Ben Fuller- Sculling Oar ?

[gunnar I am]

Ben, I did a search and found an article of yours on sculling oars. I would like to make one for my Rangeley, the transom model you saw last year (Boat show, yellow lab,Basil ). Is flat blade the best way to go? Anyone else is of course welcome to comment. Would like to learn more about sculling.

[Ben Fuller]

Flat blade oar works fine. Based on old hunting patterns. Basically sculling works best if you think of it as a low speed propellor. Big blade. On a ten foot oar the blade seems about 4 feet. And you want to stiffness opposite from that in a normal oar. You will need a long oar to get yourself into the middle of the boat. For the Rangley you might mount an oarlock socket on your transom. Experiment clamping it on. You may want the socket off set like almost everyone who sculls for a living does. Offset to port like the Bahamanians let you face forward and get both hands on the oar. Your transome is narrow so that you will likely end up in one corner.

[daddles]

How exactly does one scull? Do you just shove the oar from side to side? How effective is it relative to rowing and where would you use it in preferace to rowing? For example, would you use it in a boat that's a bit wide for comfortable rowing? Sheltered water or rough?

Cheers
Richard

[Ben Fuller]

Sculling can be quite effective especially when moving boats that are too big to row. I have seen a man nail two bits of plank to the edge of a float and scull it down to the next location needed, or one person move a whaleboat. In the Orient the yuloh has evolved into a hyper efficient human propellor; it can be set up to have half a dozen people on one. See Worcesters Junks and Sampans of the Yangtze. Yulohs, Bahamanian sculling oars and hunting oars share one thing in common, they move like a falling leaf, switching the leading edge of the oar which is relatively flat so that each digs in. Steering oars are generally sculled like a fish tail. You really need to get the articles that are floating around on the internet.

For dinghy's and other light small craft, rowing is speedier. But I would rather scull a wide outboard or heavy sailing dinghy, and sculling is really effective in a crowded anchorage as you see where you are going.

[Paul Scheuer]

Not being highly experienced, I have noodled with sculling so that in the event that I loose an oar or God forbid break one, I wouldn't look too foolish.

There certainly is more to it than a simple side to side, fish-tail motion. I'm sure others know the expert technique, and will chime in. Maybe it's been addressed in the archives. The method involves slanting the blade so that it provides an upward / aft force in the water while it is moving through the water from side to side. The "right" angle will be the one that provides forward motion without too much tail wagging. Note that the traditional sculling notch in the transom is usually not near as deep as an oarlock.

It is also a useful technique, from the normal rowing position, for coming alongside a pier with one oar shipped.

[daddles]

We're planning a larger boat in the future - 16' or so. I've always thought that learning to scull would be a good option. Sounds like I was right. One of the options will be a rowlock in the transom.

Cheers
Richard

[Ronin NW]

I'm considering a sculling oar as backup auxiliary (or at least silent) power on Ronin (an Atkin Eric ketch). I've seen sculling oars stowed on a number of cruising boats (among them Taleisin recently in Port Townsend), and have read a number of articles by Ben and others. What I haven't seen is a reference to using them on cruising-size sailing boats.

My theory is that a sculling oarlock can be put in the top of my port quarter samson post and handled from the front of the cockpit (ahead of the, ahem, mizzen mast, which could conceivably throw everything out of wack. This would also require that I tie down the tiller (amidships!), which would then be out of reach. A long yuloh extending over the house would seem to encounter an increasing amount of furniture getting in its way, so I'd rather avoid that. Furthermore, we're talking 20,000 pounds of boat, 32'LOD and 41'LOA.

One thing to work out through measurement is whether the canoe-stern hung rudder will be in the way of the outboard end of the oar; I'd probably use a downward curving oar for more efficiency. Is there a standard measurement for the degree that the oar should be able to move side to side? This would help figure if the rudder's in the way.

Does this seem feasible?

ps-gotta love the archives smile.gif

[MAGIC's Craig]

Ronin:

We cruised for three years with a yuloh as aux. power with our 14,000 # Hess-designed BCC. It was rigged over the port quarter, had a "bend" built into it and, perhaps most importantly, a 7" long "handle" perpendicular to the grip-end of the loom of the oar. This in turn had a line attached which snapped down to an eye in the cockpit and made the whole process of "flipping the oar" automatic.

We could muster 1-1/2 to (occasionally) 2 knots for reasonable periods of time. However, when our travels first brought us to the tide-swept Pacific NW waters, we quickly got an education in patience and learned new respect for currents.

Larry Pardey decided to buy a 2hp outboard to attach to their dinghy (as a push boat for TALIESEN) this summer and he told me that it made a very helpful difference when cruising in our waters.

Cheers,

Craig

[Jim Budde]

Had not tried sculling before this summer ... will probably never row again. A friend had two articles from Small Craft magazine (may have the name wrong) from the 1980's. First article was how to scull .. second how to build the oar. Sculled my little cat boat all around the lake this summer .. sometimes had so much fun I forgot to raise the sail.

Sculling IS EASY to learn .. it's just one of those activities that you must practice a few times and all of a sudden you "get it", as the kids say

Two methods .. vertical and horizontal strokes. I found the horizontal much easier to master.

A friend sculls his 19' Calodonia around with suprising ease .. he can even scull backwards.

I'll look up articles tonight and post name, date and edition. They were extremely easy to read .. and very helpful.

By the way, I agree with the idea of clamping your oarlock (or whatever arrangement you design) before securing permanently. I tried 3 or four positions before I found the perfect spot

[N. Scheuer]

Further to what Ben has said, I much preferred the "falling leaf" technique in my old Dovekie, PIL-PEL.

