Rowing for Pleasureweblogger Chris Partridge and Norman Fuller demonstrate the Ella skiff under oars and with an electric outboard.
Norman brought his Ella to the 2010 HBBR meeting at Barton Turf, and quite a few of us had some fun with it. These clips show Chris putting the little boat through her paces, while Norman demonstrates the outboard, which is a 12lb model that he has set up with control lines.
Free plans for the Ella skiff can be found on the Free boat plans page of this website – you’ll find a link to the free plans page right at the top of this page.
Those of you with a cruel streak will laugh this video of Ben Crawshaw’s, while others, like me, will squirm uncomfortably in sympathy at his predicament out at sea with no wind.
He has rowed some surprisingly big distances in his little Onawind Blue. Read all about Ben’s trip from mainland spain to Ibiza and the Columbrete Islands at his weblog The Invisible Workshop.
One thing this film does show is that while rowing is a good thing in principle, it is possible to have too much of it!
Don’t miss something good. Sign up below for the free weekly intheboatshed.net newsletter.
The past few weeks have been an amazing time for interesting boats on BBC Television – and the latest sighting, racing Faroese rowing boats on an episode in the Coast series, is available on the BBC iPlayer.
I can hardly believe I’ve beaten the usually alert Chris Partridge of Rowing for Pleasure to posting about this, but the programme shows the interesting and elegant boats in action and includes an interview with a group of attractive if powerfully developedFaroese women rowers. It’s noticeable that their English is excellent – and we’re told that they learn the language using the Internet.
Way up north of Scotland, Orkney and even Shetland, the Faroes are remote but these days far from isolated, as the presenter points out.
Like their tall, blonde rowers, the Faroese craft are clearly the result of the Viking era, and even the modern fishing boats in the harbour show a close kinship to Viking ships.
Boatbuilders, restorers, designers, insurers, chandlers and anyone else supplying the boating community - would you like more than 18,000 unique users to see your ad each month?You can reach that many and more in 30 days if you placed your ad here, thanks to intheboatshed.net's great content. We can prove our claims, and our rates are VERY reasonable. Email us at gmatkin@gmail.com for more information.
