Romance at Lyme Regis

There is something really romantic about a lovely rowing skiff, and this was again proved last week at the Launch Day at the Boat Building Academy in Lyme Regis, as Academy admistrator Emma Brice reports: 

Matt's Whitehall can be sailed too

Onlookers cheered as student Matt Cotterill rowed out into the middle of the harbour with girlfriend Yvette, and got down on one knee. She said yes!
Needless to say, the ring was wooden and hand-made by Matt himself.Matt Cotterill, originally from the Yorkshire Pennines, worked in package design and 3D branding before chucking in the office for a chisel in March. Matt chose a boat which would fit the vernacular style of those in the Thames Valley, where he now lives. The ‘timeless classic’ 14ft Whitehall skiff is of glued clinker construction, and has allowed Matt to add some personality to the design and finishing. He has a few business ideas up his sleeve and hopes to set-up a workshop for developing wooden products inspired by the shapes and forms of boat building, utilising boat building construction methods. 

There must be something in the air at Lyme Regis. Apparently student Ross Doherty and his wife Elisabet are expecting a baby next year. Instructor Mike Broome and his wife's second baby, Ella, was born in September and BBA Administrator Gemma Blathwayt is due to have her first baby in April.

Mulled wine and mince pies row

Today Langstone Cutters took Clayton skiff Mabel and Teifi skiffs Millie and Lottie to Mill Rithe, an inlet in Hayling Island, where we stopped for mulled wine and mince pies.
Then we headed off home:

Pleasure in Rowing in Buenos Aires, despite Everything

Robert Ayliffe of Norwalk Island Sharpies in Australia, who handles the designs of Iain Oughtred and Alec Jordan's kits down under, visited Buenos Aires recently and went for a boat trip on the River Plate. He was very impressed with the number of lovely wooden rowing skiffs being taken out by families, and even more impressed by the conditions they had to battle to get out on a river that seems to be a watery version of the M25.

Here is Robert's report (click the pictures to enlarge):

These are some of the boats that I saw in the River Plate Delta on the outskirts of Buenos Aires early last week. Could not believe my eyes! 

There are hundreds of [Iain Oughtred's skiff design] Badger lookalikes complete with sliding seats for public hire on this amazingly turbulent, highly trafficked water way.
Bullfighting has nothing on this; it is a tribute to the type that they survive at all!
Note the vessels that they coexist with.
Note the extensive use of buoyancy vests.
Argentineans fear nothing!
I love them!

Amazingly similar to Badgers and Moles, here is just one of the hire fleets; at first I thought I was dreaming!

I could not believe the aplomb and resilience of these boats and their crews in the face of such wild turbulence. They just rose over the wash, barely moving off course.
Wonderful to watch. Made me feel even more enthusiastic about recommending Iain Oughtred's Badger and Mole designs design to my fellow antipodeans. We have several of Alec Jordan's excellent kits of these boats being built in Australia and New Zealand.
My company acts as Iain's and Alec's agent in Australia and the Pacific.
A new web site is being built: straydogboatworks.com , which will incorporate NISBOATS and the Jordan/Oughtred range.

Thanks, Robert. This is my favourite picture. Clearly, young men take their girls out on the River Plate just as they do on the River Thames.

Training

Hamble River Rowing have produced a very nice training video, starting off with a bravura display of terrible timing in a Bursledon gig. You have to be good to row as badly as that.
Then, about a minute and a half in, along comes the Solent galley Bembridge, rowed by a crew from Langstone Cutters with me at stroke. Fame at last!
The video was created by Philip Meakins who also sings that classic folk melody Messing about on the River.

Rowing for all ages

Today Langstone Cutters took out our youngest rower ever. Ella (age two) took several tentative strokes at No 2 position in the Clayton skiff Mabel but it's hard to keep up if your feet don't reach the stretcher. So her mum Elke helped.
When I got home, I found news of the four gold medals gained by Marj Burgard at the World Masters Regatta in Ontario this year, at the age of 81.
Marj is the widow of Arthur Martin, the inventor of the Alden Shell recreational rowing boat, marrying rower Ralph Burgard after Martin's death. She took up rowing in fine boats at the age of 60 and shows no sign of slowing up. Proof once more that rowers live longer as well as living better!
Thanks to Irow for the heads-up.

Rowing to Breakfast

Food is always more enjoyable after a good row. You get a warm feeling of entitlement.
So when two boats from Langstone Cutters arrived at the Driftwood Cafe this morning, I ordered the sort of breakfast I am normally strictly verboten.
Added savour was provided by the fact that the weather should have kept us indoors. The forecast predicted a series of fronts bringing more rain, but the downpours happened before and after we went out so we beat the weather gods again!
And the morning was fabulous, one of those days of complete calm, with mist over the fields and the trees standing out like black lace on grey silk.

Go Gadget Blades!

Seamus Woods of Fishpond Consulting in Cape Cod got in touch about the BalancePoint oar handles I posted a few days ago. He modelled the handles on computer, and the results are featured on his website:

The idea started when a US National Team rower turned crew coach was trying to figure out why a quad (four rowers racing in a shell, "sculling" with two oars per person) was faster than a four (four rowers, but with one oar per person, rowing "sweep"). He concluded that the dominant factor was that the asymmetrically loaded sweep rower was not able to provide as much thrust as the symmetrically loaded sculler. He came up with a simple and effective oar handle that could be used by sweep rowers to significantly reduce the asymmetric loads and prevent much of the potentially hazardous twisting of the back and shoulders. Sweep rowers could now row faster and more safely.

In order to help make the vision a reality, we helped the inventor design, model, prototype and manufacture his new oar handle. From material selection (carbon fiber, fiberglass, or aluminum?) to part selection, we worked with the inventor to find the best path forward.