skiff

noun, any of various types of small light boat, esp. one adapted for rowing and sailing (COD); see also St. Lawrence skiff

“I think that’s Len Jones’ old skiff, isn’t it?”

“Government supplied us with … a 14-foot skiff. This was what you had to get to town with, if you were on your own.”

“He was going down to Smith’s to borrow a skiff to row across to the Cape to collect the sand that they had drawn.”

“They used to be the lighthouse keepers out on Snake. And they sunk the skiff in November. And they got ashore, but both my great-grandmother and grandfather passed away with pneumonia from being in the water so long, and they died that winter.”

“It got to the point where they eloped. Well, they’re not that far from the American side, but Smith’s lived right down on the south side of Wolfe Island there, so he took their punt or skiff, and the two of them rode over to Milan’s Bay and got married over there.”

“Did they have their own sailing boat, or they used one of the lake boats?”
“Just a punt, just probably their own skiff. And the wind was right, they could put up a sail.”

“Those rowing skiffs are quite the boat, eh? They rowed good. Those skiffs, they set down in the water and they didn’t drift. You could row right into the wind or sideways.”

“Oh yeah, I can recall him, he always had a skiff. And he would row that.”
“They ever have one with a sail in it?”
“I don’t ever recall him having one with a sail in it, no.”
“Like a skiff would be like a rowboat except it was rounded on…”
“Yeah, it was pointed at both ends. Yeah, and he could row it forward or backward, eh. Like you used to see a lot of them, what they call St. Lawrence skiffs. They used to be down around the Gananoque area, were popular there. For the, ah, fishing guides to take people out and troll for the muskie.”