We now have a clunk free setup with poypropylene wear plates plus very light simple oars. They do not tire us as much as our longer solid oars. Our rules specify solid oars which would need expensive spruce to make long oars light enough to row easily. Hollow ones are not allowed, which is probably right as they are hard and expensive to make. 

Port Seton had a very nice pair of rectangular section oars which were pleasant to row with, and looked easy to make. 11ft oars seem to me to be the longest short oars which don't collide. 

Our oars have three holes at the pin which offer different gearing and in upwind and downwind conditions the high and low gears seem to work. 

We measured the distance from the aft edge of the seat to the front face of the oar in several different boats. It varied from 12 inches to 16 inches on the Basque boat which is more than the 11 inches on the skiff plans. We are presently 12 inches and think more might be good. I am trying to think of movable thole pins so we don't drill too many holes in the baot.

We have also experimented with 2 inch firm foam cushions and about half of our rowers like them and half not. Obviously there is a lot of personal ergonomics in rowing!

Cheers, Topher.

At Royal West we have a tradition of using two wooden thole pins. The oar has a shaped leather button that is pressed against these pins. In the case of our cruising boats there is no string across the top of the pins to hold them in place as we need the flexibility to locate or remove the oars quickly when launching and landing. In the case of our racing boats (2nd Class Jollyboats) there is a string across the top to retain the oar during a race.

Both versions will be on show in Cumbrae over the weekend of 14th-15th August if anyone wants to see, use and discuss the system. Anyone wanting to have a look at our boats at the clubhouse is welcome to contact me or Ian Clark to get access and use.

Adam

There is however a bit of testing going on with the length of the oars.  The 10' oars are very light and easy to use but require either an excessively long stroke or eyewateringly fast stroke.  The do however seem fairly easy to use and less prone to domino toppling the crew then longer oars.  They also avoid the painful rib bruising of longer oars.  I think the Topher is probably right in his assessment of oar lengths and Port Seton will probably try out longer (14') oars for longer calm rows and try slightly longer  short  oars, which can still be rowed simply and safely with rowers offset towards the oar

The rules for the oars are probably right, and leave lots of leeway for experimentation within pretty clear parameters

The method of holding the oars is less clear cut though.  The kabe and band system seems to work well and Anst'er have it pretty well worked out.  Some of the other boats are a bit harder to set up however and it is not easy to see what the differences are.  The steel pin always gives the same result so is much easier for beginners (as most of us are).  The bands are prone to loosening and lots of friction, although if they are well adjusted and lubricated they seem to be pretty good.

What they can't quickly do is be hauled in without lifting, which might be needed if a harbour wall or other boat was approaching quickly. It might be possible to arrange this by slotting the hole with the open end of the slot facing outboard. The price would be as with gates and buttons; the rower has always to be pressing outward to keep the oar in its correct position.

Coigach now have a slot in the oar wear strips to retain the humlibaund at one particular place, so they have opted like us for a fixed in/out position and cannot quickly pull their oars in. I guess this boils down to racing convenience versus safety in crab/collision situations.

Great to speak to you tonight and as I said if you want to break your journey to Cumbrae on the Friday and complete on the Saturday morning with Royal West we can arrange accommodation either in or in the gardens surrounding our clubhouse on the Friday night. This invitation is open to any other SCRA club thinking of attending Cumbrae.

Regards

Adam

The boat plans showed central footrests and 12ft oars which is why so many people have them, but it is a design flaw because there is not enough clearance as you say.

We have both long and short oars , three different kabe/pin systems and today I made wide footrests which will accommodate any athwartships rower position. I will report hen we have tried them.

Cheers, Topher.

This might start to sound a bit repetitive soon but please come down to Royal West in Greenock and have a look at the trailer we built about 30 years ago to transport our fleet. It is very adaptable and could easily carry two St Ayles Skiffs.

It can take a boat inside the trailer sitting on its keel and tied down to the base frame, also one upside down on the top of the trailer.

Will try and remember to take some photos and email to you.

Adam

Think there is a general consensus that a review/discussion needs to take place later in the season as regards any adjustment to the Rules of Racing governing these matters, it seems to have come up at Portsoy.

