Rowing with One Oar

[alkorn]

In The Compleat Cruiser, L.F. Herreshoff describes rowing Rozinante with one oar on one side of the boat by lashing the rudder into position so that it counteracts the turning moment of the one-sided rowing.

Has anyone out there ever tried this? Does it work OK?

[J. Dillon]

During periods of no wind I do this all the time on my 18' sprit rigged sharpie. I pull the CB up and push on one oar steering with the tiller. Initially the boat wants to turn from a dead stand still but once you get going things pretty well straighten out.

JD

[rbgarr]

Yes, I have done it on my Shields. It takes a while to get under control because the rudder has little 'bite' until you get moving. I've only gone a few hundred feet at a time however, from the dock to the mooring.

[Canoeyawl]

I have done this with our Rozinante many times,
The tiller is arranged to interfere with the mizzen and will offset the pull of one oar.
A heavy boat that will carry between strokes is a big advantage.

[SchoonerRat]

I used to row an authentic Italian gondola here in Long Beach. The gondola is rowed standing up with one oar. Instead of turning a rudder, the hull is built with a curve to offset the turning caused by one oar.

[Pagie]

What about the chinese yulla or scullhttp://farm3.static.flickr.com/2065/2522810003_06b5c46813_o.jpg

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Yes, it works.

The Rozinante is designed for it, but on other boats it can be easier , when singlehanded, to stand to row facing forwards with the tiller against your thigh on the opposite side to the oar. You can make any necessary course adjustments without thinking about it.

Many years ago (1999?) I posted an account of my adventures on a Chinese canal with a borrowed Chinese inland waterway boat propelled by a yuloh - which works incredibly well .

[seanz]

http://lyttelton.nz.googlepages.com/Lyttelton1886paintinginsidetheBreakwaterJohnGibb18 31-1909.jpg/Lyttelton1886paintinginsidetheBreakwaterJohnGibb18 31-1909-full.jpg

I was thinking "rowing with one oar, well I suppose it could be done" and I looked up at the postcard I have of this painting of Lyttelton Harbour by John Gibb.......:o
from http://lyttelton.nz.googlepages.com/Lyttelton1886paintinginsidetheBreakwaterJohnGibb18 31-1909.jpg/Lyttelton1886paintinginsidetheBreakwaterJohnGibb18 31-1909-full.jpg

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

.
That's a nice painting, Sean....

The other one-oar option is to scull with it over the stern (in a less-sophisticated equivalent to the Chinese with their yulohs.) Sanderling has a single 14' sweep, occasionally used to scull her in her private ditch because the ditch is too narrow for anything much else.

There is a rowlock mounting on the transom (to starboard,) and also one on each side of the cockpit as well. The one large single rowlock gets moved between the three stations as appropriate for sculling, or for rowing port or starboard.
.

[johngsandusky]

I used to row my 20' Pennant keel sloop that way. I've done it in my Friendship, but much more slowly.

[Jay Greer]

I scull "Red Witch" with a single oar off of the stbd. quarter. The 28' boat weighs ten thousand pounds so it takes a bit of effort to get her moving. I control the tendency to swing to port by holding the tiller with my knee. Once underway, it is a snap to keep the boat going straight at about a knot and a half by leaning on and then feathering the sweep. I once sculled the Witch ten miles after sundown on a warm July night when coming back from the Channel Islands. We enjoyed a bottle of wine and watched the fire works from both Laguna and Newport Beach.
Jay

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Mirelle has a 14ft ash sweep. There are times when you don't want to make a noise whilst shifting the boat. My first two boats were engine-less and the habits stick.

[Bluenose]

I rowed my Bluenose sloop with one oar any time the wind died. I sat facing aft adjusting the tiller with my foot. Probably the longest I rowed was 2 miles. Quite easy actually. I will be adding a rowing station to my new boat as well.

[J. Dillon]

A number of years ago I made a Yuloh. It worked ....but I found it wagged my boat too much. I think it is best suited for a heavy displacement boat not a lightly built one. It does have to be long making storage a problem.

Oh did I mention I don't think it will work well in thin water as the blade to be effective needs depth. Thats my 2cents about the Yuloh

JD

[johngsandusky]

Glad I'm not the only eccentric here. In my harbor they think I'm a little nuts.

[Rukk]

Cool discussion, for sure. Here's a bit of a tangent: I've got a big heavy 34' ketch. Weight is difficult to estimate, but I would say somewhere between 7 and 9 tons. The elderly volvo diesel is questionable at best, although it will run with some coaxing. I'm just starting to get the boat back into shape where I can go sailing again (a couple months off, the list is still huge, but hey) and I've been thinking about a big yuloh for the purposes of ghosting her back into Silva Bay after the wind dies in the evenings.

Obvioiusly, this will take some experimentation, as there seem to be no drawings or even dimensions floating around for a yuloh suitable for optimally propelling a boat of this size. I have some idea of what the shape of the blade needs to be - sort of a half-oar blade with the shaped side facing upwards.

Has anybody seen or used one of these on a reasonably large boat? What sort of dimensions were the thing? Things like length overall, curved or straight, length of blade, amount of blade submerged (all of it? how deep?), width of blade, the angle at which the blade enters the water, etc would be REALLY helpful as a starting point.

I'm obviously going to have to make a few trial versions before the nice laminated varnished one, but somewhere to start from would be a big help. Thanks for posting your experiences!

James

[Canoeyawl]

I have...
It was impossible to make any good against a slight ebb.
The yuloh was about 14 feet.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Mirelle is 10 tons. She will move with the sweep, but frankly the Seagull 40 on the transom of the tender, lashed alongside, does better.

I have taken part in the moving of a 28 ton Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter with two sweeps...

You certainly won't do anything against a foul tide.

[Ben Fuller]

Obvioiusly, this will take some experimentation, as there seem to be no drawings or even dimensions floating around for a yuloh suitable for optimally propelling a boat of this size. I have some idea of what the shape of the blade needs to be - sort of a half-oar blade with the shaped side facing upwards.

Has anybody seen or used one of these on a reasonably large boat? What sort of dimensions were the thing? Things like length overall, curved or straight, length of blade, amount of blade submerged (all of it? how deep?), width of blade, the angle at which the blade enters the water, etc would be REALLY helpful as a starting point.



You need to find a copy of Worcesters Junks and Sampans of the Yangtze; many of them in there. Roger Taylor discusses using one and has dimensions for a 32 foot 2 ton boat in The Elements of Seamanship and I think that is the one that Sam Manning drew up for the article we did for Small Boat Journal that is floating around on the Web and that he rewrote for Wooden Boat. Also see Doug Brooks recent article in WB on the Japanese equivalent the Ro.

[Jay Greer]

Larry and Lynn Pardey have used a Yuloh to move both of their boats.
I plan to experiment with one on the Next Common Sense I am planning to build. The advantage is that each stroke is a power stroke.
Jay