Paddle and/or Oar?

[gfspencer]

Do you carry a paddle and/or oar?  Would they be useless on a boat as big as ours?  I guess if my outboard dies (and there is no wind) I'm probably better off calling for a tow.

Life was easier when I had a Flying Scott.  No outboard motor.  No concerns. 

[Shawn]

Maybe with no wind and no tide you could paddle it or scull it but I'd expect it would be difficult in any other conditions.

My last boat was a Flying Scot too, #4161. The ramp I launched at into the ocean doesn't have a dock right next to the ramp, it is rocks and then the dock 20 or 30' out.

One time I launched with the intent to paddle over to the dock. Once I cleared the rocks the wind (and some tide) hit me and I couldn't row over to the dock. I ended up being blown away to another dock.

After that I put a motor mount on the Scot.

"I guess if my outboard dies (and there is no wind) I'm probably better off calling for a tow."

Nahh, drop anchor and take a nap.

Shawn

[HideAway]

We carry an 8 foot long sturdy pole left over from my Sea Pearl days.   Most of the time it is enough to get us off a sand bar.  We usually have oars aboard for the dink and have found them a bit cumbersome to use but if you stick the pin into your winches you can sort of move along - it is possible to use the oars as paddles but they are heavy.   Unless you blew something up or broke a pin just let the outboard have a time out - it s probably just flooded.  Otherwise Shawn has the best idea.   M   

[Bob23]

GF:
  Call for a tow? Where is your honor, man? If the wind dies, and the motor dies, then hopefully you'll be properly prepared with enough cold beer to last till the wind picks up again. Or you could try some long oars. I'd like to try to scull my 23 with a 9 foot oar off the stern.
  The nap idea sounds good, too. Call it a time of contemplation, if you wish.
So, Hideaway, your'e an old Seapearler I see. I  loved my old 1986 centerboard Seapearl. Before I got a motor, I'd row her with a pair of 9 1/2' fir oars and she'd move along fine. Unless you battled a tide. But that's another story.
bob23

[gfspencer]

GF:
  Call for a tow? Where is your honor, man?
bob23

Years ago I was out in my motorless Flying Scott one evening and the wind died.  I flagged down a guy in a fancy fishing boat who said he would give me a tow after he had finished fishing.  So I waited . . . and waited . . . Finally the wind came back and I managed to sail back to the dock.  My wife was a bit worried because that was the day before mobile phones so I couldn't tell her where I was.

[brackish]

I have a couple of two piece aluminum oars that I keep aboard for the dink.  I haven't tried this but I imagine if I had two folks we could use them as paddles and move the boat in low wind/current conditions.  I think they are too short to row with.

[Bob23]

Point well taken.
bob23

[skip1930]

Oars; useless

How ever if your adrift and awaiting a tow two light weight Danforth anchors will allow you to skedge your way out of say a shipping channel or commercial vessel baring down on you or the influence of a spill way at a lock and dam. You have to wait till you can see the bottom or about 15 foot depth if possible.

That's how I moved the houseboat when I ran her out of gas in site of the gas dock, until a gallon of kerosene was dumped into one of the tanks, raising the level of gas high enough for a three minute engine run to the dock. It was that or be caught up in the lock and dam at Starved Rock, Illinois on the Illinois River. Then the fill was 320 gallons.

skip.