Another Perfect Moment

As I rowed my passengers through the canals of Newport, all was still.
The sun had set, but was continuing to project ever-changing colors onto the sky above us.  My couple, young and ridiculously in love, snuggled together in their seat - drinking it all in.
By all measures it was a "perfect moment" - the type I've described here before.
The kind where you lose all track of time, not a single thing could be any better and it all seems to flow like a dream sequence.
I informed my couple that if were looking for a "happy place" to go to in their minds when things were less than pleasant, this would be a good one.
They agreed and I exclaimed "welcome to your happy place!"
We all laughed.
There's no doubt in my mind that my couple will carry the memory of that perfect moment for years, if not decades.
I used to sit at a desk and try to convince myself that my job was worthwhile.
Funny, I never have that problem anymore.

The Florida Mini

There are dozens of gondolas in the US that were not built in Venice. 

Many are easily recognized as such if you know a thing or two about gondolas.  Most have some sort of obvious design feature which differs from a Venice-built boat, and in many cases it's there for a reason. 

Some gondolas in America have canopies for weather related reasons. 

Some American versions have a propulsion system in order to operate on rivers or in heavy wind and currents.  Still others are of a non-regulation size.

Today we are looking at a little boat that has all of these traits.

This vessel, like so many others, has an unclear history - not much is known about her origins.

Where was she built?

When was she built?

At this point I don't think anyone knows.

Those who knew have now passed away.

At the top of that list, of course, is the late Karl Ruhnke - a friend and fellow gondola fanatic.

She was in Karl's fleet for many years.

He trailered her to several ports in Florida. 

I saw her once while visiting him at his home base in Miami in 2000.

I'm told she was built in or around Florida.

Her appearances in news clippings attest to her presence in the Sunshine State as early as 1984.

Enough about what we don't know, let's take a look at some photos:

First thoughts:
"Wow, she's short."
Yes, in fact Karl told me that she was only 22 feet long.
She looked even shorter in the water.
At the time, she was the shortest gondola anywhere.
Karl and his staff referred to her as "Senora Minni B" or simply "Mini" - a fitting name for a boat of such dimensions.

"A hard-top canopy?"
This was probably a big plus during those tropic sprinkles (and downpours) that are common in Florida.

"Steering? Rowing? What the heck is that?"
Karl once told me that she had a "Polish forcola".
This was fifteen years ago and Karl was a bit more old school than I was.
Funny how derisive slurs about Polish people and things aren't, well, funny anymore.
I never actually drove the boat, but I know that she had a 12 volt electric motor and the oar was used for steering (not sure if anyone in Poland ever used such a system).

The boat had so many unique details.

On top of the canopy there was a brass lamp.

The tail had a distinctive shape.

And while the ferro wasn't true to Venetian form, it was clever and unusual.

Last I heard, this boat was sold to someone in the upper Mid-West.

I don't know if she's still afloat, but if she is, I'm sure she's turning heads.

The boat was unusual and memorable, just like Karl.

To give you an idea, here's a clipping from an update I wrote after a visit to Miami back in 2000: 

I saw gondolier Karl Ruhnke in Miami, had a wild tour of the city in his Corvette which included Cuban Coffee (espresso with cane sugar), two gondolas, the Versace home, Gloria Estefan's night club, a few very seedy ship yards and a dinner of fish & chips with hush puppies.

At one of the shipyards I saw a houseboat which had been hoisted up and placed on top of a building to create a second story. And then there was this white guy with bad teeth who everybody was calling "Black Dog". After hunching over the back end of Karl's Corvette sniffing and listening to the exhaust pipe for no less than five minutes he told Karl with a strange smile that his engine tuning was "just right". I decided that this guy was either one of those REALLY good mechanics or a practitioner of some strange automotive voodoo. Either way - I tend to avoid questioning the methods of people with names like "Black Dog".

We also encountered a few raised bridges, boats seized by the DEA and some kind of freaky free-range "Santeria Chickens" which ran wildly across the road in front of the car. The whole tour lasted about three hours and broke the speed limit, parking laws and probably other regulations as well.

The boat was unusual and memorable, just like Karl.

He was a perfect, textbook example of how "gondoliers are interesting".

If any of you see this cute little boat, please report back to me here,

and wherever you are, let's all raise a toast to Karl Ruhnke!

Just the Photo - "Goats on a Boat"

I got this photo from Tirza in Amsterdam.

It seems appropriate for the day.

No matter how you try to hide your face,

we know that's you in the red dress, Tirza!

Smooth Waters at Sunset

Tonight, after a day of weather that, if bottled and sold, would bear the label of "perfection", I rowed my passengers out on the water during a time when the wind usually picks up.  As if October was offering a final parting gift before November takes over,

the winds were calm and the colors, magnificent.

It was a night so perfect that I felt unworthy to row in such conditions - felt like I was getting away with something with each stroke.

All of the above was completely made-up.

It sucks here in Newport.

If you were thinking about moving here - don't.

