Stern Sculling in a Tideway Dinghy
Vložit
- čas přidán 29. 06. 2024
- My first experiments with sculling over the stern. Commentary at beginning and end, demo in the middle.
I recommend Charlie Briggs's video if you want to learn more about how it actually works: • How to single-oar scul...
Aren't wide-angle lenses flattering when you position them at belly height? :-) - Sport
Hey Quentin, you did quite well, honestly. Using it the way with these sockets is very comfortable. If you would have had only cut out notches, you would have had more problems. Still, experts also get along just with one notch in the middle of the transom. By the way, another reason to use the sculling technique is the case if you lose one of your oars. Keep on training, you’ll be a master. Thanks for sharing this video. Kind regards Mick Ramsey
For a first time, that was amazingly well done!
Great video on your first attempt at sculling, very impressed.
It really is a simple way of getting around and every small boat should be able to do it. It's much nicer than using an outboard engine.
You said you edited out some of the bad bits but if I had done that on my first attempt I wouldn't have had any film left🤣.
I first tried it when I had a mirror dingy and found the seated position one handed worked quite well.
And then standing facing the stern two handed when I had my Leader dinghy.
Haven't tried it on the wayfarer yet as I'm still working out the best way to fix the rowlock to the stern .
Thanks for sharing 👍.
Thanks, Chris -
My main challenge is that when I do have the outboard mounted on the back, I have to use the other rowlock socket, and use my left hand if I want to face forward. I'm not as good with my left!
Quentin
Wonderful to see this Quentin. Very honoured to be 'referenced'! It was interesting to hear extra insight and reflection from you about this niche skill; the list of advantages with sculling just keeps growing! Simplicity of shipping and managing only one oar, indeed...
At the moment I'm in France and have been enjoying sculling my Sportyak 213 around a big lake - I realised recently, while punching upwind, how sculling also reduces windage (unwanted aerodynamic drag) when compared to rowing, helping slightly to offset its thrust inefficiencies. I liked your 'outboard motor' analogy.
Great first try with the Tideway! The dual rowlocks are excellent and will allow for long sculling passages switching arms. I'm no stranger to the issue of having a short oar and handle too low for comfortable sculling! How long are your oars?
In the meantime I really recommend being in the 'power position' facing either 5 or 7 o'clock off the stern, operating the oar with two hands. You don't completely forfeit the visibility advantage; it's very easy to look over the shoulder, already being partly turned. You can also do your shoulder glances on the stroke when the boat is yawed to the favourable side, and take a hand off to further facilitate the body twist. Being here will allow for a steeper oar angle into the water, bringing the handle nice and high. Move any gear forward on the boat to counter your more rearward weight. It also occurred to me that one could also bridge the two benches near the stern with a plank, making a thwart which could be straddled for sit-down sculling.
I look forward to more sculling news! Well done for the successful mod and technique.
- Charlie
Thanks, Charlie -
We also put two rowlock sockets, one on each side, because my wife’s left-handed and I’m right-handed :-)
I like the idea of fitting an extra seat if doing much of this. It would certainly make the oar a better length.
Although somebody on another forum recommended this:
rowingforpleasure.blogspot.com/2009/05/sculling-scullmatix-way.html
@@quentinsf Ah yes, I had come across that concept before. It borrows a little from the Asian Yuloh method of modifying the oar and handle / shaft alignment to create automatic blade feathering. My personal opinion is that Scullmatix and Yuloh are better suited for vessels of small yacht size and beyond, where whole body weight is leaned over per stroke, and the large blades can tire the wrists when feathering. Larger vessels also are not rowed anyway, so do not suffer the inconvenience of having to carry a 'different' oar.
There can be a tendency on forums to try to 'out-engineer' original setups, where technique alone would in fact suffice. For example, on that site's comments I noticed discussion of skegs under the boat to counter yaw; in fact, yaw can be greatly reduced by proper quick-cadence technique. My Sportyak 213 for example is flat-bottom, low aspect ratio and slippery, yet tracks forward fine when sculled fluently (avoiding big sweeping strokes).
All that being said, if you look into Scullmatix for the sake of taking a novel approach, I'm sure you could make something like that work.
How long are your current oars?
@@CharlieBriggsUK Hi Charlie - sorry, was away on an RYA yachting course last week; no sculling there! Current oars are 7ft6 long, so not bad, but could certainly be longer...
@@quentinsf Roger. I've been doing quite a bit of sculling of a 'Musard' French dinghy (3m50cm LOA), which also has an offset stern rowlock position. My oars here are 2m20cm. Thus, I've been able to replicate your experience quite closely! I've been defaulting naturally to the 'power position' mentioned in my earlier comment. I also feel that kind of oar length is a little too short for this sort of size boat. Try out different sculling positions and perhaps shuffle feet a little closer to stern
Thanks for posting! I'm looking to design a pair of yuloh's for a hobie cat. Have you seen the one where you attach a line from the oar to the floor of the cockpit? Then, it seems, you can grab the line itself just below where it attaches to the oar and when you sweep it side to side it tilts the oar the correct way each time. After that I presume it'll be a question of finding out how hard to push on the line, and at what point down the line, etc.
It's also said that the oar itself can be angled at the pivot point so that more of it is down into the water. The blade can be made with curvature only on the forward facing side.
I hope to try those things out for the Hobie soon, to see how much performance we can get out of it. Of course all that would mean having an extra set of oars around, and there's certainly something to be said for using the same oars that you'd use the usual way.
Ah yes, someone sent me a link to this video, which I thought showed the technique quite nicely:
czcams.com/video/UjyE7dyR2X4/video.html
Q
@@quentinsf very cool. i'd thought the kink between blade and handle was at the pivot, but this is showing it up near the grip.
looking to make an oar for sculling my 24.5' sailboat...⛵🏴☠️🖖
Splendid! I'd like to see video of that!
Are you kidding? You are being far too modest. You did terrific -- especially for your first time. . . . However, if you had more thoroughly explained the motion that you are using and how the blade of the oar is being manipulated, your video would have been that much more informative. Nonetheless, it was good.
Thanks Matthew - I would have given more of an explanation but didn’t think I would do better than Charlie’s one that I mentioned in the video!
@@quentinsf, okay, I had better watch Charlie's video.