During the last fifteen years the skiff build has found more favour for
pleasure purposes than the gig. The outrigged gig is liable to
entanglement of rowlock in locks, and where craft are crowded, as at
regattas. (It would be a salutary matter if the Thames Conservancy would
peremptorily forbid the presence of any such craft at Henley Regatta.)
Inrigged craft glide off each other when gunwales collide, whereas
outriggers foul rowlocks of other boats, and cause delay and even
accidents. An outrigged gig has two alternative disadvantages, compared
to the skiff build; if she is as narrow at the waterline as the skiff,
her flush gunwale reduces the leverage for oar or scull. If, on the
other hand, she is built to afford full leverage, this entails more beam
on the waterline than in a skiff, the rowlocks of which are raised and
flared above the gunwale. Hence it is that the skiff build is gradually
superseding the once universally popular gig.
A dingey is a short craft, originally designed as a sort of tender to a
yacht, but adopted for pleasure purposes on the Thames for nearly half a
century. It is sometimes built with a flush gunwale like a gig, but more
commonly with flared rowlocks like a skiff, thereby affording the
required leverage for swells, while at the same time reducing the beam
on the waterline.
Besides the above mentioned craft, which are designed to carry at least
two oarsmen (or scullers) and a coxswain, modern boat-builders construct
what are called sculling dingies and gigs, which are fitted with only
one pair of rowlocks, and are intended mainly for occupation by a single
sculler, though they will at a pinch carry sitters both in the stern
sheets and in the bows. They also build sailing gigs and dingies, which
are usually fitted with a 'centreboard,' and are of greater beam than
those specially designed for rowing or sculling; though they can be also
propelled by oars or sculls when required, they are less handy for the
latter purposes, in consequence of their construction for the double
duties of both sailing and oarsmanship. The following are dimensions
commonly adopted by builders, such as Messrs. Salter of Oxford, for
various classes of gigs, dingies, and pleasure skiffs:--
Length. Beam.
Gig, pair-oared, inrigged 22 ft. 3 ft. 9 in.
ditto randan 25 ft. 3 ft. 9 in.
Skiffs, pair-oared 25 ft. 4 ft. 0 in.
ditto 23 ft. 4 ft. 6 in.
ditto 20 ft. 5 ft. 0 in.
The variations in beam being in such vessels designed conversely as
regards the lengths, in order to obtain approximate equivalent of
displacement--
Length. Beam.
Skiffs, randan 26 ft. to 27 ft. 4 ft. 0 in.
ditto 25 ft. 4 ft. 6 in. to 5 ft
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