Tag: rowing

Scottish Coastal Rowing Project grows to 19 St Ayles skiff boatbuilding projects

st ayles, skiff, iain oughtred, rowing, scottish coastal rowing, alec jordan, jordan boats, plywood boats, boat kit

Rowers trying out the original St Ayles skiff at Eyemouth last weekend

Alec Jordan of the Scottish Coastal Rowing Project tells me that he received the 19th order for a St Ayles skiff kit this week.

Nineteen St Ayles skiff building projects in less than a year reflects a fantastic explosion of interest in the SCRP project since it began. See my post about legendary small boat designer Iain Oughtred drawing the plans for the St Ayles skiff for the Scottish Coastal Rowers here: Iain Oughtred draws the boat that will bring coastal rowing races back to Scotland. It appeared only in July last year!

Alec, whose business Jordan Boats makes up the kits, says that planning is well underway for the first regatta at Anstruther on 29 May, and that seven or eight completed boats are expected to be ready and on the water for the event.

He’s careful to observe that some of the teams won’t have had much time to practise rowing by that time and  however, and suggests the standard of the rowing should be a little bit higher by the time of the Portsoy Festival four weeks later, when there may be even more of the new boats competing.

Other news this week is that the first official women’s crew from Anstruther will have had its first practice.

A particularly striking development is that I gather there have even been expressions of interest in the SCRP from south of the border with England…

st ayles, skiff, iain oughtred, rowing, scottish coastal rowing, alec jordan, jordan boats, plywood boats, boat kit st ayles, skiff, iain oughtred, rowing, scottish coastal rowing, alec jordan, jordan boats, plywood boats, boat kit

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Rowing in Venice is under threat – pass the message on!

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Rowing in Venice is under siege

Giacomo De Stefano has made this short but striking piece of Youtube film to boost awareness and to encourage Venetians to preserve the ancient and elegant tradition of rowing in that city. Rowers are fast disappearing, he reports, yet the boats are an important part of his country’s history and culture, and he’d like this video to be passed on virally.

I hope he and his friends succeed. I don’t know Venice, but I must say that this distinctively different style of rowing has an appeal of its own – and seems very effective.

Rowing skiffs and pleasure boats on view on Channel 4 On Demand

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Lazy days
Peter Freebody in his workshop

I said I’d post again about Channel 4’s Classic Ships series when I had a moment to do so, and so I will. This programme is another exellent half hour including film of Alaska on the River Thames, legendary Thames boatbuilder and restorer Peter Freebody talking about the boats he works on and about developing a rowing craft somewhere between the Thames skiff and the Thames dinghy, and some splendid footage of the silent steam craft on Lake Windermere – including a demonstration of the Windermere steam kettle, which can boil a gallon in seconds.

There’s also just a glimpse of a waterman manoeuvering a Thames lighter using nothing more than a couple of sweeps. Impressive stuff.

I don’t know what restrictions may apply to watching Channel 4 On Demand programmes, but if you can see this, it’s a must! Click here.