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What defines a Skiff?
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maxibuddah View Drop Down
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Posts: 1760 		Post Options Post Options   Quote maxibuddah Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: What defines a Skiff?
    Posted: 04 Oct 11 at 10:35pm
"A flatbottom open boat of shallow draft, having a pointed bow and a square stern and propelled by oars, sail, or motor" is the description I found online and I must admit I thought it was originally from the flat bottomed boats that were capable of moving in shallow water rather than the great big keel sluggers that existed at the turn of the century.

If you apply that reasoning nowadays then a Topper is a skiff too. Blooming language, why does it mess us all up by changing definitions to suit some marketeer?
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rogue View Drop Down
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Posts: 978 		Post Options Post Options   Quote rogue Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Oct 11 at 10:45pm
Maxi- yep, shallow water access for Oyster beds on mud banks... I think the style of boat dates back to Roman times, I'm sure the language could trace just as far with the right research.

Now of course it just means something between 'cool' and 'sh*t' depending on your point of view, such is the polarity of marketing.
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Posts: 2899 		Post Options Post Options   Quote alstorer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Oct 11 at 8:27am
Originally posted by Skiffybob

Do you think that does it?
No, because the two aren't at all similar...
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Posts: 170 		Post Options Post Options   Quote gbrspratt Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Oct 11 at 8:49am
Originally posted by Skiffybob

Just thought...it's pretty simple really isn't it.
 

How would you define a Ferrari?

 

Is it any car built in Italy - NO

Is it any car designed by Pininfarina - NO

Is it any car with the engine in the back - NO

Is it any car that is red - NO

 




That is the most random bit of rubbish I've heard
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Posts: 408 		Post Options Post Options   Quote tickel Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Oct 11 at 9:53am
Originally posted by gbrspratt

Originally posted by Skiffybob

Just thought...it's pretty simple really isn't it.
 

How would you define a Ferrari?

 

Is it any car built in Italy - NO
           
Is it any car designed by Pininfarina - NO

Is it any car with the engine in the back - NO

Is it any car that is red - NO

 




That is the most random bit of rubbish I've heard


Oh no! Not another rude one........
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Skiffybob View Drop Down
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Posts: 842 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Skiffybob Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Oct 11 at 9:58am
In what way is it random rubbish?
 
Surely, in the context of racing dinghies, if you ignore all the matketing bull, it boils down to a nsmall number of classes that all originated from Sydney Harbour.
 
If you're looking for a definition of what features make a boat into something you could call a skiff, it could be pretty much anything, whihc makes it meaningless marketing bull.
 
Also going back to Jim's point at the begining of this thread, it comes to much the same.
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maxibuddah View Drop Down
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Posts: 1760 		Post Options Post Options   Quote maxibuddah Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Oct 11 at 10:07am
is there a rule set that actually makes thema skiff or is it just a name that was chosen some day back when and now everyone thinks that there is some mystical aura about them. Probably some bloke in the distant past who took a traditional flat bottomed boat (see my previous post for the full definition) and stuck a load of canvas on it and called it a 12' skiff or something. I think too many people are hung up on what is a "skiff".

Just cos an Aussie called it a skiff don't mean that it is special and nobody else is allowed to called their boat a skiff. If its flat bottomed with a pointy bow and has either oars, an engine or a sail then it is most probably a skiff.

Edited by maxibuddah - 05 Oct 11 at 10:10am
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JimC View Drop Down
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Posts: 6662 		Post Options Post Options   Quote JimC Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Oct 11 at 10:16am
Originally posted by maxibuddah

If its flat bottomed with a pointy bow and has either oars, an engine or a sail then it is most probably a skiff.

Unfortunately that definition is b******s as it doesn't cover many of the traditional working boats that have been called skiffs, let alone modern ones.
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Posts: 350 		Post Options Post Options   Quote r2d2 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Oct 11 at 10:18am
Originally posted by maxibuddah

Just cos an Aussie called it a skiff don't mean that it is special and nobody else is allowed to called their boat a skiff. 
 
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Jack Sparrow View Drop Down
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Posts: 2965 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Jack Sparrow Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Oct 11 at 10:22am
After the expected set of random shouty posts, you might see why I used the definition I used!
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