Mike
19-11-2008, 06:42 PM
This article was taken from WOODENBOAT MAGAZINE (http://www.woodenboat.com/)#100, June 1991. Many such articles are in each publication and provide a wealth of information to the Boating Industry. Please purchase and support this great magazine. Reprints can be obtained at the WoodenBoat web site or by calling or writing to:
WoodenBoat Publications Inc
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How to Scull a Boat
Text and illustrations by S.F. Manning
"Notch!", snorted Robbie Weatherford as he swept up an oar from the float. "Ye don't need a notch if ye do it right!" With that he thrust the oar over the side of the float we were standing on and began a vigorous twiddling with it that sent wavelets breaking into the mangrove roots just beyond. I could feel the float depress under the force of' his oar. As he yanked it back and forth while demonstrating how a sculling oar should be handled, the loom of that oar stayed right where he'd placed it on the edge of the float. There was no notch, or crack, or anything there to keep it put.
http://www.backyardboatbuilding.org.uk/forums/images/sculling1-2a.jpgHappily, I'd remembered my mother's admonition that you never tell a cowboy that you can ride a horse. You say, "I'll try." And try I did for that 75-year-old Man 0' War fisherman who'd sculled boats all his life the Bahamian way. But I couldn't get the oar to stay put without restraint where it crossed the edge of the float.
The fact is that I too have been sculling boats all my life, starting on a farm pond way back during the Depression. But up north we do it differently or perhaps I'd never taken notice of how other people scull boats. Robbie's stroke was more powerful than mine. He could make a Man 0' War dinghy move as if it were inspired by a small outboard. His oar was straight, narrow bladed, and fully as long as the boat he sculled. Bahamians scull. They do not row, with two oars, nor do they use sweeps. It was once common to see a Bahamian sloop or schooner being sculled by a single oar over the stern when the breeze failed. A single long oar is often primary or auxiliary equipment in boats of that region. The sculling notch, if used at all, is very shallow.
What is sculling? Sculling is a traditional way of propelling a boat or vessel through the water by means of a single oar mounted on, or worked from, the stern. Consider the various types of oars and how they're used. A paddle is gripped in the hands and is pulled independently of the boat. A rowing oar is pivoted through a lock on the gunwale or a port in the boat's side and is pulled or pushed from a position just inboard of' the pivot point. Small-boat oarsmen normally pull two oars at once over opposite sides of the boat. A sweep is a long rowing oar that is pulled through a pivot point located on the opposite side of the boat fronm the oarsman. A scull is another name for a short rowing oar. A sculling oar can be a rowing oar, a sweep, or even a paddle operated through a pivot point in a propeller-like stroke that pushes the boat from behind. A breed of oars specialized to sculling has evolved in many parts of the world over millennia. The best known of these are the Bahamian oar, the "slat" of the Chesapeake watermen, the bent scull float oar of the duck gunners, and the yuloh of the Chinese. We'll examine the strokes used by scullers and then we'll have a look at the various oars.
Allied to sculling, and sometimes described as sculling, are two types of stern propulsion that most boatmen have done at one time or another. The first might best be called "levering". This entails jamming an oar blade straight down over the stern and giving the loom a hearty yank forward. A boat moves convincingly, if erratically, this way. The second might be called "fishtailing." Here the tiller of a small boat is quickly yanked in one direction and then a quick yank in the other, back and forth in a vigorous motion. The effect is to push water with the outboard side of' the rudder blade. Dinghy sailors often use this technique to gain steerage in light airs or to move the boat without sails from dock to mooring.
http://www.backyardboatbuilding.org.uk/forums/images/sculling1-3a.jpgThe oar-sculler's stroke is simple in principle, but it is difficult to learn by watching someone do it. Sleight of hand, not easy for a sculler to convey to the watcher, is involved. Basically, the oar is run into the water over the boat's transom, angled outward and downward about 45 degrees, and pivoted atop the transom. The oar is rotated slightly so that the blade becomes a kind of' diving plane. The loom is pushed against the pivot point so that the depressed edge of' the blade cuts a path through the water, angling toward the stern of a boat on one side. When the limit of the stroke is reached, the blade is rotated so that it dives in the opposite direction. The loom is now pulled against the pivot point until the blade reaches the end of that stroke. The oar is again rotated and the first stroke repeated. Since the loom of' the oar is bearing against the boat's stern, the back pressure of the blade as it cuts obliquely through the water shoves the stiffly held oar, and the boat itself forward . Simple enough. But this whole description reads the same whether one leading edge is utilized, or two. Thus my frustration in watching Robbie Weatherford sculling without a notch in which to pivot the oar, and possibly your frustration if you've made the effort before. We'll get back to it.
