Flashboats (cont'd)

Vicky at The Rowing Company in Falmouth, who imports Heritage rowing boats from the US, writes:

"Delighted to see flash boats on the front page - I used to row flash boats! They are wonderful! Strangely though, my boats are more stable - flash boats are very tippy. I used to race them when I was about 12 - 14yrs old (a little while ago now!). I gave up because even at that age I really disliked racing of any sort. That's my problem with gig rowing too, unless you want to race, no-one's interested. Same with the local sliding seat club. I went up there for some training and explained that I wanted a boat to row on my own, when I wanted, to go where I wanted, and they just kept asking 'why???' it was as if I was speaking some strange foreign language!"

I so agree. It is a shame when clubs can't accept that some people just want to enjoy messing about in boats, though the Globe Rowing Club at Greenwich, where I was a member for some years, seemed perfectly happy for me to borrow a tub and go for a paddle, as long as I at least made the effort to join a four for club races every so often. It can be a problem if recreational rowers hog boats that could be used for training serious competitors though - perhaps clubs should consider setting up recreational sections with suitable boats.
Vicky's boats, the Heritage range made by Little River Marine in Florida, are traditionally styled skiffs in modern materials, and seem ideal for fun rowing. The picture shows the Heritage 12, with a guy doing something you can't do in a shell! Though I am sure that if a club bought two of them, they would start racing before the first day was out....

Cornish Flashboats

5h- flashboat mens four oars
Originally uploaded by Brave Tales

The Cornish race these light, slim boats and it looks like Grade A fun, despite my natural aversion to exertion or competition in any form. Flashboats are apparently so-called because an old fashioned builder of the heavy traditional workboats that used to be raced until the latter part of the 19th century were losing to specially-built, lightweight racing boats. "Bloody flash boats," he called them, and the name stuck.
This great pic of mens fours racing in Cornwall last year was taken by Brave Tales on Flickr.

British Olympic rowers get high-tech aid

BAe Systems, suppliers of things that go BANG!, has announced that Olympic contenders including rowers will be able to access its engineers for help in designing new kit to help them in their quest for glory. The shining example here is Chris Boardman, who gained Britain's first cycling gold for 72 years back in 1992 with his carbon-fibre, computer-optimised wonderbike designed by Lotus engineers.
The most intriguing possibility for using military tech in sport is claimed to be the helmet-mounted displays worn by fighter pilots. Instruments and maps are placed right in front of the pilots' eyes, so they don't have to take their eyes off the enemy for a second. The system could be used in cycling helmets to show the rider the terrain, speed, heart rate and the position of other racers. Very useful.
For single scullers, of course, it would eliminate that tedious necessity to take a quick shufty over your shoulder every so often.

Rowing the Viking way

The Gokstad ship with her upswept ends is one of the world's icons. She still has an air of speed and menace that sends a thrill down the spine, giving some inkling of the effect she must have had on plump city folk round the coastline of Europe from Colchester to Constantinople.
Less well known are the boats such as this one that were found inside the Gokstad burial, but they have the same characteristic shape and just the same type of construction.
I've always hankered after a Viking style boat. Not a 'reconstruction using authentic tools', with all the accompanying leaks, mess and need to share the boat with hairy Viking re-enactor types who can bore you to Valhalla and back about 10th century battle-axe technique. No, what I want is a boat with the upturned ends that is easy to row single handed and has lots of room inside for camp cruising. A small rig for downwind, an oar to steer her by, and a Viking boat would be the ideal weekender.
Which is exactly what Canadian boatbuilder Mark Wallace has achieved. His Gokstad Skiff is an attempt to recreate the boat using modern glued lapstrake or clinker plywood. It is smaller than the original at only 14ft long by 4ft 2in beam, and has a flat bottom for easy beaching. If she is trimmed down slightly by the bow when rowing into the wind, she can be made to 'weathercock' - the raised stern catches the wind and automatically keeps you on track.
Mark reports that she is a delight to row, and has been used for cruises around the islands of the west coast where he lives.
He is not so pleased with the appearence, however, and feels that the beautiful feel of the original was not carried over into the skiff. That, I suspect, is a matter of opinion. He also thinks that a bit of extra length, perhaps 16ft, would improve performance.
I would love to build the larger version, perhaps even stretching it to 18ft with a 5ft beam, to swing a beefy pair of oars. Add a small standing lug for downwind, and you could really go places. A lot of fun, even though sack, rape and pillage are no longer absolutely legal in these degenerate days.
Unfortunately, Mark has no time and I have no money, so the project is on hold for a while. But it is definitely at the back of my mind, festering. One day....
(Thanks to Mark for the pictures).

