Sculling

R

rosamaldon

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Despite recent search and two threads being found but unable to open, I'm still looking for information on using a single scull/sweep/oar/plank to scull from the stern of our Crabber when the engine gives up 50 yards from our dock/jetty or pier. The last time we knelt (?).one either side of the cockpit and used a pair of oars from the dinghy as paddles. B****Y hard work and neither off us steering. Luckily we made such a mess of it that going round in a circle enabled us the lay alongside our landing stage pointing in the right direction for the next trip to the Nass. I've heard of much larger working boats being propelled by sweeps and wondered if anyone has actually achieved forward motion on an amateur basis using this method. I also understand that what I have called a rowlock all my life is in fact a crutch. Demountable thingy often in white nyon. I'm never going to be allowed the finance for a new engine and the RYA engine course didn't cover stranding on the mud, the starter belt inverting itself and the manual start chain hiding in the bilges having scythed through the aluminium cover like some heavily greased whirling dervish.
 
It's all in the wrist action. As you push and pull the oar, twist it so that the blade wants to force it's way deeper. Obviously, each reversal of direction means you twist in the opposite direction. The trick (and where the forward motion comes from) is in resisting the tendency of the oar to go deeper, instead maintaining its' depth just below the surface. As you push a blade full of water backwards, the boat goes forwards.
Sculling against any sort of tide or headwind is impossible in anything bigger than a large dinghy.
 
HI.
Once you have grasp the principles and managed to keep the oar in the notch you will find how easy it is to move the boat.
Many years ago Pilot Cutter Apprentices used the oar to put the pilot aboard. At Barry Yacht Club (Bristol Channel) it was the duty of cadets to scull members to there boats in a heavy punt. I sailed a converted ships lifeboat in the channel for several years,no engine just the scull. At Barry many members still scull even Avon's
 
Many thanks for the replies. This one has to be the most comprehensive i've ever had. The Jester site is perfect and if i can't move her forward after that then I'm a relative from Holland. I take the point about wind and tide but it really would just be for getting out of and into our little creek .
Many many thanks
 
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I also understand that what I have called a rowlock all my life is in fact a crutch

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I think there is a letter in the latest CB which sugests that this is pretty much a load of rowlocks. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
In a small boat you do little flicks left and right and upwards, taking the blade down again at an angle after each flip. Try and watch a penguin swimming - apparently it's the same action.
On a larger boat it's more of a long slow sweeping action, but with the same basic twisting - I've seen old film of barges being moved on the Thames.
In a dinghy there is very little sweeping movement - it's all in the wrist.

I always understood that rowlocks were strictly the kind with a locking bar across the top to stop the oar jumping out.
 
I could be wrong, but I think the sweep on the barges probably provided steerage rather than propulsion. The motive force came from the tide.

Or maybe I'm just too much of a wimp....
 
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