Why scull? Why not row? Well, there are times when a boatman find himself with only one serviceable oar . At other times there might be neither established rowlocks nor deck room to swing two oars or a long sweep. The sculler, usually standing to his oar, has a clear view ahead and can maneuver through clustered boats, marsh channels, or ice leads where oar room is lacking on either side. The sculler can propel his boat ahead or astern by simply reversing his stroke while standing in the same posture if his oar notch has been closed with restraint at the top. He can spin the boat around within its own length. He can move it sideways if he positions his oar over the side amidships. The sculling oar, like the canoe paddle, is a water lance that offers tremendous potential for those who can exercise skill. With a suitable oar you can propel a dinghy , a motorboat ,a gondola, a barge, a junk, a schooner. It's all been done to practical advantage, somewhere in the world.
Is sculling faster than rowing? For most of us, no. However, on one morning several years back, my wife and I were overtaken and passed by the black skipper of' a Bahamian yacht who was sculling a rubber inflatable. Susan and I were double rowing a Banks dory at a reasonable clip. The Bahamian was working his single (plastic!) rowing oar through one of the oar-grommets in the inflatable's side. The thing was moving fast and forward. It wasn't even crabbing. Now, there was skill with an oar. We gaped, as did others.
While Robbie Weatherford made that float gyrate under our feet with his powerful Bahamian sculling stroke, I began to feel the frustration that others have exhibited during my efforts to teach them how to scull at home. Robbie and I both seemed to be doing the same thing: the oar was run into the water and pivoted at the edge of the float while the blade cut a zigzag path toward our feet. His oar stayed put and propelled water vigorously. Mine flopped about on the edge of the float, and the blade stayed pretty much where I'd run it in. I longed for a deep notch, an oarlock, tholepin, or even a lashing over the oar at the edge of' the float to show this old man that I could really do it.
http://www.backyardboatbuilding.org.uk/forums/images/sculling2-4a.jpgClearly it was the bottom of a notch that was important to Robbie's way of sculling. I needed a deep notch with sides. Once Susan and I were home from the Bahamas it dawned on me what the distinction was, and why it had been too obvious to be seen that day. The distinction is this. Robbie's Bahamian oar operated like a double edged sword being wielded side to side in a shallow falling-leaf pattern. Both edges of the blade were alternately the leading edge as the oar cut the water back and forth. The flat of the blade was essentially horizontal, with the leading edge depressed slightly to make it dive as the oar moved in that direction. At the end of the zig stroke, Robbie rotated the loom just slightly to depress the opposite edge to make it dive off the zag stroke. His effort, if any, seemed to be in pressing the loom downward on his side of the pivot point so that the upper side of the blade pushed water away from us in the course of each cutting stroke. With Robbie pressing downward on the grip, at one end of the oar, and with water pressing down on the flat of the blade at the other, the middle of the loom stayed right where it was on the edge of the float despite the tweaking and rotating that made the stroke work. Had he been in a boat instead of on a moored float, the oar would have driven the boat forward instead of pushing water astern. As the boat's speed increased, Robbie would have added more and more angle to the diving edge of the oar so that it steepened the path of the zigs and the zags. If he didn't, the oar would float up or he would have to increase the frequency of strokes in order to keep up with the moving boat.
http://www.backyardboatbuilding.org.uk/forums/images/sculling2-5a.jpgThe Bahamian sculling stroke, as shown me by Robbie Weatherford is a falling-leaf pattern with the blade cutting both ways in a horizontal stroke. It is a powerful stroke, not tiring and well suited for long-haul propulsion. The sculling stroke that I'd grown up with looked about the same but was very different in its effect. Here the oar is operated like a single-edged knife cutting a downward, slalom pattern in the surface of the water. There is only one leading edge employed. The flat of the blade floats vertically in the manner of a steering oar, which it essentially is, in this form of sculling. For a power- stroke, the oar is rotated slightly so that the lower leading edge can be slashed across the stern in one direction, rotated back, and slashed the other way. The blade is given considerable twist (toward horizontal) at the outset of the stroke when the boat is stopped or moving slowly, then less and less angle is applied as momentum is gained and the slalom pattern is deepened. At maximum speed, about 2 1/2 knots for me in a good skiff, the wagging back and forth has narrowed considerably and the blade remains almost vertical on both left and right strokes. The end result is almost fishtailing with an oar in the manner of the rudder scullers. But you can see why rise of a deep notch is necessary for this vertical or slalom stroke. The sculler's effort is directed as much sideways as downward on the grip of the oar. Without a notch, the loom slips. There are merits to both the vertical and the horizontal sculling strokes. The latter is a more powerful propulsive stroke because the force vector against the water is more directly astern. Body weight of the sculler is the main force pressing the loom downward to lever the boat for ward. Only a little effort goes into guiding the oar from side to side. Steering is accomplished by loading the oar more on one slash than the other or by giving it more angle to increase side resistance. A long oar is highly desirable. The vertical stroke in my hands is best for a jackrabbit start in still water and it is more responsive for intricate steering through congested areas. But it can be more wearing on the sculler over a long pull because arm strength, not body weight, is the main propellant. The fishtailing aspect of the vertical stroke demands side-to-side exertion against the resistance of water. The force vector of each stroke is more diagonally astern. Today I combine the two strokes. The vertical stroke is an excellent "low gear" for getting underway and for threading the boat through crowded harbors Then I shift to "high", with the horizontal to make speed and distance. There are variations but these are the two basic strokes that scullers use.
