Irish row boat?

[Burning Petard]

I just watched a nature program on PBS tv called 'Ireland's Wild Coast'. The premise was that a man was rowing a small boat up the entire Irish Atlantic coast, from South to North. Most of the show was about the wildlife in the area--both on land where much has returned to undeveloped condition and also creatures in the water, both ocean and stream.

But the boat! One man, no equipment to be seen in the boat. Wooden skeleton structure, very simple oarlock. I could not figure out just how those oars were supposed to work. Looked like just a simple long piece of lumber, perhaps 3 inch square, last six inches or so rounded in a very simple fashion and the rower did not wear gloves. The lock was just a long peg on the edge of the boat, with what looked like another triangular piece of wood fastened to the oar with a hole in it and dropped over the peg. Did this really work? I have very little knowledge of proper nomenclature for this stuff, but the oar was just a straight piece of limber. It looked to have no particular crafting to it. No curve to its length, nothing like a wide paddle on the end to push the water.

Was this really the way an authentic traditional Irish rowboat worked?

snailgate.

[MajGenl.Meade]

That's called "sweeping" isn't it?

[Econoline]

That's called "sweeping" isn't it?

Old, slow, overweight and cumbersome, would be my reasoning.

[Bicycle Bill]

That's called "sweeping" isn't it?

Or 'sculling', I believe.

-"BB"-

[RayThom]

Sg, here you go.
The Boyne Boats of Ireland: It's called a CURRACH

http://boyneboats.ie/the-currach/

[Burning Petard]

The boat I can understand. Interesting they now use ballistic nylon rather than leather. And the plans do show a simple single peg for the lock. But the oars? ! ? NO paddle on the business end?

snailgate.

[BoSoxGal]

Default Re: Currach oars
The oars of a curragh are long, slender blades with no paddle. This is because the curragh is designed for rowing in rough ocean waters where large paddles can get caught on the wave tops. The key to rowing with the curragh oars is to dig a good length of the oar into the water, perhaps 5 feet. This length times the width of the oar gives it plenty of surface area to push the water and propel the boat. The oar locks must be the traditional design of the block and thole pin. Oak blocking is used on the gunwale and oar, and pins are made of either oak or metal. The curragh oar does not feather like the standard crew oars.
Source http://nacarowing.org/FAQ.asp

Read more at http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.ph ... kRDblhL.99

[Guinevere]

That's called "sweeping" isn't it?

Or 'sculling', I believe.

-"BB"-

Two different things. Sweeping is rowing with two hands on one oar, and you need at least a pair of rowers. Sculling is one hand each on two oars.

[Bicycle Bill]

That's called "sweeping" isn't it?

Or 'sculling', I believe.

-"BB"-

Two different things. Sweeping is rowing with two hands on one oar, and you need at least a pair of rowers. Sculling is one hand each on two oars.

I was thinking of the method of propelling a boat using a single oar over the transom, moving in a back-and-forth motion similar to a fish's tail.


-"BB"-

[ex-khobar Andy]

This is called single oar sculling and is the means by which gondolas (as in Venice) are propelled.