I originally practiced sculling using the "steering oar" method, as remembered from earlier years at Boy Scout Camp. The fellow who built my boat, Peter Duff, set me straight one day on the Cheasapeake, using one hand to show me (from a position twenty feet distant) the correct position for the blade, and how it should move.

I adopted Peter's advice immediately, and never switched back. For a large boat, like Dovekie, the "falling leaf" technique was like shifting into "low gear". There was much less splashing, and more efficient thrust.

Over the years we came to appreciate all of the ways in which we could "scull" PIL-PEL; even sideways, as brother Paul outlines above.

Moby Nick

[Jim Budde]

Talk about a major senior moment!! The articles I referred to were written by none other than Ben Fuller. Small Craft Vol 45 Oct/Nov 1985 and Vol 46 (Dec/Jan 1986.

Knowing that, let me say that whatever Ben tells you about sculling will work.

Thanks, Ben, for teaching me the joys of sculling and providing me with a very enjoyable summer!

[Joe Dupere]

I've been doing a lot of rowing with my Shellback lately and everytime I'm out I'll try a little sculling. I haven't had much luck over the transom, but I have been able to do it over the side using an oarlock, but I don't seem to be able to get a sustained effort going.

So does anybody know if these issues are still available, or are the articles available for reprint or resale or something. On line maybe? They've been mentioned a few times but I can't find them anywhere. There is an article on sculling in WB 100. And I notice it's by Ben
Fuller. Time to read it again I guess.

Joe

[Ronin NW]

Lot's of chat on this resurrected topic!

Joe, the original article that I found online is Ben's article from WB 100, it's at http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Geyser/6383/yuloh.htm

Craig, there's actually a Hess Bristol Chanel Cutter (FG) for sale right now near my berth in Seattle. It's very well outfitted, including a sculling oar stowed forward. That seems like a good sized boat for sculling to me. Don't happen to have a photo of your setup, do you?

Yes, I've considered the yawl-boat option as well. I'm still thinking about my canoe stern issues, everytime I look at the layout I'm not so sure anymore... Maybe I could work up a sketch and post sometime.

-Scott

[Paul Silverman]

It looks like I have hit the motherlode of scullers. Nevertheless, I'd be interested in hearing some commentary on when to choose sculling over rowing. I have a 25 foot 9,000 lb cutter of narrow beam and deep draft. She's got a fantail stern with a distance from cockpit to stern of about 3 feet, with afterdeck about 2 feet above the waterline. I'd been planning to install raised oarlocks on the cockpit coaming so that I could stand facing forward and row. Will sculling give me adequate manueverability if I need to get into a slip without power? And if I consider a sculling oar, how long should it be?

[N. Scheuer]

Have your sculling oar as short as possible, while still clearing the hull throughout its swing, with the grip in a comfortable position, and with the pivot point somewhat lower (more toward the blade) than whne rowing.

In my old Dovekie, PIL-PEL, we used one of the 10-ft rowing oars for sculling. The boat had a bronze rowlock on the stern quarter, kand the oar's pivot point was something like ten inches further down (off the leather) than for rowing.

Having a short oar will give the loom and blade of the sculling an attitude closer to vertical than will a very long oar. Having the blade more vertical yields more efficient thrust forward, which of course is what sculling is all about.

A yuloh is usually much longer than a sculling oar, kbut a yuloh usually also has a curved loom, so that the blade has more of a vertical attitude than does the portion of the loom near the grip.

Practice will tell you whether rowing or sculling is more efficient in various situations.

Moby Nick

[MAGIC's Craig]

Scot:
I'll ask She Who Is In Charge Of Photos. At one point, we had a shot of her sculling, in her bikini, while off Port Townsend....such a sight often caused large-bellied, bear-drinking Bayliner bozos to suck in a gut once in a while as they roared by. 'Course, given her quick-fire temperment, the resulting wakes often also solicited a wave which did not include all of her fingers :eek: ...sigh, temper, temper, my love. ;)

Craig

[MAGIC's Craig]

"bear-drinking"?...nah, I meant, "beer-drinking" my bad.

Craig

[Ronin NW]

Craig,
That wouldn't be your BCC at Shilshole, would it? She had a homeport of Port Townsend, though I forget her name...
-Scott

[MAGIC's Craig]

Scot:

Our BCC, VIXEN, is currently homeported in Port Angeles by her owner. She was hull #2 in the series.

FWIW, my lady informs me that the photo I was seeking resides in an album aboard MAGIC, who is sleeping under her cover 1500 miles away in Sidney, B.C.

Oh, well.

Craig

[PugetSound]

"...I've been doing a lot of rowing with my Shellback lately and everytime I'm out I'll try a little sculling. I haven't had much luck over the transom, ..."

Sculling over the transom (using the little half circle notch) will work ok with the right technique. The trick is to always maintain a slight downward pressure to keep the oar in place and prevent it from floating up. In theory, you can scull without a sculling notch or oarlock. Personally I find sculling a great way to come into the dock in my little dingy - it gets people (and even sea otters) curious. I've even had one guy (who had a few years on me) comment that he hadn't seen anybody do that in nearly 50 years!

[rbgarr]

Sculling small punts and rowboats was so common on Cape Cod (years ago when I was a kid) that many boats had no oarlocks, no sculling hole and only one oar in the boat.

Some used the standing scull-over-the-stern method and others used the draw-scull method where you pull the punt to your destination, usually to the beach or a dock from a mooring, with a 'canoeing double-ended J-stroke' from a seated position.

Sometime kids would race ashore without even sculling, by just standing and rocking the boats by shifting weight rapidly from one foot to the other. :cool: