Punt gunning

Punt gunners today usually propel themselves by sculling over the transom, but they often used to sneak up to their prey by paddling with table-tennis bats, as this reconstruction by, of all people, Royal Armouries, shows. Listen to the commentator list the huge number of birds that a professional wildfowler in Essex bagged in one month 130 years ago. Nowadays, not only are the birds getting rarer but it is impossible to let off such an enormous piece in any estuary without shooting a birdwatcher.
Thanks to Martin Corrick on the Home Built Boat Rally forum for the headsup on this one. He suggests that racing gun punts would be fun, but the winner might be the one that came in last.....

Port Sorell skiff splashes in New Zealand

I have been quietly lusting after a Port Sorell skiff for a while now. Designed by Paul Fisher, it would be handy for pootling round the harbour when the waves are a bit too high for comfortable sliding seat rowing, or for going on picnics.
A very beautiful Port Sorell has just been launched in Aukland. It looks lovely, and the heat of a tropical New Zealand summer is a bitter contrast with the snow outside my window.
I am particularly impressed by the oars, one pair in Douglas fir and the other in Kauri, both with contrasting hardwood tips and with traditional sewn leathers.
Another Port Sorell is under construction by Bob Raynor, whose blog is here.
UPDATE:
The builder of the NZ Port Sorell skiff writes:

Hi Chris
Glad you like the look of  my boat - I'm thrilled with her and delighted with her performance.  The name is 'Playtime' reflecting the fact I'm a teacher and time building or rowing is my time to relax... My wife says I go off to play...!  Enjoyed your blog too so will keep an eye on your thoughts.
Cheers, Jeremy Sievers

Thanks, Jeremy!

Not rowing Ancient Egyptian style

We are still snowed in so I've been watching the box again, this time a BBC4 docco about the first female Pharoah, Hatshepsut, and the expedition she is said to have despatched to the mysterious land of Punt to get myrrh and other exotic goods.

The boats are depicted in a frieze in Hatshepsut's tomb, and a lady American archeologist set out to show that such a ship would be seaworthy enough to brave the Red Sea, although one of the big problems is that no-one knows where Punt was - it could have been anywhere from a short coast-hugging journey to a major venture into the Indian Ocean.
They went through the various other imponderables, from how wide the ships were (difficult to say because they are depicted only side on in the tomb reliefs) to whether the planks were caulked or not (they caulked them anyway because the hull leaked like a bundle of sticks even after several weeks submerged in the Nile).
But one thing that is absolutely certain and clearly shown in every depiction of Ancient Egyptian ships is that the main method of propulsion was by oar.

So the sailors on the replica boat endlessly discussed what sort of sail it would have had and how it was rigged, and speculated on whether it could point upwind. Not once were oars mentioned. In fact, it looked as though they didn't even stow any, though without the oars the experiment was about as valid as Thor Heyerdahl's reed boat Ra that didn't prove that the Ancient Egyptians crossed the Atlantic.
If you are in the UK you can watch it on BBC iPlayer.
Oh, and another thing. Why do documentary directors insist on endless sequences of the presenters driving, flying, walking down corridors and so on? It is totally irrelevant and demonstrates how directors are not at all interested in their subject, simply on adding movement during the commentary. It makes me really angry.

Another Perilous Post (Florida)

Mike Davenport of maxrigging.com sent me this snap of the sort of thing rowers in Florida have to contend with. That's plus the crocs, the Exocet-size mosquitos and the pistol-packing power boaters, of course.
Mike, a world class rowing coach, has just started a series of posts in which he outlines his system for going faster without destroying yourself. The secret, he says, is that rowing should be fun. Can't disagree with that. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Three Men Hit a Post

Talking of hitting posts, the Comical Trio did a grand job of running a currach against one for the cameras in Three Men go to Ireland. The champion women currach rowers instructed them in words of one syllable but they were still awful. Being professional comedians, one would have expected their timing to be better. Then they hit this egregious post, probably because G. Rhys Jones (stroke) was whining about how much better an oarsman he was rather than giving any sort of leadership.

Another Post of Peril (this time in Chichester Harbour)

Danger? I should cocoa - I jolly nearly ran right into it, and here is Chris Waite giving it a near miss too. They should remove that post before someone does themselves a mischief.

Why I always feel slightly nervous rowing in Portsmouth Harbour