You also can scull a boat in reverse. It’s the horizontal stroke falling upward rather than down. You'll need a loop or lashing over the oar's loom where it crosses the transom because you'll be lifting the grip rather than pressing it down to make the blade "climb" astern. Try it. You'll be applauded.
In mid-June of 1983 an informal group of sculling enthusiasts met at Camden Harbor to try out various kinds of strokes and oars. The group was organized by Ben Fuller then curator of the Mystic Seaport Museum who was researching an article on sculling for Small Boat Journal. The event was hosted by editor Dan Segal and his wife, Judy, who had travelled from Vermont to participate. Lance Lee, then director of the Rockport Apprentice Shop gave us a demonstration of Bahamian sculling done with a proper Bahamian oar. Lance had spent much of his boy hood at Man O' War Cay, where he'd learned to scull under the critical eye of old Robbie Weatherford and other local fishermen. The oar, he pointed out, was always operated from the port side of the transom allowing the sculler to lean into the oar on one stroke and to pull it back with both hands on the other. This placement allows relief of the right hand for fishing over the side. A shallow notch was desirable. Lance bent to his work with a slow, easy rhythm. He leaned into the oar with both hands on the push stroke; then, thrusting his right arm out horizontally to cause overbalance on that side, he leaned to the right while towing the grip of the oar with his left. The boat he sculled boiled along. He used a straight, thick, narrow-bladed 11' oar.
Dave Jackson of Camden an enthusiastic duck gunner, showed us how the duck hunters scull. His boat was a camouflaged fiberglass reproduction of the traditional Merry- Bay gunning "float" with pointed bow, flared sides, and round- bottom. It was fully decked except for a narrow cockpit stretching from about center to nearly all the way aft . The wide transom was pierced on the port side for a tight oar port that accommodated only the looms of his sculling oar. The oar was square, lightly fashioned, and curved along its whole 7' length so that it arced nearly 3" upward when laid flat on the ground. Dave stretched full length in the cockpit with his head against the headrest on the coaming aft, gun (presumably) at right, and the loom of the oar extending into the cockpit over his left shoulder. From his prone, hidden, position Dave could propel the boat quite comfortably by waggling the oar with his right hand in a shallow figure-eight over his chest. Since the oar was slightly bent it automatically capsized into the proper diving angle of a horizontal sculling stroke each time the loom was reversed with a push or a pull. His stroke was rapid, smooth, and efficient. Steering was accomplished by lengthening the stroke on one side or the other.
http://www.backyardboatbuilding.org.uk/forums/images/sculling2-6a.jpgBen Fuller's classic 16' wooden Delaware Bay ducker is a slim, low-sided, half-decked, double-ended boat traditionally meant to be rowed or sailed to the gunning site, then poled close to flocks of birds. In a departure from tradition, Ben added a sculling bracket mounted slightly outboard on an exposed crossbeam just abaft the cockpit coaming. This boat could be sculled right- or left-handed with a bent oar from a lying down position or it could be sculled while sitting, kneeling, or standing to a straight oar in either a horizontal or vertical stroke.
The sculling/rowing/ sailing (and paddling) capabilities of Ben's boat are plain delights to anyone who seeks freedom with an oar. Lines of this common style of American hunting skiff', circa 1870-85 are in Howard Chapelle's An American Small Sailing Craft . We didn't have a Chesapeake 'slat’ to experiment with. Nor was there a waterman to show us how one might be used. Tradition has it that they operate through a V-shaped notch in the stern of' a boat. Ben Fuller who spent curatorial years at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum could not remember seeing a sculling notch indigenous to the slat oar and he wondered whether it might have been worked against alternate sides of a protruding stern post. The "slat" I've drawn was done from an isolated oar in a photo. It appears to be a long flat stave of wood molded in a straight taper from the tip of the blade to the narrowed grip. I can't tell whether the blade end is ribbed on both sides in the fashion of a Bahamian oar or whether it is ribbed or arced only on the upper side as a yuloh would be. Possibly a knowledgeable reader can tell us. The flat, sectioned, loom of the "slat" would make this oar a natural for the horizontal sculling stroke. However, with a deep-V notch it could be used like a steering oar too with a vertical sculling stroke.