A disturbing thought

Went out in Snarleyow, my sliding-seat skiff, from Dell Quay, the ancient port of Chichester that now consists of a pub, a couple of houses and the old quay which now houses sailing and fishing clubs. A brisk row in a force 4-5 which got a bit choppy when the tide turned but shipped no water at all, which always surprises me in such a small boat. It is so light it rides above the swell, I think.
Upchannel of Dell Quay, I rowed past the Apuldram sewage works, noting the large new building housing an ultra-violet treatment system that now protects us harbour users from infection by Chichester's hamburgers and curries.
Driving home, I saw an enormous 4x4 crew-cabin pickup truck of the type used by emergency engineers parked outside the sewage works, marked "Specialists in Water Analysis". Perhaps I am getting paranoid, but I had a good shower when I got home.

Thames Skiffs

An earlier post on skiffs prompted David to comment "Nice post! It is a fond wish of mine to recreate the trip from "Three Men in a Boat" one day.. and here's where to get the boat: Thames Skiff Hire."
Which reminds me that I wrote about Thames Skiff Hire in a short piece I did for a travel supplement in The Times (London) last year. Here is the opening part - the rest was about narrowboating and 'coasteering' and such, so I won't bore you with it:

"Britain is blessed with an abundance of water for playing on, in and around. Nowhere is far from a coast, river or lake offering every kind of boating from laid-back cruising on the canals to the exhilaration of white water rafting.
But nothing is more ingrained in the British psyche than rowing on the Thames, implanted as small children by reading Wind in the Willows and later by Three Men in a Boat. Not to mention the Eton Boating Song.
Tom Balm of Thames Skiff Hire in Walton on Thames takes old rowing skiffs and restores them into symphonies of varnished mahogany, bronze and canvas. Then he rather generously allows us to play at being Ratty or Jerome K Jerome in them.
You can start and finish anywhere along the river - he will deliver the boat to one of 30 and collect from another one so you can row downstream only if you feel lazy.
Four people can fit in a boat, but only three can sleep so one will have to put a tent up on the bank. Cooking equipment is provided, including that essential tin opener."

Here are the boats, in an image on Tom's website, and lovely things they are. Note the iron hoops that support the canvas boat cover used for camping and to keep the rain off. Rain is actually much less prevalent than is usually believed (far less than Seattle, for example) but Jerome K Jerome himself had to call off his trip at Pangbourne and head for the station because they were drowned out.

Frank Lloyd Wright designs from the grave

A boathouse originally designed in 1905 by the celebrated Frank Lloyd Wright has finally been built.
Wright produced the design on spec for the University of Wisconsin but they declined to finance construction. For some reason, however, Wright was particularly fond of it and included it in a number of collections of his designs. In 1930 he even revamped it for concrete rather than the original stuccoed block.
Now the West Side Rowing Club of Buffalo NY has made the design a reality, on the banks of the Niagara River. Its powerful curtain wall and sweeping 'prairie' roof certainly make a statement.
No corners have been cut, with red cedar doors and diamond window panes. No wonder it cost over $5 million.
Unfortunately, Wright didn't worry about practicality too much. One client who complained that his new roof leaked was told: "That's how you know it's a roof." Which is memorable but unhelpful.
In this design, the doors are not wide enough for the riggers, so crews have to tilt the boats as they carry them in. Not a major problem really, but it says something about the people who carry the flame for FLW that they refused permission to widen the door frames even a tad. Some Lloyd Wright fanboyz even complained that it should not have been built anywhere except in the setting the old man designed it for in Wisconsin.More on the Frank Lloyd Wright Boathouse here.