A long way to go for a pub lunch

We’ve been lucky with weather for rowing all this year, from the fantastic summer sun over the Skiffieworlds to the calm water for the Loch Venachar sprints a few weeks ago. Last weekend it held up again for the Selkies and their friends the Uisges as both skiffs set off from  Ardrishaig for a long row to Otter ferry for lunch at the Oystercatcher.

 

We set off mid-morning with a couple of hours of spring tide left to carry us up Loch Fyne. Forty five minutes of brisk warm-up rowing got us to the bays at Castleton for a short break, then we were out into the tide for the stretch across to the spit.

At Otter Ferry we were met by the Tighnabruaich folk, who had trailed their Archie Smith across. 

The pictures show the three skiffs plus mid-Argyll’s wee Orkney-style support boat.

 

Lunch was enjoyed by the log fire in the pub, then we were off back home with the ebb.

Through Castleton again with the water much lower we had to dodge the shallows to get through and found quite a chop in the short stretch across to Loch Gilp. By that time a South easterly was coming in, speeding us back to the jetty but reminding us how cold and miserable the trip could have been.

Rowing Machines with added Scenery

This year has really opened my mind to the concept of community recreational rowing in all its aspects.

At the start of the year I was involved as one of the builders of the Isle of Seil’s Selkie, but didn’t imagine that I’d get involved in actually going out in her. How wrong I was.

Scottish Coastal Rowing is enjoying an explosive expansion, with 24 clubs in Scotland, about 60 skiffs on the water and a couple of dozen more in build. There could be six on the water in mid-Argyll alone next year and our local waters are much more favourable than those on the East coast.

Last weekend the Selkie was in action for sprint races on Loch Venachar, the closing event of the SCRA calendar. We did quite well, given that our average age was a little more than some of our competitors.

The Selkies, before they stripped down for the race.

An interesting aspect of the skiffing is its appeal to women. Throughout the country ladies teams are out there in all weathers keeping fit and enjoying themselves. The Isle of Seil provided mixed and ladies crews but didn’t manage to put a men’s team on the water.

Our coxes can be male though!

The picture at the top shows that our ladies were putting their backs into the job too. For most of us when we start skiffing our previous experience has been paddling rubber ducks or at best sculling wee blunt tenders, where you can’t stretch out. Those techniques almost have to be unlearned, meaning that folk with no previous experience at all can perform on a skiff just as well or better than old hands.

 

The super-fit Anster ladies

Occasionally we’ve shipped along newcomers with previous on rowing machines in gyms. Once they’ve overcome their fear of being outdoors they’ve done very well.

On Seil we’ve met some (usually men, I’m afraid) who object to being coached and come up with remarks like “of course I can row, it’s just like walking”. The truth is vastly different. Rowing with a single long oar engages the whole body. After a session newcomers feel it mainly in their upper and lower backs and legs.

In all its numerous aspects, involving communities, promoting healthy exercise, keeping traditions going and just having fun coastal rowing is one of the best things happening in Scotland today.

If you’re reading about skiffing for the first time please visit www.scottishcoastalrowing.org and www.seilskiff.org.uk. 

The Skiffieworlds at Ullapool 2013

Scottish Coastal Rowing in St Ayles skiffs is probably the fastest growing community activity in Scotland at the present time and for very good reasons. Everyone can be involved in some way, whether or not they want to do any actual rowing, starting with raising some cash, providing building space, constructing the boat or producing the supporting graphics and documentary hype that get people aware.

There’s  a great deal already written about skiffing at www.scottishcoastalrowing.org and on this blog here: The Seil skiff regatta and here: Rules - What are they for? Right now the weather is too hot for adding to it, so I’m just posting some images from Ullapool, thanks to Firth of Clyde Coastal Rowing Club, as sadly my camera was drowned on day one.

