Human-powered watercraft

Human-powered watercraft are watercraft propelled only by human power, instead of being propelled by wind power (via one or more sails) or an engine.

Above: sweep-oar rowing a coxed pair
Below: amphibious bicycle 'Cyclomer', Paris, 1932

The three main methods of exerting human power are:

directly from the hands or feet, sometimes aided by swimfins;
through hand-operated oars, paddles, or poles, or;
through the feet with pedals, crankset 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. Such craft include:
- Racing shell

Using oars in pairs, with one hand on each oar, is two-oar sculling. The oars may also be called sculls.^[2] Such 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
- Sneakbox
- Row boat

Using oars individually, with both hands on a single oar, is sweep rowing 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. Such craft include:
- Coxless pair, Coxed pair, Coxless four, Coxed four, and Eight
- Galley, Dromon, Trainera, and Trireme

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 stern sculling or single-oar sculling.^[4] Such craft include:
- Gondola
- Sampan
- Sandolo

Paddlecraft

A canoe (upper) and a kayak (lower)

Paddled watercraft, or paddlecraft, uses one or more handheld paddles, each with a widened blade on one or both ends, to push water and propel the watercraft.. Commonly seen paddlecrafts include:

Canoe, Outrigger canoe, Hasamibako bune,^[5]^[6]^[7] Umiak, Waka, Pirogue, Shikara, Dragon boat, and Dugout
Kayak, Sea kayak, Flyak, and Baidarka
Coracle, Tarai-bune
Paddleboard

Pedaled craft

A pedalo (upper) and a hydrocycle (lower)

Pedals are attached to a crank and propelled in circles, or to a treadle and reciprocated,^{[citation needed]} with the feet. The collected power is then transferred to the water with a paddle wheel, flippers,^[8]^[9]^[10] or to the air or water with a propeller.

Pedaled craft include:

Amphibious cycle
Hydrocycle
Pedal-powered kayak^[8]^[9]^[10]
Pedal-powered submersible or midget submarine^[11]^[12]
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

Other types of human-powered watercraft include:

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)

References

↑ Wilson, David Gordon; Schmidt, Theodor; et al. (May 2020). Bicycling Science (4th paperback ed.). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
1 2 "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.
↑ Cummins, Anthony (3 October 2013). The Book of Ninja: The Bansenshukai - Japan's Premier Ninja Manual. Watkins Media Limited. ISBN 9781780286310.
↑ "John ' Lofty' Wiseman SAS Survival Handbook the Ultimate Guide to Surviving Anywhere William Morrow ( 2014)". May 2014.
↑ "Water Tools · 木隠". 27 November 2023.
1 2 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.
1 2 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.
1 2 "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 [sic] 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.

[1] Wilson, David Gordon; Schmidt, Theodor; et al. (May 2020). Bicycling Science (4th paperback ed.). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

[VBC-2] 1 2 "Sweep vs. Sculling". Virginia Boat Club. Archived from the original on 2011-08-24. Retrieved 2011-07-27.

[Pike-3] 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."

[4] Joseph Needham, Colin A. Ronan (1978). The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521315609. Retrieved 2011-07-27.

[5] Cummins, Anthony (3 October 2013). The Book of Ninja: The Bansenshukai - Japan's Premier Ninja Manual. Watkins Media Limited. ISBN 9781780286310.

[6] "John ' Lofty' Wiseman SAS Survival Handbook the Ultimate Guide to Surviving Anywhere William Morrow ( 2014)". May 2014.

[7] "Water Tools · 木隠". 27 November 2023.

[GizMag-8] 1 2 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.

[PopularMechanics-9] 1 2 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.

[The_Daily_Telegraph-10] 1 2 "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.

[11] 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 [sic] that push it through the water at a speedy 5mph.

[12] 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.

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