Sometimes, we like to row our 15 tonne lugger. On this occasion we were off to deliver cargo from Penzance to Falmouth. The sail trading schooner De Gallant had stopped over in Penzance but needed a hand to deliver part of her cargo of rum, chocolate and various goodies from the Caribbean to customers in Falmouth.
We love to promote sailing and work to raise awareness of the role of sailing in addressing climate change – so we put our oars in and offered to help Alex and the gang at New Dawn Traders by taking the cargo on its last leg.
Here we are rowing out of Newlyn harbour. No sweat…
Thanks to Rob McDowell for holding the camera.
Some nautical notes: it was very common for luggers to carry sweeps aboard for harbour work in moments of calm like this. We keep ours in the rafting irons – at bottom right you can just see the starboard forward iron and the ‘raft’ of spars and sails carried in it. The irons are mounted in the capping rail and swung outboard as here, they help keep the deck free for work.
You can also see the fore lug set ready to catch the breeze – and those of you familiar with dipping luggers will notice it’s set against the mast, on the ‘wrong’ tack. Old photos of luggers working in and out of port show they often did not bother to dip the lug in light airs when they were doing short tacks. They relied on the mast not falling down, as it’s completely unsupported.