Bending the Rules

As is well known, the good people of the Slate Islands have a reputation for the utmost integrity. Never in their history have the residents of Easdale, Seil or Luing even contemplated taking an unfair advantage, not only in their working lives but also in their moments of leisure and recreation.  

For example it’s well known that when the sailing ship Norval struck the South end of nearby Insch on 20 December 1870 and broke up a fortnight later, not a single match-stick from her a cargo of fine Canadian housebuilding timber found its way into any of the residents’ modest cottages. You can read the story here, Report from Easdale

Now, one and a half centuries later, the islanders have been presented with a moral dilemma and like their forebears have decided to close their ears to the sea-nymph’s call.

The weekend just passed saw the island residents turning over the Seil Skiff, one of the latest additions to the growing Scottish Coastal Rowing fleet . The build is of course nowhere near finished, but we’ve got a lovely fair hull and know for sure that we’ve got a great foundation to  build on. More important for those of a competitive nature is the simple fact that fairness and smoothness of line are essentials for a fast boat, as the less disturbance caused the better. This much is plain to a layman like me, but other aspects are less obvious.

The moral issues have come as the building work has proceeded. Everyone knows that boat-building is at least 90% sandpapering and doing mindless work as a group allows time for discussion. On Seil our team includes a diverse range of talent with a heavy emphasis on science, engineering and design.  Coming as I do from the law’s dusty purlieus I have been able to contribute nothing, but have listened as various potential contributors to boat speed and manoeuvrability have been analysed.

I’m not going into too much detail unless I give people ideas, but it’s relevant to share the exchange of emails I’ve had with two of the main people in the project

Ewan’s email to Topher and Robbie

“There are a few practical matters that I'd like to run past you …. It seems that rudder design is uncontrolled and we are free to plan what we want in terms of the size, shape and angle of incidence of the rudder blade.  It also seems that there's no problem with an open inwhale, which we see in the photos of other boats and would like to adopt.     We're considering moving the thwart positions a wee bit forward, as we see that some skiffs are squatting especially when they have a heavy cox aboard. I think some teams have done this already. Finally I'm thinking of introducing a small amount of rocker, possibly reducing the depth of the external keel at the ends by an inch or so from Iain's construction drawing. It's difficult to be sure from the photos online, but it looks as if there are some variations already in keel profile.”

Topher’s Reply

“Well done for getting the planking finished, and I look forward to seeing the finished boat. The rudder does seem to be as you say, uncontrolled, and there are many variations on a theme. Slotted gunwales are also OK and we have gone down that route (without reducing weight) for reasons of strength and drainage.  If you move the thwarts my advice would be to keep the number 3 seat centred on the frame, move the stroke seat 2 inches aft, number 2 seat 2 inches forward and the bow seat 4 inches forward, thus increasing the space for each rower by 2 inches and moving the rowers forward, on average, by an inch. We did this on our second boat and so did the Sailing club here. Although oars are many and varied, a consensus does seem to be forming that the oars are better restrained in some way from floating in or out at the oarlock. My advice which you are well experienced enough to ignore would be to make the cheap oars on the oar tab of the SCRA website, and then using those as a datum make better ones when you know what you want. I'd be a bit uneasy about introducing rocker or reducing the outboard part of the keel, because of the advantages to speed and turning which this departure from the plans would introduce. I'm aware as I write this that the same could be said of changing the seat spacing or fiddling with the rudder, but somehow the outside of the hull is sacrosanct, and I would not like to see people cutting their outside keels down to reduce drag. As you say this may already be happening and so far we have not done anything about it, but it could get out of hand. We may have to issue guidance on this, what do you think, Robbie?”

Robbie’s Reply

“Agree absolutely with Topher.  In the measurement rules there is a difference between hulls and fittings (including thwarts).
For Hulls the rule is:

2.1 The hull is to be constructed as faithfully as possible to the St Ayles Skiff plans produced by Mr Iain Oughtred. The hull may be constructed from a kit from the approved kit supplier or may be built entirely from the plans.  That to me excludes varying keel shape by introducing rocker.  For fittings the rule states:

4.1 While the plans show how Rudder, Tiller, Oarlocks, Thwarts, and Seats can be constructed, it is open to the builders to innovate and experiment with these fittings.
4.2 Oarlocks must be at the gunwale. Outriggers are not permitted.