If you can make it to Royal West in Greenock, before travelling to the UKCC Coaching Course in September, we can show you the system we use on our fleet. We use two wooden pins on the gunwales to control the location of the oar, hollow oars of a length to suit the boat, fixed leather buttons on the oars to define the inboard & outboard gearing and simple wooden foot rests that extend across the width of the boat.

In addition we always row with one person per thwart offset down the boat. If you row with the crew sitting in line down the centre you seriously restrict the potential reach forwards and lean back. Both of these are critical when you want to maximise the amount of effort applied to the the oar in the water.

At the Port Seton Regatta we used both the Port Seton short oars and North Berwick's larger oars. In the Port Seton boat we had to sit offset towards the pin due to the lack of length, in the North Berwick boat we sat in a more traditional position on the opposite end of the thwart from the pin. In both instances we had issues with the foot rests as the were located centrally and therefore only providing a good support for one foot.

Through Ian Clark and a posting that should go onto the website shortly we have offered access to our fleet to all the clubs of the SCRA to let them come and try/see what we do and have.

Hope to see you soon.

Adam

My own thought is that these boats traditionally were rowed with two oars and either one or two rowers, per seat. Rowing them as we do with one oar and one rower per seat, we (Ulla syndicate) have experienced collisions between the end of the oar and the back of the next rower aft. This is with oars between 12ft and 13.5 ft which lead to the rowers sitting along the centreline.

With shorter oars (Port Seton used 10ft but we have successfully used 11ft as short oars) the optimum gearing of about 3 leads to the rowers being staggered away from the centreline towards the kabe/pins enough to not collide. 

With long oars (like the bigger Coigach Lass oars) the rowers are staggered away from the kabe/pins and again do not collide. The smallest long oars which do this seem to be 14ft or 14.5 ft. 

Short oars can be light and cheap and allow a high stroke rate, but may be more successful in sprints than longer rows. Longer oars tend to be heavier and so need more care to keep the balance light, i.e. not need too much push down on the handle to get the blade out of the water. Longer oars being heavier make the boat more steady in roll, acting like the pole of a tightrope walker. 

Pins have been tried after Port Seton had such success with them. They can be configured to have less friction than the traditional kabe system, and they stop the oar sliding in and out, which alters the gearing. In the skilled hands of a rower who is not tired, sliding the oar in or out can be a useful way to adapt to the conditions. In the hands of an inexperienced, tired or excited rower it can be a nuisance.  They are simple to make but not traditional to Fair Isle, probably because metal was scarce. Coigach continue to be successful with kabes.

We (Ulla) are making short oars with plastic plates which take the friction and have the hole for the pin, or we may try a slot as they currently do in Shetland. 

Footrests are essential and we have not so far made good ones. Many who have have discovered that they are in the wrong place sideways, i.e. people are rowing with one foot in and one foot out of the rests. The sideways positioning of the rests depends on the length of oar. They need to be adjustable for rowers of different leg length. It would be good if they don't trip up rowers who are getting in to position.

What do people think? Should we be making more rigid rules about oars, kabes or pins at the end of the season? Does anyone think they have hit on a system which works?

Cheers, Topher.

If the keel is kept in the centre, the boat can be kept level by straps to the gunwale and all the weight is on the keel which can take it. 

We don't yet have a launching trolley which can be put in the sea, but we're not sure if we need it since the boat seems so light. Joseph Johnson & co who used to do salmon netting out of Montrose had a way of launching a very heavy coble over the sands. They had a metal axle connected to two large cart wheels which could be wheeled over the boat, slightly above the gunwales. Then two levers pulled the boat up to the axle, and it hung under the axle and could be easily pushed along. Then when it had floated, one of the crew could release the levers and the axle was wheeled away.

It obviously needed large diameter wheels, maybe 5 feet in diameter, but we worked out how that could be done in plywood with a laminated rim and plywood spokes.

Cheers, Topher.

R

R

Welcome to the forum Chris.  North Berwick have used larch, and Port Seton are using elm.them.

Robbie

Thanks

Chris