Row Boats, Sculling Boats, and Sailing Rowboats from Whitehall

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Heres a loveletter from Ron Drysdale who ordered his Tyee Spirit 14 Trad Row model back in 2000 and has been enjoying it ever since!

Hi guys,

Here’s a Tyee Spirit story that I think you’ll enjoy.

In late 1999 I was in Campbell River on a business trip. And I saw one of your Tyee Spirit boats pulled-up on the dock at Painter’s Lodge. Or maybe it was across the water at the even plushier April Point Lodge where we were staying …

It was a working boat … faded teak, kinda bleached-out … but what a gorgeous shape! I went over and read the small bronze nameplate inside the transom … Whitehall Reproductions.

I’d been reading Wooden Boat magazine for years … totally vicariously … for me, a successful pencil-sharpening was always a minute of smug self-satisfaction. Not good with tools …

Back home in Winnipeg, months passed by … punctuated every few days by visits to your website … and Spring arrived and I ordered the boat. To hell with saving for retirement! Carpe diem!

Even my wife (who is not comfortable on the water) agreed that it was a good idea. Who wouldn’t want a thinner/fitter/healthier/happier husband … with a nice tan?

On every Friday morning in May and June I’d walk into the staff room at the school where I taught and ask the crowd, “Who wants to go rowing this weekend?”

If one of my buddies could get away for a few hours, we always had some good water-time. If not, I went alone.

And then one Friday morning near the end of June, my friend Sandy looked up and said, ”I could use a little colour. Sure! I’ll meet you at The Forks, OK?”

Sounded like a plan. I launched the boat about a mile downstream and rowed up the Red River (against a fair current) and then up the Assiniboine River to the small marina at The Forks.

And we were off … headed west along the tree-lined Assiniboine into the heart of Winnipeg. At first there was the usual clashing of oars, but it didn’t take too long for us to get into a somewhat coordinated rhythm.

It was a gorgeous sunny morning. After a couple of hours we turned around and headed back downstream to The Forks.

There’s a well-traveled public walkway that runs along the bank of the river between the legislative buildings and The Forks. We were rowing in near-perfect synchronicity by then and, with about 300 meters to go before we reached the marina, I said, “Let’s do a sprint!”

OK.

Damn … we were moving. And smoothly too. Showing off.

And then some witty fellow on the walkway bellowed, “No wake!”

Perfect.

A couple of months later, Sandy pitched the opening game for Canada’s women’s softball team against the United States at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

I’m 59 now, retired and living on a mountain ranch in SW Alberta about 35 km north of the Crowsnest Pass, and I am really looking forward to the first water-time of the summer on Waterton Lake.

Row with the flow - Ron



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