The Overhead Sotomorso Stretch

photo by Mitchell Luckey

In my previous post "Sometimes" we see Yours truly 
caught in the act of tossing a message-in-a-bottle into the water.

Then more recently "Jonah Stretches" featured a gondolier rowing with one hand while discreetly placing a bottle in the water off the port side.

Here now, Simon shows us the "Overhead Sotomorso Stretch" 
while placing the bottle on the starboard side.

For bonus points, he even smiles for the camera!

Overhead Foot Action

photos by Cassandra Mohr 

In my previous post "Low Bridge" I pointed out that 
"when the tide is high, you've gotta get low",
and often that's enough, but there are those times 
when the bridge is a few inches too low.

So you move your passengers all the way forward to lower the ferro,
and after that's cleared the bridge, move them back to their seat 
and drag yourself as far back as you can to bring the tail down.
The tail is often the highest point on the gondola, 
so that's where you've got to get creative.

Any gondolier who's ever faced this situation knows 
that you can push the boat down from the underside of the bridge.
Some guys stow the remo and do a double hand bench-press push.
In the case of this bridge, there's often a crosswind just beyond it,
so I usually keep one hand on the remo and push with the other.

Sometimes - when you're already 80% through - and then you realize 
pushing with your hand isn't gonna cut it,
well, you can always get one of your feet involved.

And that's what I did in this photo.
For the record, I did manage to keep the bridge from ever touching the tail of the boat.


There you go, folks:
Overhead Foot Action!

It may not be graceful, but it works.

Just the Photo - Siren

Stripes in Action

There's nothing quite like a Venetian remo 
with the traditional chevron stripe pattern.

I painted this one orange and blue in honor of my rowing club 
back in the Veneto: The Gruppo Sportivo Voga Veneta in Mestre.

Shots From the Dock Tonight

Once again I found myself at that perfect time of day, 
with golden sunlight reflecting on blue water, 
and Venetian boats coming and going to and from our marina.

Such circumstances require photographs.
Here is visible evidence of the perfect evening we had in Newport this evening.

Ferro in waning sunlight.

Jonah departs on Stella.

 Twelve ladies, two gondoliers, and countless memories created on the water.

 Evan executes a powerful dar-zo poppa to turn his boat.

Alza remi!
(solo version)

 

 One set of cavalli in the sunset.

Another set of cavalli.

Plying the waters among gargantuan charter yachts.

So Many Stories

I shot this in Venice, and it appeared in a post a few years ago, 
but I kept seeing it again and again as I went through old images.
Eventually I decided that it deserved it's own post.

More than most people, I love photos that tell a story.
You look at the image and it tells you about something going on.

In this case there's lots going on.
So many stories.

The folks on the near boat are probably American and they're definitely 
with a tour group (matching lanyards), probably came off a cruise ship.

 Shorts, baseball cap, ladies dressed batter than the men.
Likely Americans.

The boat in the middle has tourists from another part of the world, 
but their gondolier cracks me up most - he's either tired or just "over it".

Shades on, collar popped.
He's probably heard bad versions of "That's Amore" 

over a million times from tourists, 

followed by "Hey, why aren't you singing?".

I have so been there.

Maybe he's annoyed by someone on the bridge ahead, but...
then there's the guy in red stripes who finds something amusing.

Here's a guy who loves his job.

Meanwhile the folks on the fondamenta are just trying to figure out how the heck they can get on one of those famous boats, 

Everybody, and I mean everybody has got to check "gondola ride" 
off their list of things they did in Italy.

and it looks like there's a fourth gondolier who'd like to make that happen, 
if not for all the dang traffic.

 The guy in the back (with the epic mustache).

All this with the iconic Hotel Bauer in the background.

And don't even get me started on the gondolas.
Too many interesting details to mention.
I could look at this photo all night.

 Varnished carved trasto da prova,
gold canon,
and that torch carving!

Gorgeous old-school gold background on those arm-pieces,

trumpeting merman cavallo,

gold and black pom-pom cords.

Not one, but two raised deck trim arrays.

More traditional gold background to accentuate those black 
carvings on trasto da prova and portela placed for display. 

And of course, there's nothing like a pristine black gloss 
paint job on the long bow of a gondola.

The photo was taken of the canal known as the Rio de San Moise 
as it passes by Campo San Moise, with a servizio of the same name.

Jonah Stretches

photo by Kalev Pallares

Here in Newport we often help deliver proposals via message-in-a-bottle.

Some guys toss them, while others place them quietly in the water.
And of the second category, guys have different methods of placement.


Here we see Jonah's "stretch technique".

The guy is limber.
I'm not sure I could do that if I tried.

Just the Photo - Cavallo Bello

photo by Cassandra Mohr

Photo-Bomb Win!

photo by Kalev Pallares

I tell passengers all the time that: 
"I could never go into the Witness Protection Program - I'm just in 
way too many people's photos".

We, as gondoliers are part of such terrific memories.
We're also part of so many enduring pictures.

At this point I pretty much have a knee-jerk reaction:
pull out a camera or a smartphone,
and I'm already smiling for the photo.

I thought I was at the top of the photo-bomb game...
until I saw Hunter in action.

I hereby concede the photo-bomb trophy to the harp-playing, 
crooner-song-singing, surfer named Hunter Mitchell.

Crouched, one-hand rowing, 
standing on one foot with the other leg extended, 
and the "Thinker" pose in full effect.
Hunter wins.

Seriously, click on the photo for an enlarged version.
The dude's got game!