A Dory By Any Other Name

Out in the boatyard, we have a conundrum.

The famous Australian boat designer, Michael Storer was requested to design a boat for comfortable rowing in protected waters. What first came to mind?

"Of the modern, shorter, lightweight dories, the better ones of the modern kind paddle very easily but are tender until you have a load aboard and their speed is limited by the short waterline. The worse ones are so twitchy as to be almost useless."

And so the story goes. Dories can't handle rough seas. Dories are twitchy, hard to handle. Never own a flat-bottomed boat. Almost useless.

But when all is said and done, what emerges from Mr Storer's drawing board? I'll let you be the judge.
To be on the safe side, Michael has called his creation the MSD Rowing Skiff and Doryman has been commissioned to build one. From start to finish, I know well what it is, though I'll keep my thoughts to myself.

The MSD Rowing Skiff is a simple design with all the power and versatility of it's long heritage. Michael tells us this rowboat evolved from his Goat Island Skiff, which is also a time-honored sea-kindly vessel of a certain kind, well loved in these pages. Caution has been taken to be sure the MSD Rowing Skiff is not twitchy, is easy to handle, can hold up to a violent sea and goes like a yearling seal.

I'm not well versed in metric measurements, so the boat plans and I hit a hard spot right off. Rather than purchase a metric tape measure, I decided to struggle with conversions. Those of you with multi-amplitude will understand me completely when I say, metric measurements and the U.S. customary system are not compatible. What is a simple boatbuilder to do when 1 foot = 12003937 meters? Regardless, a fine rowing vessel has emerged, in the rough. We'll be following the progress of this worthy dory in the days and weeks to come.

Please stay tuned.....

Rowing

Over the years we have discussed rowing as a means of propulsion, a method of physical enhancement and mental enrichment. You all know Doryman does not advocate nor propound the internal combustion engine in any of it's historical reiterations.




He has a compulsion about rowing.

Today, in fact, was spent shaping a new oar to match an orphan languishing in the shed.





As serendipity may have it, Webb Chiles sent me a note in the midst of shaping and sanding, to ask if you the reader can help him. Webb is a mariner of repute and an author of renown. He has circumnavigated the world several times and has even been cast to the mercy of the sea when his boat sank. If you have not visited his journal, you owe it to yourself.



Webb is looking for input on the use of oars as auxiliary power on a racing dinghy. The boat displaces just over a ton (US) and has a 2hp outboard which came with it. Being a man of wisdom and insight, he disdains the motor. He tells the story much better than I.







In the Doryman fleet, all vessels have oars for propulsion, even those with power. The Doryman cruising dory, Mistral can be propelled at nearly two knots with one fourteen foot long oar, even though she weighs five tons.








Rowing is a passion of mine and I hope to row until I die. I'd like to think you all share my obsession and some of you can offer Webb advice, mariner to mariner.

Please offer Webb Chiles some wisdom about how to abandon that 2hp Mercury stinkpot.