Innovation to me includes spacing the thwarts slightly differently, and that has improved the trim of some boats.  

IO introduced extra buoyancy in the hull shape after the prototype to try to sort out the fat cox problem, but the boats do still tend to sit rather heavily by the stern. It can be helped a little bit by the fat cox sitting forward to shout in the stroke's ear, rather than sitting back and relaxing.

Full measurement rules are here:  St Ayles Skiff Measurement Rules

We need to form a sub committee to review the measurement rules at some point.”

With nearly a hundred boats built or building there is definitely a need for more precise rules.

Oddly amongst the existing generalities there is one rule which is very prescriptive and has no obvious purpose, other than to challenge ingenuity. It is laid down that rowlocks must be made of timber, rather than of metal, which has been the preferred material for several hundred years. This would be understandable if the boats had to be constructed of solid timber, rather than glued plywood. Then the whole project could be seen as an historical pageant, rather than community sport. 

On Seil we’re hoping that this may be something that the promised rules sub-committee will look at early on. 

Update at 19 November

Topher comments:-

I am glad to read your assurance Ewan that the Slate Islanders would not dream of taking unfair advantage of any loopholes in the rules of the St Ayles Skiff. It fans the flames of patriotic pride in my country to hear of the upright probity of these new entrants to skiffdom. Nevertheless we in the SCRA will deal severely with any club found to have used helium filled plywood, and indeed have invested in a helium detector to stamp out this pernicious practice.

We look forward to hosting you in Ullapool in July next year at the World Championship, and if there are any pipers or drummers in your number we especially invite them to take part in the St Ayles Skiff World Championship Pipe Band. 

Well done for getting to the turning over stage and enjoy the fitting out and painting. It is a great moment when you have the first row in your new boat!

The lang skiffs are here

Only twelve hundred years or so after the Norsemen introduced the inhabitants to the sport of competitive rowing fleets of long narrow double-ended boats are appearing all round the coasts of Scotland.

An idea that sparked somewhere near the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther three years back has caught on, with over eighty kits of identical parts cut on a computer-controlled router and turned out by Alec Jordan from his workshop in Kirkcaldy, to date. As fleets turned out for regattas throughout the summer the project started to spread like a very benign virus, combining communities and their collective woodworking, organising and rowing skills.

Diverse groups are forming in rural and island communities, some already together through existing clubs and schools, others uniting through the love of boats and rowing. The idea is spreading abroad too, with several boats building in other parts of Europe such as England  and the Netherlands, also some in the United States and Australia. The first Skiffie Worlds will be held in Ullapool next July.

There are various formats to organise a build, but most seem to adopt the historic model of financing the boat through 64 shares, typically costing £60, then operating the finished skiff via a club. In truth very little organisation is required once the build has been done, most setting up a website for communications and booking the use of the boat.

In my corner of the West coast the Seil Skiff is well advanced and we hope to have her launched before the year is out. We adopted the sixty four share model to finance her and the community decided not to seek out charitable funds, something we're pleased about. You can follow the build on her website here:- www.seilskiff.org.uk

I feel privileged to be involved in an exciting and absorbing local venture, bringing people together in a productive way and hopefully leading to many happy days on the water.

The regattas to date have shown that these boats are very fast and seaworthy indeed. Races typically take place over a course of a couple of miles, with heats for different age groups. They also provide a huge impetus to local economies, the larger events attracting hundreds of participants and spectators.

For full information and plenty of photographs and more visit www.scottishcoastalrowing.org

The image at the top is by Paul Kennedy inspired by the Portobello skiff Jenny Skylark.