Skiffing

Skiffing refers to the sporting and leisure activity of rowing (or more correctly sculling) a Thames skiff. A Thames skiff is a traditional hand built clinker-built wooden craft of a design which has been seen on the River Thames and other waterways in England and other countries for nearly 200 years. Sculling means propelling the boat with a pair of oars (blades) as opposed to rowing which requires both hands on a single oar.

Thames skiffs were developed in the 19th century primarily for leisure use by private individuals sculling themselves. The design was based on the Thames wherries and shallops that were operated by watermen as a water taxi service in London. By the late 19th century, when Jerome K. Jerome wrote of his up-river expedition in Three Men in a Boat, there were thousands of skiffs at places like Richmond, Kingston and Oxford. However, there are references to skiffs (as a result of accidents) as early as 1812 and 1824 at Oxford. In August 1815, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley was taken on a skiffing expedition from Old Windsor to Lechlade by Charles Clairmont and Thomas Love Peacock. He subsequently settled at Marlow where he regularly skiffed through the locks.

Skiffs have fixed rather than sliding seats, and the blades are held in thole pins at the side of the boat rather than outriggers. The blades are made of wood with leather collars and traditional spoons. Pressure is applied by the feet against an adjustable wooden plate known as a "stretcher board". Skiffs are usually "Singles" with one sculler, or "Doubles" with two scullers (one behind the other) and a cox. However skiffs with more scullers or incorporating a sail are also used. Skiffing takes place in the Netherlands and Argentina, using the design of traditional Thames skiff although Argentinian skiffs usually have outriggers instead of tholes.

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