A friend of mine has been experimenting with a pedal driven yuloh, to good effect. Essentially he's rigged up ropes to the yuloh handle that are fed through blocks so that he can sit and pedal the thing from side to side. It's surprisingly effective at propelling a dinghy, but I would guess the same principle could be used to move a bigger boat more slowly. Out in the Far East it seems commonplace for pretty big boats to be propeller by one guy moving a single big oar at the stern, so I think it might well work for a yacht in calm water.
This link is a small photo of the gentleman propelling his dinghy sedately down the river: http://uk-hbbr-forum.967333.n3.nabble.com/file/n3145377/Yuloh_in_the_Sun.jpg
Jeremy
--- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, "Capt. Mike" <biankablog@...> wrote:
>
> Jeremy
>
> Interesting discussion about human power. Sometimes at anchor I think of how I could rig up a pedal powered anchor winldlass to raise the anchor. Perhaps with a bow mounted prop attachment to be able to slowly maneuver the boat and get a little exercise on board too. Just something to move the boat away from the mooring to get room to raise the sail. Saving the battery amps for more important maneuvers. Seems to me human power could handle some tasks on board with the right setup.
>
> Capt. Mike
> Sent from on board BIANKA
> http://biankablog.blogspot.com
>
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