Just the Photo - Taxi Plows Through

photo by Chris Clarke

Squezing between a topo and two sandoli, this varnished water taxi plows through, leaving plenty of moto-ondoso behind.

Olimpica

Here on the Gondola Blog, we love gondolas, but there's a real fascination for other Venetian craft, especially ones that are rowed.
Add one-of-a-kind to that mix and someone out there is salivating.

So it should come as no surprise that when Tamás sent me these three photos a while back, I sat up in my chair and feverishly tapped out an e-mail.

These three photo by Tamás Fehér

The sweeping tail-section.  

The word "OLIMPICA" made me wonder if we'd see

voga-alla-Veneta in the Olympics soon.  

A longer shot.

These weren't full shots.
Heck, I didn't even see the front of the boat,
but I was haunted by my curiosity.

The word "OLIMPICA" had me wondering if the next summer Olympics might feature a new rowing category.

I heard back from Tamás - he'd encountered the boat
in a club building in Giudecca.
He wrote:
In the warehouse they had the hybrid "Olympica" boat based on venetian hull and forked rowing.
Not much in the way of detail.
really, It just made me more curious.

I talked to Nereo Zane, told him about the boat and he pointed out a link to "Regata Storica 2010 - Nereo's Photos"
and there she was - right there in the foreground.

In an e-mail, Nereo told me:
The "Olimpica project" was born years ago when somebody thought of an Italian championship of Voga alla Veneta or, better, voga in piedi (stan up rowing). As you know there are other boats that can be rowed in "alla Veneta" style but all the boats are different in length, materials, number of rowers and so on. That said, an "Italian championship" is impossible to start unless every club owns the same boats. That is usually called "regulations". The "Olimpica" is the answer to all of above but is still a prototype and I don't know if others will be built.

Then Nereo gave me this link to veniceboats.com.

Should it come as any surprise that the "Grand Master" Gilberto Penzo has some great images of the boat in question?

Just yesterday I received these fresh images from Nereo Zane:

I've heard the cliche statement many times that certain Italian sports cars look like they're "moving fast, just sitting still", and I can't help but think the same thing about this beauty.
Does she not look like she's breaking the law...
even when resting on the cradle?

I have no idea right now what the future holds for this boat.
And while I could muse for hours about the possibilities of Venetian rowing
in the Olympics, I don't know if it will ever happen.

If the Olympic Games are ever fortunate enough to have "our type of rowing"
as one of their events, I want to be there
(sure, I'll be way too old to compete, but maybe I could be the towel-guy).

Of course if it does ever happen, I think it's a sure bet that the Italian team (which will be made up completely of Venetians) will win by a mile.
The real race will be the one for second place.

More images and some video of this remarkable boat can be hunted down on www.vogavenezia.com.

The French language website e-venise.com has a great video here, showing how she behaves on the water.

Show of hands:
Who wants one?

Boston Hauls Out

photos by Mark J. Hunt

 As winter approaches, our friends at Gondola di Venezia have finally wrapped up for the year.

I received these two great Mark Hunt images along with the following text:

Hello Greg

Sad to say our 2011 season has come to an end. Steve ,and I had a great season but its time to say goodbye to our gondoliers and musicians until next year. The girls {Maria and Firenza} will be put to bed for the winter so that we all can get some rest. In the weeks and months ahead as we pass the river as she freezes and then thaws, that nagging urge to row Voga is certain to occupy our thoughts.

Have a great winter ,we will be following the blog ,its like a secret addiction!!!

Ciao

Joe and Steve

Boston Gondola

Kilimanjaro

As many of you know, I'm of the opinion that gondola people are interesting.
Furthermore, we tend to have a thing for travel.
Put a bunch of gondoliers and people associated with the trade in a room and you're likely to find some "travel junkies" in the group.
Some of the personnel I've had the honor of employing have surfed epic waves in Indonesia, run with bulls in Pamplona, Spain, and gone SCUBA diving in Truk Lagoon.  My right-hand man Steve Elkins is currently filming in Chile.
In my Newport Beach operation we have several folks who fit the "travel junkie" profile, but none come close to my office manager, Alison White.
She just locked in her seventh continent: Africa.

Ah, but Alison didn't just go to Africa, no, that wasn't enough.
While she was there, she decided to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, cause, you know - it was there.

Alison White (far right) enjoying the first rays of an African sunrise at Uhuru Peak

After climbing the highest peak in all of Africa, she then went on safari, after all, that's what you DO when you go to Africa.  Or so they tell me.

I'm SO going on safari one day!

Happy Birthday Roberto!

photo by Kathleen K. Parker

Happy birthday to Robert Dula (aka "Roberto"),
the hardiest gondolier I know.

Plenty has been said on the Gondola Blog already about "Hurricane Bob" and his many adventures.  Search "Dula" in the upper left-hand corner if you're not already familiar with our friend on New Orleans.

The photo above was graciously provided by photographer Kathleen K. Parker.
A higher quality version can be seen here.