Rowable Classics

He covers builders in the UK, Europe, Australia, Canada, and the US. Canada builders include Kaschper, Levator, and Hudson, and the appendix includes lines drawings of a Kaschper shell. European builders include Stampfli, Pirsch, Empacher and others. For the US, Pocock from the Seattle area, Garafalo of Worcester, MA, Helmut Shoenbrod of Kennebunkport, ME, and even Graeme King of Putney, VT.

It's also about the boats from the rower/owner perspective. And, there's an in-depth section on the special oars which propel these boats, including Ciolli, Croker, Sargent & Burton, Piantedosi, Sims of Twickenham, Aylings, Shaw & Tenney, and more.

Many many photos, current and historical.

The liberal array of beautiful photographs and illustrations are like a wonderful gravy that should make this book irresistable to anyone who has a love of wooden boats. Darryl's writing is top-notch, exhibiting the clarity and economy of a seasoned pro. All in all, I'd say this is a winner.
--Dan Boyne, author of The Red Rose Crew and KELLY: a Father, a Son, an American Quest

And, from Diana Cook, of Way's Books, Henley on Thames...

It is a wonderful book! Please tell Darryl Strickler he's done a really great job. The first of its kind worldwide... and it looks like being the definitive one too. I doubt anybody could better it - ever. Why would they need to, except this one will eventually go out of print and be hard to find. And WoodenBoat has done a most handsome job on the book design.

GOLD MEDAL WINNER: 2009 IPPY Awards (Independent Publishers Assoc).

and this from Graham Bright, timber scull owner, Brisbane, Australia:
This book can now be regarded as a well researched history of the wooden sculling boat built around the world, and filled with great photographs, stories by owners, and sketches. The section on sculling blades in particular, is beautifully presented in detail. This book is a must have for anyone who has an interest in rowing , and the preservation of these boats for posterity.

And, from reader Mark Denkel:
In some ways this volume is a bookend to Benjamin Ivry's, "Regatta", but where Ivry's visually attractive book was primarily about oarsmen, this book is more tightly focused upon the boats, their builders and their owners. Because the author's appealingly casual narrative blends his technical knowledge with the human stories behind this tradition in a manner which makes both all the more credible, the book is a joy to read and re-read. His familiarity with the subject is as deep as it is comprehensive, but it is the little rhetorical asides, scattered here and there like riffs upon a glassy lake, that add color and humanity. "Rowable Classics" is an anthropology of the boat builder's trade and culture. It describes significant technical traditions and choices without oversimplifying or divorcing the nautical architecture from the needs and desires of oarsmen. But at the same time, the book is intensely personal and it is this which keeps it from becoming a merely forensic portrait of a disappearing craft. A celebration of the marriage of craftsmanship, art, reverence and love, it is a homage, not a requiem. As such, I hope it becomes not a memorial, but a catalyst for further preservation of these beautiful shells, an encouragement to present-day builders, and an inspiration to ROW WOOD!