At the present time my exercise regime consists of Sailing (My OK Dinghy) and Cycling (Folding Brompton and my Road/Trail bike). I would like to have another string to my bow for the sake of variety and fun. So I have been thinking about building a row boat. The boat I have in mind is a classic dory design - Phil Bolgers 15 foot 'Gloucester Gull' Dory, a most beautiful example of the type.
The action of rowing is one of rhythmic simplicity and long rows have an attractive meditative quality to them. Another attraction is that the rowing is done in the open air and on the water - a place that I like to be. Launching and retrieving a rowboat will be relatively simple compared to the more complex task of rigging and de-rigging my OK Dinghy and this dory will fit easily on my road trailer.
A Winter build of this Gloucester Gull dory will mean an additional form of exercise and a nice rowboat. I think it's going to be a good Summer.
4 comments:
Hi Alden, great idea, rowing is great exercise, I built this back in 2007 - I row about 5 or 6 miles takes about 1.5 hours including stop for coffee half way.
http://bursledonblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/rowing-in-rough-weather.html
I'm not too sure about Dory types, although the Gloucester Gull is said to be a good one, they seem to suffer from wind age and need a load to perform best.
"Gato" my black boat is multi chine but really simple construction, went together in no time rows so slightly more complex hull form doesn't make the build more difficult .
Right now I'm thinking about building another row boat for my 14 year old who's really into rowing, talking with experience friends it's still coming out around 15 ft as you can get that out of 8x4 sheets, light as possible and most significantly more forefoot to keep the bos on track when it's windy.
One line of thinking was to build Dave's Gentry's Ruth for me, and then modify Gato for Joseph
Happy to share thoughts and information if it helps - my email is bursledonblog@googlemail.com, or we can talk on zoom/skype etc
I have to say of late also I spend as much time on my Sit on top kayak, it's easy to launch , paddle and take places on the car roof,I can cover 5/6miles which is a good workout
Look forward to seeing what you build.
Max
Hi Max - thanks for your thoughts on the matter, I appreciate you taking the time.
Building myself a rowboat has been a slow train coming, something that I have been thinking about for years. A couple of days ago I went for a row in a friends beautiful 17 foot double ended lapstrake Herreshoff designed rowboat. It was the first time I have rowed a 'real' rowboat. It was certainly an eye opener for me. I was surprised by the relatively effortless pace that can be built up and maintained and I like the relative simplicity of the whole deal that comes with rowing. When it comes to exercise - simple and easy is best - if there is too much faffing around it's easy to give the activity a miss.
I share your questioning of the Dory type - the windage factor and the need for a bit of weight to give the boat 'gravitas'(or a bit more displacement) when rowing.
The NZ small boat designer John Welsford (Scamp etc) has a 'Light Dory' design which is very similar to the GGull which has more freeboard at the stern which I think helps the boat 'weathercock' in any sort of headwind. Also he comments that a 30 litre container is placed under the seat to give the boat a bit more grip in the water and for shifting forwards when rowing into a head wind.
I guess all boats are a bit of a compromise. Former owners of the Gloucester Gull Dory always talk with affection about their experiences on boat forums etc.
The attraction is that I have the plans for the boat, I have already built it in my head, and it looks relatively easy, cheap and straight forward to build. If I take to rowing like a duck to water and the Dory ends up with too many vices I will have a good excuse to build another boat!! (perhaps an Angus Row Cruiser).
I take your point about the sit on kayak - it really is about keeping things simple - thats why my Brompton is such a favourite of mine ----- into the car boot, drive to the riding area, unfold and ride - easy peasy.
Thanks for the contact details, I'll get in touch if the need arises - and great that Joseph is getting into rowing - rowing together will be great fun. My friend with the Herreshoff row boat and I want to get a row boat group going - time will tell.
Alden
Fascinating - hope both of you guys go the "build" route as it'll make for some interesting reading...
I'm not really a rower - I row to get to the boat, but it's not something I do for the fun of it - it's more a transport thing, which brings me to my point, that I am reminded of a conversation I had with a fellow cyclist at work. Like my tender, at the time I cycled as a means of commuting, with a bit of fitness being a lucky by product. Fellow cyclist said to me, "why don't you get a nice speedy lightweight road bike as it will be faster", my response was, "well if I wanted to get here fast I would buy one, but this old heavy hybrid gets me here and gives me more exercise as it's more effort"... bottom line - I hate travelling backwards, sit on kayak would be my choice.. :o))
You make a good point Steve regarding travelling backwards. When I took my friends rowing boat for a spin I became aware of two things - first was how fast a longish (18 feet) rowing boat travels (it covers the ground really fast) and second - you do have to keep a look out, because things come up real fast. In fact during my row I nearly rammed a buoy and came too close to a moored yacht.
But I am told that a rear vision mirror can be mounted on either or both gunwales (or on my glasses frame) which makes a big difference. Other than this issue, I am not too bothered about facing with my back to the destination - although I do agree that facing forwards (as I used to do when I had my sea kayak) is perhaps the most relaxed position.
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