http://www.backyardboatbuilding.org.uk/forums/images/scull7.jpgNo one in our group had operated a Chinese yuloh. Just about everyone was intrigued by the prospect of propelling a large boat with a long bent oar perched atop a pivot and tethered inboard by a lanyard. Plenty of photographs have shown Chinese women yulohing lengthy and loaded sampans with abandon. Roger Taylor made and used a yuloh as auxiliary power in a 37' Skipjack. But Roger was away that weekend so we made our own, a 10 footer from a bent oak plank, and mounted it on a 14' crab skiff with a trailer-hitch ball for pivot. It worked very well. So well, in fact that Jim Benson, a bystander, drove home and returned with a homemade yuloh that he gave us. He'd given up on it, apparently not having fully worked out the pivot for it before finding a buyer for his boat. Sad. With a block attached underneath to receive our trailer ball, it turn out to be a better, wider-blade, propeller than the one we had cobbled. Our time together was up before there was opportunity to lengthen its loom to try it out on a lobster boat.
Despite our amateurish handling of a homemade yuloh in a miniscule craft, the thing seems to have real potential for someone who doesn't trust his engine. The stroke is easy back and forth with a yank on the lanyard at the end of each pass to capsize the oar into the diving angle for the stroke to follow. The properly timed yank on the lanyard also gives the blade a bit of a kick outward and upward increasing the power of the stroke considerably. Deft steering with a yuloh would require more skill than we developed that day. The yuloh seemed to be an automatic sculling machine that develops a perfect horizontal stroke without any need for skill to keep the oar from sliding. A full description can be found in G.R.G. Worcester's The Junks and Sampans of the Yangtze River. This authority on Chinese water craft notes it would seem that the junks, and indeed many seagoing junks, have generally straight yulohs which is probably the most primitive variety. The curved yuloh is more generally found on the rivers. The man or woman at the yuloh holds the rope in one hand and with the other works the yuloh to and fro in a circular manner. If more than one is at the yuloh, the second works the rope while the other works on the loom.
I'm tempted to draw all illustrations for Worcester next paragraph which talks about eight men on the loom and two on the rope. The rope-men throw themselves backwards with great abandon until they lie almost flat on their backs, their opposite members doing the same thing bringing them to their feet again. But I'll leave this drawing for the future and show instead how the oar actually worked during our trials at Camden. Man, can you imagine a yuloh the size of a small telephone pole being worked this way by your friends en route to an outer island beach party?
A sculling oar with a shaped blade was brought to our Camden sculling meet by Douglas Martin, designer and manufacture of ocean rowing craft, based at Kittery, Maine. This oar with an appended upright has one leading edge obviously intended for use in a vertical sculling stroke. It was mounted through an oarlock at the end of a slim cross-deck timber much in the fashion of the ducker mounting on Ben Fuller's gunning float. Those who tried Martin’s oar said it was efficient and easy to use. I don't know whether or not the oar was patented. He allowed us to measure it for publication. I offer it here in a dimensioned perspective.
Ben Fuller’s subsequent article Sculling - A Lesson in One Oarsmanship, Part 1 appeared in Small Boat Journal No. 45, (1985). It is a clearly written treatise on handling a straight sculling oar in the horizontal, vertical, and reverse stroke modes. Along with this how-to is a good deal of colorful observation of aboriginal sculling in this or that kind of boat as Ben has witnessed it in various parts of the world. I must here confess that we coined the words "horizontal", "vertical"' "falling-leaf," and "slalom" as a means to sort out the various ways that sculling oars are handled. Part II of Ben's article Sculling - Putting Your Best Oar Behind You appeared in Small Boat Journal #46(1986). It covered the bent oars of the duckers, the yuloh, and Doug Martin’s scientific blade. Now all that remains is for you to learn to scull if you haven't already. If you have neither boat nor oar, practice the various strokes with your hand in the bathtub. Grip your elbow (the pivot point with your other hand while you do it. Go out to a dock. Make a "slat" oar. Try it there. It's fun and, who knows, knowledge of sculling may get you home someday if you find yourself up a creek without a paddle.
Sam Manning learned how to scull when he was eight years old. His stepfather, a civil engineer experienced in building harbor works, taught him. And Sam's been at it ever since.
