Venice Gondola

The gondola is an ancient rowing craft used in the canals of Venice, Italy. Venice, an island in a lagoon, has streets of water for boat traffic rather than streets of asphalt for automobile traffic, and it is one of the most fascinating cities in the world for its boats. There are many different kinds of boats in Venice, but the most well known is the gondola: a boat used for carrying up to 6 passengers.

The gondola is 36 feet 2 inches (11.05 m.) long, 4 feet 10 inches (1.45 m.) wide, weighs about 900 lbs. (400 kilos.) and is asymmetrical along its center line; that is, it has a slight curve to the right. This is to compensate for the fact that it is rowed by one oarsman, with one oar off of the right side of the stern. The asymmetrical resistance of the hull in the water is balanced by the fact that the gondola is rowed by only one oar, and the boat travels in a straight path. The reason for this is that the inner canals of the city are very narrow, and the use of only one oar enables boats to pass each other with more ease.