Faeroese Oars

Recently we were sent a copy of two pages from a Faeroese book spotted by Martin Murphy at Kilmartin. The text is in Faeroese which is, apparently, a cross between Icelandic and Old Norse. However a colleague who speaks good Norwegian managed to translate enough of it to enable us to piece together the important elements of the system described. Inboard, the handle of each oar is a rounded square leading to a larger square section as far as the 'button', the reinforcing where the oar rests on the gunwhale. The button is again square section, but tapered at the inboard and outboard ends. There is a groove around two sides forming a notch for a cord or loop which holds the oar to the gunwhale against an upright short plank mounted on the gunwhale. This bearing plank is carved with a notch and also a hole but although these are named in the text we were unable to determine their function.

The oar button rests on the gunwhale on a thin piece of wood held by the upright plank. A loop is then led around the groove in the oar fastened inboard thus preventing the oar from moving outboard while rowing and also holding it against the upright plank. The square button ensures that all the oar blades enter at the same angle each time. The diagrams seem to indicate that this angle is 90 degrees to the water surface but there is a school of thought that performance is improved if the top edge of the blade is angled forward by about 30 degrees then the blade 'slices' or dives at the start of the stroke. This angle causes all of the water to be moving across the blade face and the grip in the water is immediate. When the blade is pulled at 90degrees to the sea surface then the water pressure on the blade face causes a split roughly in the middle and water spills over each edge of the blade. The effect of this is to make the oar wiggle, zig-zag or wobble especially when accelerating. More important, however, is the exit of the blade. If the angle is set forward by about 30 degrees the blade planes easily to the surface at the end of a stroke and exits cleanly. The square section button dictates and governs this throughout a bank of oars thus improving overall efficiency My colleague managed to translate that the oar lengths were adjusted for the particular position in the boat to possibly ensure that all blades ended in a straight line. Since this would lead to different oar lengths and leverages the oar blades were also adjusted so that (presumably) the effort required was equal for each oar position. It may be more likely, of course, that oar lengths were adjusted to make the rowing angle the same throughout the boat. Rowing positions in the stern and bow are higher because of sheer, than amidships. Consequently an oar in these positions has to be held higher inboard in order to reach the water. Also in these positions the boat's beam is narrower so that there is a different lever to an oar if all oars are a standard length. It would seem that Faeroese oars were adjusted for length and blade area to even out the rowing angle and effort on all oars. Handles were also adjusted apparently, to suit the hands of the particular person habitually using that oar. This might seem taking things a bit far but is a familiar concept with hand made kayak paddles.