Article reproduced (and edited) from David Beede's Simplicity Boats Website (http://www.simplicityboats.com/index.html).
WoodenBoat Publications Inc
PO Box 78
Naskeag Road
Brooklin
Maine 04616
USA
Tel: 207-359-4651 Fax: 207-359-8920
How to Scull a Boat
Text and illustrations by S.F. Manning
"Notch!", snorted Robbie Weatherford as he swept up an oar from the float. "Ye don't need a notch if ye do it right!" With that he thrust the oar over the side of the float we were standing on and began a vigorous twiddling with it that sent wavelets breaking into the mangrove roots just beyond. I could feel the float depress under the force of' his oar. As he yanked it back and forth while demonstrating how a sculling oar should be handled, the loom of that oar stayed right where he'd placed it on the edge of the float. There was no notch, or crack, or anything there to keep it put.
http://www.backyardboatbuilding.org.uk/forums/images/sculling1-2a.jpgHappily, I'd remembered my mother's admonition that you never tell a cowboy that you can ride a horse. You say, "I'll try." And try I did for that 75-year-old Man 0' War fisherman who'd sculled boats all his life the Bahamian way. But I couldn't get the oar to stay put without restraint where it crossed the edge of the float.
The fact is that I too have been sculling boats all my life, starting on a farm pond way back during the Depression. But up north we do it differently or perhaps I'd never taken notice of how other people scull boats. Robbie's stroke was more powerful than mine. He could make a Man 0' War dinghy move as if it were inspired by a small outboard. His oar was straight, narrow bladed, and fully as long as the boat he sculled. Bahamians scull. They do not row, with two oars, nor do they use sweeps. It was once common to see a Bahamian sloop or schooner being sculled by a single oar over the stern when the breeze failed. A single long oar is often primary or auxiliary equipment in boats of that region. The sculling notch, if used at all, is very shallow.
What is sculling? Sculling is a traditional way of propelling a boat or vessel through the water by means of a single oar mounted on, or worked from, the stern. Consider the various types of oars and how they're used. A paddle is gripped in the hands and is pulled independently of the boat. A rowing oar is pivoted through a lock on the gunwale or a port in the boat's side and is pulled or pushed from a position just inboard of' the pivot point. Small-boat oarsmen normally pull two oars at once over opposite sides of the boat. A sweep is a long rowing oar that is pulled through a pivot point located on the opposite side of the boat fronm the oarsman. A scull is another name for a short rowing oar. A sculling oar can be a rowing oar, a sweep, or even a paddle operated through a pivot point in a propeller-like stroke that pushes the boat from behind. A breed of oars specialized to sculling has evolved in many parts of the world over millennia. The best known of these are the Bahamian oar, the "slat" of the Chesapeake watermen, the bent scull float oar of the duck gunners, and the yuloh of the Chinese. We'll examine the strokes used by scullers and then we'll have a look at the various oars.
Allied to sculling, and sometimes described as sculling, are two types of stern propulsion that most boatmen have done at one time or another. The first might best be called "levering". This entails jamming an oar blade straight down over the stern and giving the loom a hearty yank forward. A boat moves convincingly, if erratically, this way. The second might be called "fishtailing." Here the tiller of a small boat is quickly yanked in one direction and then a quick yank in the other, back and forth in a vigorous motion. The effect is to push water with the outboard side of' the rudder blade. Dinghy sailors often use this technique to gain steerage in light airs or to move the boat without sails from dock to mooring.
http://www.backyardboatbuilding.org.uk/forums/images/sculling1-3a.jpgThe oar-sculler's stroke is simple in principle, but it is difficult to learn by watching someone do it. Sleight of hand, not easy for a sculler to convey to the watcher, is involved. Basically, the oar is run into the water over the boat's transom, angled outward and downward about 45 degrees, and pivoted atop the transom. The oar is rotated slightly so that the blade becomes a kind of' diving plane. The loom is pushed against the pivot point so that the depressed edge of' the blade cuts a path through the water, angling toward the stern of a boat on one side. When the limit of the stroke is reached, the blade is rotated so that it dives in the opposite direction. The loom is now pulled against the pivot point until the blade reaches the end of that stroke. The oar is again rotated and the first stroke repeated. Since the loom of' the oar is bearing against the boat's stern, the back pressure of the blade as it cuts obliquely through the water shoves the stiffly held oar, and the boat itself forward . Simple enough. But this whole description reads the same whether one leading edge is utilized, or two. Thus my frustration in watching Robbie Weatherford sculling without a notch in which to pivot the oar, and possibly your frustration if you've made the effort before. We'll get back to it.
