Rowing the Virus Yole

After the Boat Blessing yesterday I had an opportunity to try a Virus Yole, something I have wanted to do for a while, when Steve kindly let me have a bash round the harbour in his.
The Yole is a really robust, stable, unsinkable boat, made of polyethylene which is tough but heavy at 55kg.
The design extremely cleverly thought out - the rails the sliding seat runs on extend the full length of the boat, for example, so it can instantly be converted into a double simply by adding another seat and moving the outriggers forward so an extra pair can be mounted. The outriggers swing inboard when not in use.
The hull is self-draining.
The only thing I really disliked was the seat, which is viciously concave and highly uncomfortable, though perhaps it was just the size of my bum. I also found the long rails encouraged me to move forward too far, but this could be corrected with practice.
The square stern throws up a lot of turbulence, which must slow the boat down a lot.
The flotation and self-bailing features must be very handy when rowing offshore, especially when launching into surf, and Yoles have been rowed for long distances offshore. One was rowed 800km from Dakar to the Islands of Cape Verde in 11 days. Apparently, he capsized three times, and both he and his monkey survived.
I personally prefer a lighter double-ended hull for higher speed with less effort in the sheltered waters I usually go out in, but the Virus Yole is certainly a practical boat for offshore.
Here's a pic of Steve in his Yole taken last summer.

Boat Blessing at Langstone

A day of blessings and cursings. Went to the Langstone Cutters' Boat Blessing service, and as we waited a huge GRP boat thing across the harbour was smitten by fire. A huge plume of smoke rose into the sky as firefighters pumped water over it from a rib, standing well away in case the fuel tank or gas canisters went up. I don't know whether the boat was cursed or not, but I suspect there will be mighty cursings when the owner's insurance company is informed.
The Langstone Cutters had polished their boats till they shone. Ribbons and flags fluttered in the breeze. The service started, appropriately enough, with that lugubrious hymn Those in Peril on the Sea. The vicar sprinkled the boats with holy water and we all got in and paddled round the harbour.
It is good to start the season by getting together for a ceremony, whether you are religious or not.

DIY racing shells in wood

Nearly a year ago, Duncan in Melbourne wrote to enquire about plans for racing shells in wood. Now Kev writes from Melbourne to ask if Duncan has succeeded in his quest:

Duncan - I am in a similar situation in that I would like to build something out of wood from scratch. I have found it difficult to get information as well so I have started designing my own shell. What have you managed to find, have you started anything?
Kev

Duncan, due to an email wipeout I have lost your address - did you locate suitable plans? Are you building anything?
And did you notice this rather fast-looking wooden shell design by Graeme King at the Wooden Boat Store site?

All at sea at the College of Arms

Wandering round the website of the College of Arms for another purpose entirely, I discover that Lloyd Grossman has received a Grant of Arms. Rather charmingly, Lloyd pays tribute to his Marblehead birthplace by adopting as his badge a silver New England lobster buoy on a rope of gold (in heraldspeak "Buoy Argent the rope rising on either side and there looped outwards Or").
Other recent grants of arms include such maritime fancies as a merelephant (for Professor S.W. Haines) and lions holding lymphads, a word in Scottish heraldry for a galley with a single mast (for Lord Butler of Brockwell).
Heralds are unrepentant punsters, though they call them rebuses. Lord Butler of Brockwell's coat of arms has a badger emerging from a well, for example, and Sir George Martin, who is most famous as the Beatles' producer, has three golden beetles on his shield.

Putney views

By an amazing coincidence, boatbuilder and former railway manager Chris Perkins at Strathkanchris's Little World recognised the vista of the Thames from the boathouses at Putney as shown in Google Street View from an old carriage poster in his possession. The artist was A.J. Wilson, who seems to have specialised in pictures for the travel trade and did a lot of work for British Railways. It was painted in 1954, according to the Travelling Art Gallery.

Google Street View

Google Street View is proving to be a major time-waster. I've been wandering the country looking for boats on screen. Here is the Embankment at Putney on the Thames, home to so many top rowing clubs. Chichester has yet to be 'done' so no embarrassing pictures of Snarleyow with flaking paintwork and rotting gunwales thank heavens. I really must get the spring refit under way.
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Isabella de Franca is rowed by night

Isabella travels by boat from Funchal at 4 in the morning:

"There lay our four-oared boat, into which all our traps were soon packed, and then two of the men holding the rudder by the ends, I stepped upon it, and was lifted to the height of the boat's side, from whence I descended at once into my seat. Jose followed, with two of the men, the other two gave two or three heavy pushes to loosen the boat from the stones, and as she floated out jumped on, took their oars and seats, and in a moment, as if by magic, we were dancing upon the starlit sea. Never shall I forget the beauty of that night!"