HBBR meets at Dell Quay

A small, exclusive sub-section of the Home Built Boat Rally gathered at Dell Quay today. It would have been less exclusive, but a range of conditions from man-flu to broken car springs prevented a large number of members (3) from getting to Chichester Harbour.
It was a great day. The weather was crisp with blue skies and a moderate breeze. First on the water was George Isted with his beautifully made Pup (the Practical Boat Owner design).
Then Chris Waite, boat innovator supreme, took his auto-yuloh out, mounted on the transom of his tender Wishes Were.
There are many forward-facing rowing systems out there, but most are either too complex or not very effective or both. Chris's system relies, as most of his inventions do, on string, but it shows huge promise judging by the speed he was  making against wind and tide in a short, fat boat. I particularly like the yuloh itself, laminated from contrasting woods.
The pedals pull the yuloh from side to side, automatically adjusting the blade to the correct pitch. Steering is done by pedalling more vigorously on the outside foot, but Chris is working on a design that would mount the yuloh on a rudder. The rudder would give instant control to the rower, and its motion would counteract the tendency of the oar to fishtail.
The next step is to install the auto yuloh on Octavia, Chris's skiff. Being longer, higher speeds should be attainable.
So the mechanism was removed from Wishes Were, which was promptly sold to Sarah for paddling round Chichester Harbour in the conventional facing-the-wrong-way manner.
To get a better idea of how well the auto-yuloh works, here is a short video:

Snarleyow back on the water

This time of year, you have to grab rowing opportunities when they occur. Over the weekend it rained continually and the tides were at dawn and dusk, so I didn't get out at all. Today, the tide was up, there was no wind and rain was predicted for the afternoon. God was clearly telling me to get out there.
So as not to take too much time out of my punishing work diary (ha!) I put in at nearby Dell Quay and rowed briskly as far as I could without losing sight of the pub, which is a surprisingly long way.
On the way I spotted this nice Sussex beach punt, about which you can learn on intheboatshed.net.
I actually remembered to record my track on Sport Tracker. Speed was nearly six mph on the way out and rather less on the way back, when the tide had turned.

KIT REPORT

About half way out, some alarming clicking noises began to come from the newly repaired stretcher. A small bit of wood acting as a spacer had broken in half and fallen out, causing the footrest to wobble a bit. Must get that redone.
My new spandex trews have zipped gussets along the thighs, which you can open up to cool you down. I thought I would never need them, but today I was a bit overdressed and began to build up a bit of a sweat. Rather than take my sweater off, I unzipped my gussets and they worked a treat, to my surprise. Nice'n'cool for the rest of the row, with the sweater keeping the cold air off my arms.

Drascombes gather at Dell Quay

I got Snarleyow out yesterday, her first outing on Chichester Harbour for months due to the refurb and 'training' for the Great River Race. It was a fabulous day for rowing, sunny, windless and high tide at noon. I put in at Itchenor and ambled up to Fishbourne, impressing myself with the power I can put on after simply going out three times a week instead of twice. Must try and keep it up.
A fleet of Drascombes was milling about at Dell Quay in the light breeze. Eventually they rafted up for lunch, a rather impressive sight. They were the Drascombe Association, a friendly bunch. The skipper of the boat at the front told me his boat was horrible to row, but it looks as though it would be OK with its slim lines and transom well out of the water. I must try one.

Shell on Chichester Harbour

I came across a bloke in a shell at Bosham today, the first time I have seen another sliding seat rowing boat on Chichester Harbour, though lots of people have told me they have friends who do it.
It is an old shell from Putney, and the owner (on the right) keeps it in his house close to the foreshore at Bosham. He has a trolley made from bicycle wheels so he can just trail it out whenever the weather permits. Why don't more people do that?
And here's a picture of a guy painting the side of the boat shed at Dell Quay, taken a couple of weeks ago. It's the marine equivalent of painting yourself into a corner - the tide has come in round the bottom of his ladder and he can't get down without getting his feet wet.

A windless winter day

Put Snarleyow in at Itchenor today, and it was cold as charity but mirror-calm. Ideal. Followed the tide up to Dell Quay where I got out for a brief rest. DQSC had a race on, and the sailors were standing up in their boats pumping them from side to side trying to get a bit of speed up - they were working harder than I was!