Why scull? Why not row? Well, there are times when a boatman find himself with only one serviceable oar . At other times there might be neither established rowlocks nor deck room to swing two oars or a long sweep. The sculler, usually standing to his oar, has a clear view ahead and can maneuver through clustered boats, marsh channels, or ice leads where oar room is lacking on either side. The sculler can propel his boat ahead or astern by simply reversing his stroke while standing in the same posture if his oar notch has been closed with restraint at the top. He can spin the boat around within its own length. He can move it sideways if he positions his oar over the side amidships. The sculling oar, like the canoe paddle, is a water lance that offers tremendous potential for those who can exercise skill. With a suitable oar you can propel a dinghy , a motorboat ,a gondola, a barge, a junk, a schooner. It's all been done to practical advantage, somewhere in the world.
Is sculling faster than rowing? For most of us, no. However, on one morning several years back, my wife and I were overtaken and passed by the black skipper of' a Bahamian yacht who was sculling a rubber inflatable. Susan and I were double rowing a Banks dory at a reasonable clip. The Bahamian was working his single (plastic!) rowing oar through one of the oar-grommets in the inflatable's side. The thing was moving fast and forward. It wasn't even crabbing. Now, there was skill with an oar. We gaped, as did others.
While Robbie Weatherford made that float gyrate under our feet with his powerful Bahamian sculling stroke, I began to feel the frustration that others have exhibited during my efforts to teach them how to scull at home. Robbie and I both seemed to be doing the same thing: the oar was run into the water and pivoted at the edge of the float while the blade cut a zigzag path toward our feet. His oar stayed put and propelled water vigorously. Mine flopped about on the edge of the float, and the blade stayed pretty much where I'd run it in. I longed for a deep notch, an oarlock, tholepin, or even a lashing over the oar at the edge of' the float to show this old man that I could really do it.
http://www.backyardboatbuilding.org.uk/forums/images/sculling2-4a.jpgClearly it was the bottom of a notch that was important to Robbie's way of sculling. I needed a deep notch with sides. Once Susan and I were home from the Bahamas it dawned on me what the distinction was, and why it had been too obvious to be seen that day. The distinction is this. Robbie's Bahamian oar operated like a double edged sword being wielded side to side in a shallow falling-leaf pattern. Both edges of the blade were alternately the leading edge as the oar cut the water back and forth. The flat of the blade was essentially horizontal, with the leading edge depressed slightly to make it dive as the oar moved in that direction. At the end of the zig stroke, Robbie rotated the loom just slightly to depress the opposite edge to make it dive off the zag stroke. His effort, if any, seemed to be in pressing the loom downward on his side of the pivot point so that the upper side of the blade pushed water away from us in the course of each cutting stroke. With Robbie pressing downward on the grip, at one end of the oar, and with water pressing down on the flat of the blade at the other, the middle of the loom stayed right where it was on the edge of the float despite the tweaking and rotating that made the stroke work. Had he been in a boat instead of on a moored float, the oar would have driven the boat forward instead of pushing water astern. As the boat's speed increased, Robbie would have added more and more angle to the diving edge of the oar so that it steepened the path of the zigs and the zags. If he didn't, the oar would float up or he would have to increase the frequency of strokes in order to keep up with the moving boat.
http://www.backyardboatbuilding.org.uk/forums/images/sculling2-5a.jpgThe Bahamian sculling stroke, as shown me by Robbie Weatherford is a falling-leaf pattern with the blade cutting both ways in a horizontal stroke. It is a powerful stroke, not tiring and well suited for long-haul propulsion. The sculling stroke that I'd grown up with looked about the same but was very different in its effect. Here the oar is operated like a single-edged knife cutting a downward, slalom pattern in the surface of the water. There is only one leading edge employed. The flat of the blade floats vertically in the manner of a steering oar, which it essentially is, in this form of sculling. For a power- stroke, the oar is rotated slightly so that the lower leading edge can be slashed across the stern in one direction, rotated back, and slashed the other way. The blade is given considerable twist (toward horizontal) at the outset of the stroke when the boat is stopped or moving slowly, then less and less angle is applied as momentum is gained and the slalom pattern is deepened. At maximum speed, about 2 1/2 knots for me in a good skiff, the wagging back and forth has narrowed considerably and the blade remains almost vertical on both left and right strokes. The end result is almost fishtailing with an oar in the manner of the rudder scullers. But you can see why rise of a deep notch is necessary for this vertical or slalom stroke. The sculler's effort is directed as much sideways as downward on the grip of the oar. Without a notch, the loom slips. There are merits to both the vertical and the horizontal sculling strokes. The latter is a more powerful propulsive stroke because the force vector against the water is more directly astern. Body weight of the sculler is the main force pressing the loom downward to lever the boat for ward. Only a little effort goes into guiding the oar from side to side. Steering is accomplished by loading the oar more on one slash than the other or by giving it more angle to increase side resistance. A long oar is highly desirable. The vertical stroke in my hands is best for a jackrabbit start in still water and it is more responsive for intricate steering through congested areas. But it can be more wearing on the sculler over a long pull because arm strength, not body weight, is the main propellant. The fishtailing aspect of the vertical stroke demands side-to-side exertion against the resistance of water. The force vector of each stroke is more diagonally astern. Today I combine the two strokes. The vertical stroke is an excellent "low gear" for getting underway and for threading the boat through crowded harbors Then I shift to "high", with the horizontal to make speed and distance. There are variations but these are the two basic strokes that scullers use.
