NYYC Race Week 2022 – 5 Minutes of Sailporn
So many great memories of sailing in Newport, Narrangansett Bay and paties at Harbor Court. Miss it bigly 🙁
Read MoreFurnivall was always an enthusiastic oarsman, and till the end kept up his interest in rowing; with John Beesley in 1845 he introduced the new type of narrow sculling boat, and in 1886 started races on the Thames for sculling fours and sculling eights. In 1896 Furnivall founded the Hammersmith Sculling Club (now called Furnivall Sculling Club), initially for working-class girls, and he "entered into its activities with his usual boyish enthusiasm, for it brought together two of his favourite activities: vigorous outdoor exercise and enjoyment of the company of young women"The last point was in keeping with his love life, which accounted for the twinkle in his eye, but I digress too far. The club's membership was anything but posh. The atmosphere at the club was not like the "stick-you-arse" clubs further down river that will remain nameless. It was a lot of fun. Every year, the club would buy a couple of new boats. Traditionally, new boats were named after past members. They had respectful but dull names like "Arthur Jones", "Geoffrey Swallows" or occasionally something a bit more rousing like "Triumph". One year, the club bought a sleek new quad scull. This was a fast boat and would be crewed by four of the club's best rowers. Naming the boat fell to the crew and a couple of committee members. The traditional naming convention they got together in the pub to ..er brainstorm. After a few pints of Fullers ESB, the whole notion of giving the boat some boring name after a past member went by the board. They started talking about the more inspirational things a cox would use to encourage the crew. One of them had heard a cox recently shout at the crew: "I want to you to make this boat move like sh*t off a shovel!" The image was inspiring but even after a few beers, they agreed that "Sh*t off a Shovel" was probably not the best thing to paint on a boat's bow.
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cockney boat names, furnivall, furnivall sculling club, rowing
So many great memories of sailing in Newport, Narrangansett Bay and paties at Harbor Court. Miss it bigly 🙁
Read MoreWas sad to miss this year’s Newport Folk Festival, especially after hearing the report on NPR today. It sounded like the tribute to Joni Mitchel was very moving, and hearing her sing “Both Sides Now” with a supporting cast organized by Brandi Carlisle, made me tear up. Newport Folk Festival By Sea We never got
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