Lively Lady aground

Here's a sad picture. Lively Lady, the boat that Sir Alec Rose sailed to fame in his 1968 solo circumnavigation, sits on props ashore at Hayling Yacht Company's yard.
A dispute over money between the yard and the charity that owns her has kept her out of the water for more than a year now and there are concerns that she may just rot away.
I passed by on a training run in Lotty, one of Langstone Cutters' Teifi skiffs, with Geoff and Nigel. A lovely day after all the wind and rain of the past week.
Being slightly late arriving at the slipway, I had hurried away from the car and forgot (a) to retrieve my waterproof camera from the glove pocket and (b) to put my non-waterproof mobile phone into the glove pocket. Luckily the phone didn't get wet, but it still took a crap picture.

Front-rowing trimaran

Another newsletter hits the inbox, this time from Ron Rantilla, inventor and maker of the Frontrower system. The headline item is a rather strange-looking front-rowing trimaran. The amas can be moved inboard when rowing, so the oars can drop down properly, and extended right out for sailing.
The kayak was built by Axel Ziegler in Switzerland, with the collaboration of German boatbuilder Jurgen Volker, who supplied a stitch-and-glue kit of his Razor design.
When reading Ron's newsletter, be sure to scroll down and read about the Native Alaskans who wanted to give their sons a suitable rite of passage. They built a couple of Ron's boats and Frontrowed all the way round a local island - over 150 miles. Great stuff.

Not gone fishin'. Yet.

I have always been slightly nervous about fishing from my skiff Snarleyow, fearing that if I caught a big one I might be dragged in - as you can see from the masthead, she is rather slender. I have a line and some lures for mackerel but have so far never used them.
So I looked with wonder at the fish Kurt Beacham manages to haul out of Victoria Harbour, British Columbia, from his Whitehall Spirit 14. The Spirit 14 is a little wider than my Chippendale Sprite and also has buoyancy chambers which must be reassuring.
Kurt, who manages the fibreglass production at the makers of the Spirit, Whitehall Rowing and Sail, snagged a 35lb halibut recently which was apparently something of a struggle. If I had caught it I would have gone over the side without a doubt.

Things might be easier with the novel rowing boat designed and built by Gary Baigent in New Zealand, featured in Duckworks Magazine. It has a big gutter down to the stern, so a fisherman can haul a catch over the stern and up the boat without capsizing. Frankly brilliant. Apparently it also enables you to board the boat over the stern when pushing off from the beach.
Another nice touch is the cutout in the bulkhead immediately behind the oarsman so you don't knock yourself when you lean back.
Must remember to pack the fishing line next time I go out.
PS Sign up for the Whitehall Spirit newsletter. It's really good.

Water Craft out

Lots of rowing stuff in the latest issue of Water Craft, including a great article about the Scottish Coastal Rowing project by Alec Jordan, pictured here with co-builder Chris Perkins at the Water Craft stand at the Beale Thames Boat Show.
Also featured are the IBTC's St Lawrence Skiff that I had taken out for her maiden voyage at Beale the previous year, and Nick Coppins's stunning double-ender Norfolk Skies.
The construction of a Selway-Fisher Thames skiff is detailed, and an interesting article describes building medieval-style surf boats for the new Ridley Scott film Robin Hood.
Kathy Mansfield writes about the BJ17, a development by Nigel Irens of his admired sail/oar raid boat, the King Alfred School Expedition Boat. It is slightly longer, slightly narrower and has a slightly more pronounced wineglass transom, all of which should maker her faster under oars. Indeed, Irens himself comments: "The result, I hope, offers some interesting sailing and, as a bonus, a hull that should tempt the most sedentary of owners to get a nice pair of oars out."
Disappointingly Kathy, who I know can row very well, does not seem to have even loaded the oars onto the boat. Come on Kathy - you've only done half the review!

Antipodes

Sydney, Australia. Midwinter.

Hayling Island, England, Midsummer.

Went rowing with the Supervets in the Clayton Skiff Gladys down to Sparkes Marina, near the harbour mouth. The wind was F4/5 and it threatened to rain the whole time.
It was all in stark contrast to the picture Peter Miller had just sent from Australia, showing the beach at Newcastle Harbour.
Mind you, there were compensations. That blob you can see on the shore in the picture above is a seal. The board paddler wasn't put off by the wind, rain and cold, and this attractive Dunkirk Little Ship was parked in Sparkes.

Ulla wins!

Ulla, the Ullapool St Ayles Skiff, has started winning. The first triumph was at the Dorna Sail and Oar on the Clyde at the weekend, when Ulla beat rivals Port Seton. The secret seems to be a combination of practice, physical fitness and replacing the steering oar with a more conventional rudder moved by a yoke and lines.
The picture, by Chris Perkins, shows the new arrangement plus the now-unused 'wart' for the steerboard.
Congratulations, Ulla, and keep up the training!

Competitive

I am one of the least competitive people in the world, but I stand in awe of idiots who enter events like the Red Bull X-Row last weekend. Crews had to row from Lucerne to Zug, towns 30km apart on completely different lakes so they had to portage between the two. For some reason the organisers added another portage to cut a corner on Lake Lucerne as well.
There were some ingenious methods of carrying the boats, as regarding the portages simply as 'carrying the boat from the water to the boathouse, but longer' was obviously not going to work. Most teams seem to have had six people carrying the boat and a couple for the oars. A German crew called the Marcel Hacker All Stars won, and the Strength and Purchase crew from England came third. The picture shows a team from Austria - more pictures here.

Despite my lack of competitive spirit, I have signed up for the Great River Race in London next month. I went out training in our Solent Galley Bembridge on Sunday, heading for Itchenor (you can see the satellite track here).