Dear Editor,

I was glad to see some mention of rowing boats in the last Bulletin. There seems to be more interest in what they call recreational rowing in the US than here — see Wooden Boat, especially the May/June issue which, among other things, has a couple of columns on the US chapter of the DCA.

The kind of pulling boats John Curtis mentions, with concave curves, calls for a high order of craftsmanship in the building (see same issue of Wooden Boat for an excellent article and photographs on the work of Ian Outred and Fabian Bush). Simpler shapes are possible, like the flat-bottomed dories which were mass-produced in their time.

Although common in the US, flat bottoms seem to be scorned over here, although they can look very pretty: the Higgins and Gifford Grand Banks dory was one of the most elegant.

In Chichester the other week, a Scots tourist offered me £750 in the hand if he could have my dory there and then to take back to the Highlands — that he was drunk at the time doesn’t much matter. Admittedly a flat-bottomed boat is not the ideal shape, but this does not seem to matter much provided the beam to length ratio is not less than 1:5.

There is a case for rocker in a rowing boat. When Blyth and Ridgeway rowed the Atlantic in a dory, the locals advised against fitting a keel as it would trip the boat up. They crossed without capsizing, which is more than can be said for Frank Dye’s Wayfarer (mast down at the time) in the North Sea. That may just be luck, but dories, like curraghs, slide rather than dig in.

Of course what rides like a duck might row like a pig, but it’s possible to find a compromise by adjusting the amount of rocker according to the load you reckon to carry. Ballast would help, but it takes up space and is not suitable for a trailed boat.

A dory can sail quite well, but a simple, off the wind rig is more useful than attempting to get an equal performance under sail and oar, which is a fag to put up once you’re in the rhythm of rowing.

But most of all it’s important to know what you can do with the boat you have. In calm conditions I can row 2½ mph in bursts, or 2 mph all day, but in Chichester Harbour in a f4 it has taken me seven hours to do 10 miles. In truth an 18’ boat is too big for one individual to row, especially an ageing one who weighs in at 140 lbs.

‘A man cannot row a boat head to sea and wind with much success,’ says Dixon Kemp. True, but it’s fun trying, and you learn some respect for the old fishermen, not to mention Grace Darling.