Rowing Power ?

It seems amazing to me that there is such scepticism about the usefulness of sweeps. Has the fact that 60-70years ago damn few yachts had an auxiliary engine been forgotten? How do the revisionists imagine they ever got to where they were going without calling up harbour tugs??? (Joke....as if...!)

Lordy! Why does it come as a surprise?
 
A long, long time ago, I calculated the power output of my biceps by the following means.

100 biceps curls, timed. Height of lift measured.

Energy = mgh. So (mass of dumbbell x 9.8 x total height lifted) / time (total height being the height of one lift x the number of lifts (curls))

It worked out at about 150 watts, sustained.
 
jdc said:
Are you really sure about that? When rowing I use all my legs with really quite a lot of compression, and all my back and only use the arms for a little bit of the stroke. A bicycle definitely uses fewer muscles.

As for a prop being more efficient than oars, you may be right, but I haven't seen evidence or calculation one way or the other - have you?
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How many legs ?
 
I scull over the stern in a 12ft dinghy, which I bought for the purpose, and fitted with a foam core keel about 3-4in deep to prevent yawing. Rowing must be more efficient and I can certainly maintain higher speed for longer periods but I've been rowing heavy old punts since I was eight. I would think that properly rigged sweeps, walking the oar up the deck is a valid way to proceed, and what the Guide Me

http://www.mbla.co.uk/images/Luggers/Guide Me/85Guide_me.jpg

does as and when necessary she has no engine.

Don't know why I still scull, it was only necessary in Cornish harbours where boats were moored too close to extend oars.
 
Mel said:
Anybody prepared to suggest what power equivalent might be obtained by sculling a boat compared to running its engine.

For example, my small yacht will do about 5 knots using a 9HP engine/propulsion.

So, if I used a single oar off the stern (assuming some expertise) what might I achieve with a suitable oar by sculling ?

How could I work this out and estimated the speed likely to be achieved ?
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As a yoga teacher once said "an ounce of practice is worth a ton of theory"

Find an oar, a short length of line to improvise a rowlock, and try for yourself.

When I did this on a Prout 31 with the oar loosly attached over the stern I could keep a few tons of boat moving in a flat calm. Enough to get through the wind shadows in the harbour without staring the engine. As soon as the sails picked up a bit of wind the boat was faster than my skulling. A longer oar with bigger blade and more efficient rowlock would improve performance, but the initial experiment with a 7ft oar proved the concept.
 
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