Faroese rowers racing on BBC Television

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Faroese rowersFaroese rowers working hard

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 developed Faroese 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.

Click here for a photo of a Faroese women’s rowing team taking part in a race.

Click here for a Flickr gallery of Faroese boats.

Click here for still more photos of Faroese boats on the Wikimedia Commons.

800px-Fuglafjordur_fishing_boats,_Faroe_Islands

Modern motorised Faroes boats still show their evolution from Viking ships: taken from the Wikimedia

Magnificent film of the replica Viking ship Sea Stallion sailing in a strong breeze

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Sea Stallion

Don’t fail to catch these magnificent video clips of sailing Viking ships at the Sea Stallion project website. With boats and sailors like this, who could be surprised that the Vikings took over so much of France, Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Eastern England? They must have been well-nigh unbeatable.

If a shipful of them came my way, I think I’d make sure my my wife and daughter were well hidden, and join the queue to surrender myself immediately.

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