Oars finished

I finished Ravn's second pair of oars back in October, but I'm just now getting around to posting about them. I'm a happier with the look and balance of this second set. (They are the lighter-colored pair on the right.) So I carved a little more on the older pair and now I'm pretty happy with them too. I used several coats of my oil-varnish-mineral spirits mixture. It seems to work well and is very easy to repair and maintain.

Now that I have four oars that match I need to recruit three more rowers to reenact the experiment at the Toledo Wooden Boat Show.

Kjeip, kabe -- by either name they are cool!

I've already talked about kabes or kjeips on the blog before, but not since I installed them. I've rowed with them now for more than a year and I really like them.

I'm applying Stockholm tar to the gasket before serving.

Last week I made a little change, not to the kjeips themselves, but to the rope gasket that keeps the oars in place when you're not pulling on them. These have a Norse name, but I can't remember what it is... h-something. Anyway, they were originally made of plaited spruce roots, which would make them tough and stiff.

At first, I made mine out of quarter-inch synthetic hemp rope and tied it with a Zeppelin bend. I adjusted the size of the loop during several rows until I found the ideal size the gasket needed to be. Then, I laid up the four rope gaskets with 5/16ths synthetic hemp (made of polypropylene). Laying up the rope gasket was a little tricky because I had to work it through the hole in the kjeip and it was a pretty tight fit.

I liked the rope gaskets: They looked good and worked well except -- and this was almost a deal breaker -- two of the four developed a figure-eight twist in them that caused the gasket to work its way between the oar and the kjeip. It caused a ker-thunk, ker-thunk, ker-thunk every time you pulled on the oar. It about drove me crazy!

Here is the served gasket with the oar in place.

So last week I served the gasket with some light hemp rope. Since hemp will rot if it stays wet, I coated the gasket with Stockholm tar as I was serving it and then worked some of the tar into the hemp fibers. I love the way it smells. Nothing says traditional rigging like Stockholm tar.

Serving the gasket increased the stiffness enough so it stays proud of the oar and the kjeip and doesn't get caught between them. It will also protect the rope gasket from chafe.

One of these days I'm going to get around to harvesting some spruce roots and do it up right; but for now, this will serve.

Also this week, my friend, Giacomo De Stefano, posted some beautiful photos from the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, Denmark. Among the group of photos are some wonderful pictures of kjeips.

This one just about stopped my heart when I saw it. Beautiful!

This is a Hardanger Fjord-style kjeip. Made for oars with a square loom.

Here are some kjeips being made.

Salmon River messabout

 A fellow Coot from California stopped on his way to the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival to experience a row on the Salmon River.

Rick rowing his Walkabout.

Rick Thompson brought his beautifully-made Walkabout, a boat designed for rowing by John Wellsford. Wellsford was a featured speaker at the festival this year, which inspired many boat owners with Wellford designs to show up with their boats to what is one of the oldest wooden boat shows in the nation.

Rick and his wife took their time wending their way up the coast from their home near San Francisco to Port Townsend, Wash. He emailed me and said he wanted to experience rowing one of Oregon's coastal rivers. The Salmon did not disappoint.

My wife enjoying the fine weather with Trouble, our dog.

The weather was beautiful - sunny and calm - and the tide that afternoon was mellow with only a three-foot exchange. My wife, who is skeptical of boating trips on the Salmon River from years of experiencing wind-tunnel conditions there, took a stocking cap and coat and, amazing to her, didn't need them.

Rick rowing out to take a close look at the bar.

The water was clear (in contrast to what Rick was used to rowing on the Sacramento River delta) and the wildlife was abundant. Shore birds and water birds of all kinds greeted us and harbor seals followed our boats like curious puppies. A large herd of Roosevelt elk grazed in an open patch above us on Cascade Head. It was a sight we almost missed because we were so busy admiring the two beautiful boats pulled up on the deserted beach.

Six-foot ocean waves kept us in the river and on the beach for the most part, but Rick ventured a little too close to the breaking bar and a wave climbed over his stern and into his cockpit. His Walkabout handled it well and he was able to sponge out the water between strokes on the quiet row back to the boat launch.

Ravn is the People's Choice

Bob, Clair, Doryman and me rowing.

 The seventh annual Toledo Wooden Boat Show in August was a fun event for several reasons: it marked the one-year anniversary since launching Ravn, it was the first time rowing Ravn with four rowers and Ravn won the People's Choice award.

 Doryman is one of the mainsprings of this event and keeps very busy before, during and after the show. One of his most pleasant duties this year was playing host to Bob and Claire McDonald, a wonderful couple from Spokane who recently donated their Teak Lady sloop to the Port of Toledo. Now the port has a matched set.

Doryman and I discuss seating before the row.

 During dinner Saturday night Bob and Claire, who are at the aft end of their mid 80s, recounted their adventures rowing nearly every morning on the Spokane River. Bob said he wished he could row at the festival. This matched up with one of my wishes -- rowing Ravn with four rowers. Sunday morning both wishes came true.

Mary, Doryman's lovely wife, put together a great video of Ravn with four rowers. Many thanks to Mary, who also took the pictures in this post. I had my camera with me, but I didn't use it much.

The major award.