Moving ahead to the present day, the growing interest in fitness and clean, pollution free, outdoor recreation has created a growing resurgence of interest in Whitehall rowboats that are built lightweight, in state of the art materials, and fitted with efficient slide seat rowing/sculling gear. The largest builder of Whitehall rowboats in the word [...]
Captain Smith, born in Boston in 1869, tells us in a 1943 ‘Rudder’ magazine article, the story of a deep water boarding house owner and ships pilot named Captain Alfred Sorenson. “This man usually got what he went after, whether he was in quest of sailors for his boarding-house or to pluck a fellow [...]
Mystery surrounds the origins of the Whitehall rowboat. Early history of this distinctive, elegant, practical rowboat remains unclear. One thing for certain, in earlier times boat builders were often sailors and seafarers. Taught to be conservative by the unpredictable, dangerous nature of the sea, they stuck with the tried and true. As certain desirable qualities [...]
The Tyee 14 rowboat originated in Campbell River, British Columbia, a fishing community on the east coast of Vancouver Island. Every summer a large run of Chinook Salmon return to the river to spawn. Those fish that have matured to over 30 lbs are called “Tyee” salmon. About 1910, Ned Painter, a local boatbuilder, began [...]