At the GSVVM rowing club, it's not that difficult to take a boat out.
Assuming you're a member, you just sign it out, get your remi & forcole, wheel it over to the hoist, and plop it in the water.
You've gotta make sure the hoist operator is there
(or BE a hoist operator yourself), but that's about it.
Wanna take a caorlina? You'll need a few more rowers - unless you've got a thing for rowing a big fat boat solo (and I know some guys who do).
So, as I was saying, it doesn't take much doing,
but there is one big exception:
Mestrina.
And she is a big exception - she's more than fifty feet long,
and is meant to be rowed by 14 rowers - a "quattordesona".
Oh, and she's the pride of the club - don't breathe on her wrong.
So when it's time to take Mestrina out on the water, it's a bit of an event.
Here are a couple snaps and a video from our dear friend Nereo Zane from last weekend. It was Mestrina's first row of the new year.
Nereo wrote:
The Mestrina was in the water for the annual "Prima Vogada dell'anno" (first row of the year), a visit to the old people's home St. Lorenzo in Venice.
Freshly launched with crew ready.
A rare sight: a quattordesona in a tight canal.
Usually the uniform includes a white beret with orange pom-pom,
but because it's winter, the team are all sporting dark blue berets with orange border and pom-poms
.
If you listen, you can hear the captain shout "Pope!" - which is how gondoliers often signal to each other that they are either coming around a corner or coming into view. Imagine the surprised look on the face of a gondolier coming around a corner to see this big desona!
Many thanks to Nereo for these views of one of my very favorite boats.
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