Row a Typhoon

[Bob Schwartz]

Has anyone had any experience rowing a Typhoon. I wonder if rowing would be an improvement over an outboard motor. It could have great advantages - exercise, no gas smell, no broken down motor (except for a possible heart attack)

I have rowed canoes and sculls, but not sailboats. In the old days (before outboards) it was quite common to row in and out of a close harbor, slip, etc.

Any ideas / experience that you might have in this regard would be much appreciated.

[Steve Laume]

I had thought about it a bit when we were sailing our TY. I believe it would work quite well to move around a harbor or on those days when things just turn glassy calm. If those guys can row across the Atlantic fully provisioned I don't see why you couldn't move a Typhon around. The concern I had was for a place to store oars that were long enough to be effective. Best beef up those coaming boards too. Some where I had heard about oar locks that fitted onto your winches. That would be the perfect set up for a Typhoon. I would love to try rowing one if someone rigged it up, Steve.

[Richard Bell]

There are quit a number of sail boaters I know who scull rather than motor. I read about a famous cruiser, I cannot recall his name but when he bought a boat he removed the engine for storage and sculled. The hard part is finding a sculling oar (they are different)and then mounting it so that it works with whatever stern railing you have. Since your talking about a ty should be doable.

Try checking out this web site:

http://www.woodenboat.net.nz/Stories/Sc ... llone.html

Rick

[Dave H]

Larry Pardey talks about sculling and rowing Seraffyn. I think he sculls off the stern to get started, then switches to rowing, standing facing foreward with one oar. He steers with the tiller between his knees. I also recall that a line rigged to hold the sculling oar down was very helpful for Lynn. Preventing the inboard end of the sculling oar from going up, allowed the sculling to be an easier side to side motion without fighting the oar.
Dave H

[Scott MacCready]

Check out this site dedicated to engineless sailing...

http://www.oarclub.org/

[Oswego John]

Hi all,

My, how the world of sailing has changed in just a few generations. If it pleases you, allow me to reminisce a bit, back to the late 20s and 30s, up until the war started the day after Dec. 07, 1941. Pearl Harbor, a day of infamy.

First off, when you went sailing, you went sailing, period. There were a few outboard engines around, but only the wealthy owned them. The kids on the water that I grew up with were true "water rats". We learned to swim a short bit after we learned to walk (or so we'd have you believe).

We never heard of the term PFD. The closest thing around at that time were a few scrungy kapok monstrosities that they called life preservers. We never considered wearing anything like that. We all swimmed (swum) (try swam) like eels. I do remember some lucky kids got hold of old tire inner tubes.

There wasn't a kid past six years of age, worth his salt, that couldn't row a skiff. Like I said previously, having an outboard was just a pipedream. Most rowboats had one set of oarlocks on the gunnals, some had two sets. Usually there was a set of thole pins on the transom for sculling, or sometimes a notch was cut in it to keep the oar. (sweep). If the oars you used were a matched set, consider yourself lucky. (very rare, indeed)

To this day, I carry a longer handled canoe paddle on board my Ty. It is a little unorthodox as paddles go. On the handle, I drilled a hole and ran a looped leather thong through it to wrap around my wrist so as not to lose it overboard. At the tip of the blade, I attached a boat hook.

One Sunday afternoon, returning home to Oswego after spending the weekend at Little Sodus, I spotted a sailboat that was obviously in trouble. He was about two or three miles out in the lake, caught in an offshore breeze. Apparently, he lost use of his rudder .

I had (still have) a 5HP Merc on my Ty which I very seldom use. I rigged up a tow line to get him back to port. Well, my Ty pulled the brand X along nicely, with one exception. The towee was skating all over the place without having rudder control. We rectified that problem in short order.

I hauled in on the tow line and, when close enough, handed the hapless skipper my trusty canoe paddle, aka a jury rig rudder. The sun was setting as we slid past the lighthouse at the harbor entrance If I hadn't spotted him, he was en route to Toronto.

Now that I'm thinking about it, isn't there something in the USCG safety check requirements about carrying an oar or paddle? Or is that only for small boats?

Whatever,
O J

[Jim Lewis]

If there weren t stinkpots on the water that we sail, we wouldn t need one on the sailboat we use.

[Neil Gordon]

Now that I'm thinking about it, isn't there something in the USCG safety check requirements about carrying an oar or paddle? Or is that only for small boats?

As I remember the rules, carrying an oar or paddle is the law in Massachuetts. The regs don't actually specify boat size and I suspect that as written, it might apply to any recreational vessel. (I figure the dinghy oars keep me in good stead.)

[Jim Lewis]

That is a good point about the oar required by state law, probably has something to do with inland waters. I don t think it is required by the coast guard. But if we did sail into inland waters, it may very well be a citation issue......if we don t have one......

[volker]

longshot.. I don't think you would have any problems rowing a typhoon... you can make up some square inserts for your winches and drill 1/2 inch hole to accept your oarlocks.. as far as sculling goes.. you really need a specialized oar for it.. good for confined areas but for a small boat like a typhoon two big sweeps would be your best bet.. you can do 360's in your own boat lengh and have good control even backing up .. oars are available up to 8 feet at most local outlets.. longer than that and they become a specialty item (that means expensive).. but you may be able to get by with 8 footers.. whack you off 2 pieces of 2 inch pvc pipe and see how long you would like them to be before spending money on oars... i've also got some specs for building your own up to 12 feet or so.. .. take care....volker

[David Hest]

I recently ran across a helpful thread on rowing on the Pearson Ariel (26-foot Alberg design) web site: http://pearsonariel.org/discussion/arch ... t-428.html

An Ariel owner has detailed plans for winch-based oar locks, oar options, etc., at: http://www.solopublications.com/sailario.htm

Lots of other helpful info on this owner site, including detailed sheet to tiller steering info, photos.

David

[Tim Mertinooke]

[img]http://www.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/ ... lister.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.nadn.navy.mil/LtWtCrew/pictu ... ircles.gif[/img]

[img]http://www.nadn.navy.mil/LtWtCrew/pictu ... b/Toes.gif[/img]

[Mike Johnson]

I was thinking of going to sculling for my CD 25. Might close the opening in well and have more (light weight) storage space. Just dont use the motor off the mooring, normally sail on and off. Any additional thoughts? Anyone need a 8hp Honda? BG

[Domenic]

I think a Gondla Oar would do the job.

[Domenic]

Gondola