Monday 8 November 2010

Home Built Boats on the Hamble


Saturday's amble up the Hamble was also attended by members of the Home Built Boat Rally, including Phil Oxborrow in a not-home-built-but-who-cares kayak, Paul Hadley in his ongoing project Illusion and Graham Neil in his lovely Coot, a Wolstenholme-designed dinghy.
The wind had died away completely when we all left the Jolly Sailor so Graham was faced with the prospect of rowing all the way back to Swanwick (300 yards). "Not in front of all these rowers!" he cried as he left, so of course I instantly pressed the video button on my camera.
I think he rows rather well, actually.
Paul is trialling electric power for Illusion.
But I missed the most interesting experiment of the day. Chris Waite is developing a forward-facing, pedal-powered over-the-transom sculling system. The forward-facing element is not yet in place, but the sculling mechanism is working as shown in Graham's video on his always entertaining blog Port-na-Storm.

1 comment:

Graham Neil said...

I must admit I'm pretty impressed myself! It does help to have a strong current in your favour.