You also can scull a boat in reverse. It’s the horizontal stroke falling upward rather than down. You'll need a loop or lashing over the oar's loom where it crosses the transom because you'll be lifting the grip rather than pressing it down to make the blade "climb" astern. Try it. You'll be applauded.
In mid-June of 1983 an informal group of sculling enthusiasts met at Camden Harbor to try out various kinds of strokes and oars. The group was organized by Ben Fuller then curator of the Mystic Seaport Museum who was researching an article on sculling for Small Boat Journal. The event was hosted by editor Dan Segal and his wife, Judy, who had travelled from Vermont to participate. Lance Lee, then director of the Rockport Apprentice Shop gave us a demonstration of Bahamian sculling done with a proper Bahamian oar. Lance had spent much of his boy hood at Man O' War Cay, where he'd learned to scull under the critical eye of old Robbie Weatherford and other local fishermen. The oar, he pointed out, was always operated from the port side of the transom allowing the sculler to lean into the oar on one stroke and to pull it back with both hands on the other. This placement allows relief of the right hand for fishing over the side. A shallow notch was desirable. Lance bent to his work with a slow, easy rhythm. He leaned into the oar with both hands on the push stroke; then, thrusting his right arm out horizontally to cause overbalance on that side, he leaned to the right while towing the grip of the oar with his left. The boat he sculled boiled along. He used a straight, thick, narrow-bladed 11' oar.
Dave Jackson of Camden an enthusiastic duck gunner, showed us how the duck hunters scull. His boat was a camouflaged fiberglass reproduction of the traditional Merry- Bay gunning "float" with pointed bow, flared sides, and round- bottom. It was fully decked except for a narrow cockpit stretching from about center to nearly all the way aft . The wide transom was pierced on the port side for a tight oar port that accommodated only the looms of his sculling oar. The oar was square, lightly fashioned, and curved along its whole 7' length so that it arced nearly 3" upward when laid flat on the ground. Dave stretched full length in the cockpit with his head against the headrest on the coaming aft, gun (presumably) at right, and the loom of the oar extending into the cockpit over his left shoulder. From his prone, hidden, position Dave could propel the boat quite comfortably by waggling the oar with his right hand in a shallow figure-eight over his chest. Since the oar was slightly bent it automatically capsized into the proper diving angle of a horizontal sculling stroke each time the loom was reversed with a push or a pull. His stroke was rapid, smooth, and efficient. Steering was accomplished by lengthening the stroke on one side or the other.
http://www.backyardboatbuilding.org.uk/forums/images/sculling2-6a.jpgBen Fuller's classic 16' wooden Delaware Bay ducker is a slim, low-sided, half-decked, double-ended boat traditionally meant to be rowed or sailed to the gunning site, then poled close to flocks of birds. In a departure from tradition, Ben added a sculling bracket mounted slightly outboard on an exposed crossbeam just abaft the cockpit coaming. This boat could be sculled right- or left-handed with a bent oar from a lying down position or it could be sculled while sitting, kneeling, or standing to a straight oar in either a horizontal or vertical stroke.
The sculling/rowing/ sailing (and paddling) capabilities of Ben's boat are plain delights to anyone who seeks freedom with an oar. Lines of this common style of American hunting skiff', circa 1870-85 are in Howard Chapelle's An American Small Sailing Craft . We didn't have a Chesapeake 'slat’ to experiment with. Nor was there a waterman to show us how one might be used. Tradition has it that they operate through a V-shaped notch in the stern of' a boat. Ben Fuller who spent curatorial years at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum could not remember seeing a sculling notch indigenous to the slat oar and he wondered whether it might have been worked against alternate sides of a protruding stern post. The "slat" I've drawn was done from an isolated oar in a photo. It appears to be a long flat stave of wood molded in a straight taper from the tip of the blade to the narrowed grip. I can't tell whether the blade end is ribbed on both sides in the fashion of a Bahamian oar or whether it is ribbed or arced only on the upper side as a yuloh would be. Possibly a knowledgeable reader can tell us. The flat, sectioned, loom of the "slat" would make this oar a natural for the horizontal sculling stroke. However, with a deep-V notch it could be used like a steering oar too with a vertical sculling stroke.
