Human-powered watercraft
Human-powered watercraft are watercraft propelled by human power.
![](../I/m/AmstelRiverRowing.jpg)
![](../I/m/Amfibiefiets_Amphibious_bicycle.jpg)
The three main methods of collecting human power are directly from the hands or feet, through the hands with oars, paddles, or poles, or through the feet with pedals and a crank or treadle.[1]
While most human-powered watercraft use buoyancy to maintain their position relative to the surface of the water, a few, such as human-powered hydrofoils and human-powered submarines, use hydrofoils, either alone or in addition to buoyancy.
Oared craft
Oars are held at one end, have a blade on the other end, and pivot in between in oarlocks.
Oared craft include:
![](../I/m/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-1982-0819-033%2C_Nationalmannschaft%2C_DDR%2C_Doppelvierer.jpg)
Using oars in pairs, with one hand on each oar, is two-oar sculling. The oars may also be called sculls.[2]
Two-oared sculled craft include:
- Adirondack guideboat
- Banks dory, Gloucester dory, and McKenzie River dory
- Dinghy
- Sampans rowed by foot in Ninh Bình Province of northern Vietnam.[3]
- Scull, Single scull, Double scull, Quad scull, and Octuple scull
- Skiff
- Row boat
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Using oars individually, with both hands on a single oar, is sweep or sweep-oar rowing.[2] In this case the rowers are usually paired so that there is an oar on each side of the boat.
Sweep-oared craft include:
- Coxless pair, Coxed pair, Coxless four, Coxed four, and Eight
- Galley, Dromon, Trainera, and Trireme
![](../I/m/Sampan-01.png)
Moving a single stern-mounted oar from side to side, while changing the angle of the blade so as to generate forward thrust on both strokes, is single-oar sculling.[4]
Single-oar sculled craft include:
Paddled craft
A paddle, with a blade on one or both ends, is held with both hands.
Paddled craft include:
Pedaled craft
Pedals are attached to a crank and propelled in circles, or to a treadle and reciprocated, with the feet. The collected power is then transferred to the water with a paddle wheel, flippers,[5][6][7] or to the air or water with a propeller.
Pedaled craft include:
- Amphibious cycle
- Hydrocycle
- Pedal-powered kayak[5][6][7]
- Pedal-powered submarine[8][9]
- Pedal-powered hydrofoil
- Pedalo
Poled craft
A pole is held with both hands and used to push against the bottom.
Poled craft include:
Other types
![](../I/m/Veerpontje.jpg)
Other types of human-powered watercraft include:
- Float tube
- Hand-cranked submarine (disambiguation)
- Hand-operated cable ferry
- Paddleboarding
Gallery
- Hand paddling surfboards
- Polling a raft
- Sculling a gondola
- Paddling an umiak
- Decavitator, the world's fastest human-powered watercraft, is a pedal-powered hydrofoil
- Starting an AquaSkipper hydrofoil
- Woman rowing sampan with her feet in Ninh Bình Province of northern Vietnam
- Human powered aqua-cycle water trikes in the Pacific Ocean with Diamond Head, Hawaii in the background.
- race in a wooden sow trough (ge: Sautrogrennen) in Bavaria, Germany (2012)
See also
References
- David Gordon Wilson (2007). "Pedal Power: Chapter 1 - Human Muscle Power in History". Green-Trust.Org. Retrieved 2011-07-27.
- "Sweep vs. Sculling". Virginia Boat Club. Archived from the original on 2011-08-24. Retrieved 2011-07-27.
- Matthew Pike (January 30, 2018). "How Vietnamese Guides Row With Their Feet". TheCulturalTrip.com. Retrieved 2018-10-12.
They row with their feet. As Mrs. Gấm puts it: “Rowing boat by feet is much quicker and less exhausting than by hands.”
- Joseph Needham, Colin A. Ronan (1978). The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521315609. Retrieved 2011-07-27.
- Mike Hanlon (June 4, 2004). "Hobie Pedal Kayak". GizMag. Retrieved 2015-10-22.
The sturdily constructed pedal/flipper mechanism operates like a penguin's fins - swinging laterally underneath the hull as you pedal.
- T. Edward Nickens (Mar 8, 2010). "How to Catch Big Game Fish—From a Kayak". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 2015-10-22.
It's outfitted with the MirageDrive propulsion system, a pedal-powered pair of flexible fins that function as oscillating foils—much like penguin and sea-turtle flippers.
- "Pedal-powered paddles a relaxing way to explore". The Daily Telegraph. Oct 30, 2008. Retrieved 2015-10-22.
Instead of a conventional paddle, these kayaks can be powered by a foot-pedal system which drives two under-keel fins. Inspired by penguin flippers, the fins swing side to side.
- Charlie Sorrel (Oct 19, 2010). "Pedal Powered Submarine Dives to 20-Feet". Wired. Retrieved 2015-10-22.
The Scubster is an underwater bike, a pedal powered submarine with twin propellors that push it through the water at a speedy 5mph.
- Timon Singh (Aug 25, 2010). "French Engineers Design a Pedal-Powered Submarine". Inhabitat. Retrieved 2015-10-22.
First there was the bicycle, then the pedalo boat, then the pedal-powered aircraft — and now, thanks to a team of French engineers, the world has the pedal-powered submarine.