Everything about Sculling totally explained
Sculling is a word that has two different meanings:
Competitive sculling
In competitive rowing, sculling means to propel a sculling boat or
skiff, using two oars (one in each hand), as opposed to sweeping which, strictly speaking, means propelling the boat with a single oar held by both hands. Most commonly, sculling is carried out by a single sculler in a
single scull, but it's also common to see races involving sculling boats that contain two, four, and even eight scullers.
Single oar sculling
In the other meaning, sculling is a means of propelling watercraft by moving an oar from side to side, while changing the angle of the blade so as to always generate forward thrust. Its origins are ancient enough to be unknown, but include common use in
ancient China (some time before the third century, AD), pre-Columbian
American Indians on the Great Lakes, and most famously by
gondola boat pilots from medieval through modern times in
Venice,
Italy.
In single-oar sculling, an oar is usually locked by a pivot onto a boat's bow and/or stern, and pushed to one side of the boat with the blade turned so that this will generate forward thrust, then rotated ninety degrees so that the return stroke pushes in the same direction. The efficiency of this system has resulted in an old Chinese saying, "a scull equals three oars".
This continuous propulsion method of moving a boat is considered fundamentally similar to marine
propellers, even an inspiration for them.
Scull tennis
Scull tennis is a minority pursuit, often played amongst those
Cambridge colleges with a particularly long and conservative tradition. Believed to date from the time of
George IV, it was adopted by scions of the local aristocracy as an alternative to the recently outlawed practice of duelling with pistols.
The object of the game was originally, while sculling down the River Cam, to aim a heavy inflated pig's bladder at
one's opponent's head, with the aim of overbalancing his scull and tipping him into the river. Especially when played in the depths of winter, this could have severe health implications.
In latter years, it has become a significantly less dangerous sport, and is played rather less often. Still, you'll find scholars of
Magdalene College emerging at dawn on
St. Swithin's morn to do battle with inflatable beach-balls (pig's bladders being difficult to obtain following European abattoir legislation).
Further Information
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