http://www.backyardboatbuilding.org.uk/forums/images/scull7.jpgNo one in our group had operated a Chinese yuloh. Just about everyone was intrigued by the prospect of propelling a large boat with a long bent oar perched atop a pivot and tethered inboard by a lanyard. Plenty of photographs have shown Chinese women yulohing lengthy and loaded sampans with abandon. Roger Taylor made and used a yuloh as auxiliary power in a 37' Skipjack. But Roger was away that weekend so we made our own, a 10 footer from a bent oak plank, and mounted it on a 14' crab skiff with a trailer-hitch ball for pivot. It worked very well. So well, in fact that Jim Benson, a bystander, drove home and returned with a homemade yuloh that he gave us. He'd given up on it, apparently not having fully worked out the pivot for it before finding a buyer for his boat. Sad. With a block attached underneath to receive our trailer ball, it turn out to be a better, wider-blade, propeller than the one we had cobbled. Our time together was up before there was opportunity to lengthen its loom to try it out on a lobster boat.
Despite our amateurish handling of a homemade yuloh in a miniscule craft, the thing seems to have real potential for someone who doesn't trust his engine. The stroke is easy back and forth with a yank on the lanyard at the end of each pass to capsize the oar into the diving angle for the stroke to follow. The properly timed yank on the lanyard also gives the blade a bit of a kick outward and upward increasing the power of the stroke considerably. Deft steering with a yuloh would require more skill than we developed that day. The yuloh seemed to be an automatic sculling machine that develops a perfect horizontal stroke without any need for skill to keep the oar from sliding. A full description can be found in G.R.G. Worcester's The Junks and Sampans of the Yangtze River. This authority on Chinese water craft notes it would seem that the junks, and indeed many seagoing junks, have generally straight yulohs which is probably the most primitive variety. The curved yuloh is more generally found on the rivers. The man or woman at the yuloh holds the rope in one hand and with the other works the yuloh to and fro in a circular manner. If more than one is at the yuloh, the second works the rope while the other works on the loom.
I'm tempted to draw all illustrations for Worcester next paragraph which talks about eight men on the loom and two on the rope. The rope-men throw themselves backwards with great abandon until they lie almost flat on their backs, their opposite members doing the same thing bringing them to their feet again. But I'll leave this drawing for the future and show instead how the oar actually worked during our trials at Camden. Man, can you imagine a yuloh the size of a small telephone pole being worked this way by your friends en route to an outer island beach party?
A sculling oar with a shaped blade was brought to our Camden sculling meet by Douglas Martin, designer and manufacture of ocean rowing craft, based at Kittery, Maine. This oar with an appended upright has one leading edge obviously intended for use in a vertical sculling stroke. It was mounted through an oarlock at the end of a slim cross-deck timber much in the fashion of the ducker mounting on Ben Fuller's gunning float. Those who tried Martin’s oar said it was efficient and easy to use. I don't know whether or not the oar was patented. He allowed us to measure it for publication. I offer it here in a dimensioned perspective.
Ben Fuller’s subsequent article Sculling - A Lesson in One Oarsmanship, Part 1 appeared in Small Boat Journal No. 45, (1985). It is a clearly written treatise on handling a straight sculling oar in the horizontal, vertical, and reverse stroke modes. Along with this how-to is a good deal of colorful observation of aboriginal sculling in this or that kind of boat as Ben has witnessed it in various parts of the world. I must here confess that we coined the words "horizontal", "vertical"' "falling-leaf," and "slalom" as a means to sort out the various ways that sculling oars are handled. Part II of Ben's article Sculling - Putting Your Best Oar Behind You appeared in Small Boat Journal #46(1986). It covered the bent oars of the duckers, the yuloh, and Doug Martin’s scientific blade. Now all that remains is for you to learn to scull if you haven't already. If you have neither boat nor oar, practice the various strokes with your hand in the bathtub. Grip your elbow (the pivot point with your other hand while you do it. Go out to a dock. Make a "slat" oar. Try it there. It's fun and, who knows, knowledge of sculling may get you home someday if you find yourself up a creek without a paddle.
Sam Manning learned how to scull when he was eight years old. His stepfather, a civil engineer experienced in building harbor works, taught him. And Sam's been at it ever since.
Article reproduced (and edited) from David Beede's Simplicity Boats Website (http://www.simplicityboats.com/index.html).