When you get to a bay, you just attach a pair of stabilisers to the outriggers, get the tea table out of the foredeck, and brew up. The foredeck contains a bunk.
It is a very interesting design but not for me. If I ever get to go long distances it will be in a boat you can sail as well as row, with enough room inside to move around without feeling I will get an impromptu bath if I put a foot wrong.
On the other hand, Colin says in his blog that he had a comfortable night anchored right here, so the boat is clearly capable of stopping in places I wouldn't dare spend the night in.

Spitzl

2011-05-26T22:17:00.000+01:00

At the Boat Building Academy in Lyme Regis, graduation day is approaching. A record twelve boats are being launched on June 12, including this lovely and interesting Spitzl by Uli Killer from Germany.
The Spitzl is a lake boat, very much like a Thames skiff designed for larger waters with a more angled stem and a bigger transom while keeping the wineglass shape. Uli has based his design on boats from Tegernsee in Bavaria.
He has done a wonderful job. Almost the last process was to oil the hull rather than varnish it. Oil has to be applied every half an hour or so, apparently, until the wood can take up no more, so Uli started work at 7 in the morning and religiously applied oil every 30 minutes until it just flowed off - 26 coats later. The day of incredibly hard work paid off, as the wood then had to be left for a week for the oil to impregnate properly. Uli took his family to Cornwall for a well-deserved break. There is lots more on his blog (it's in German but if you load it in Google Chrome it will translate it for you automatically. It won't translate it very well, but for non-German speakers like me it gives the gist).

Tegernsee has its own traditional rowing boat, with a long beak-like bow and a flat bottom. All the illustrations show one man rowing and a load of passengers doing nothing but admiring each others' dirndls or lederhosen, so it it is obviously designed as a ferry rather than a pleasure boat (pleasure for the oarsman, that is).