Skiff Calendar for sale

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.

A baby St Ayles Skiff

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

Ulla returns

The Ullapool St Ayles Skiff Ulla is back on the water, looking better than ever thanks to innovative repairs by Topher Dawson and lots of sanding and painting by Chris Perkins. What a great sight.

A novel oar

Ullapool Coastal Rowing are an inventive bunch, experimenting with steerboards and such. Now Topher Dawson and John Mackintyre are developing what may be a totally new type of oar.
The prototype has an adjustable blade that can be swept forward or back. The aim is to prove once and for all if it really is better to have the blade angled forward as is conventional, or if a backward-angled blade might be better.
The edge of the blade has a curious stepped shape that is intended to throw off vortices and stop the blade stalling.
Topher explains:

Hi Chris,
What is the most efficient oar? Since hydrodynamic lift is a big part of the stroke (I have lots of references) we want to delay the stall of our flat blades as long as possible. Pointed blades appear in many native paddles and some old Viking oars, and John and I think they delay stall in the same manner as delta wings and Rogallo hang gliders.
The additional points we think do the same, and are a copy of the edges of tree leaves which are basically gas exchange membranes and John tells me that a professor of his acquaintance told him that the points on leaves are vortex stimulators to encourage gas exchange. We want the vortices to energise the flow over the back of the blade and prevent or delay separation.
Anyway it'll freak out the opposition.

Cant angle is measured with positive cant having the tip further forward than the line of the shaft. My original idea was to have negative cant, i.e. make the flat blade more like a spoon by bending the tip aft. However some researchers think that positive cant is the way to go so now I have no idea and we will have to try both. The adjustable bolt thing is just to try it with different angles of cant till we think we know what we want, then they will all be made fixed at that angle.
In theory the blade is in lift mode as it travels out from the boat in the first part of the stroke. The flow is from the tip of the blade towards the root. Then the flow stalls and the blade is operating as a shovel, i.e. in drag mode. Finally as the blade comes towards the boat in the last part of the stroke, flow starts from the root to the tip and lift is re-established. Fiddling with the cant angle makes the transitions between the stages earlier or later.
Watch this space!
Cheers, Topher.

Topher wants to know more about Greenland paddles and currach oars, which are very slender. Does anybody know how these oars compare with more conventional oars such as Macons?