Far from the canals and lagoons of Venice, Richard Nissen plies the pastoral waters of the River Thames. His oars are crossed in the alla valesana style.Phil Wragg

Far from the canals and lagoons of Venice, Richard Nissen plies the pastoral waters of the River Thames. His oars are crossed in the alla valesana style.

Richard Nissen lives in a houseboat on the Thames, and naturally he has gathered a collection of small boats for taking advantage of the river that flows past his home. He has an 1890s lapstrake single racing shell that he restored, a double, and a catamaran single—all for sculling—a stitch-and-glue canoe that he and a friend paddled 200 miles down the Thames to its mouth, and GEM, a 1920s electric launch.
With an additional forcola forward, the s'ciopon can be rowed with a pair of oars. The stern rower, popièr, customarily rows a starboard oar and the bow rower, provier, rows port.Phil Wragg

With an additional forcola forward, the s'ciopon can be rowed with a pair of oars. The stern rower, popièr, customarily rows a starboard oar and the bow rower, provier, rows port.

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