Pedaling a swan boat on Bitan with your lover is a very romantic thing to do, but some people find that when they have been pedaling a swan boat for a while they feel worn out and have no energy left for tender conversation. In view of this, boat owners have brought in electric swan boats, so that people can turn and move forward with ease just by working a joystick. The boat owners hope this innovation will make everyone keener to ride the boats.
Boat owner Shih Tung-chung says that in the early days they used small wooden boats with two oars. The man would pull the oars with his hands while his girlfriend sat in the boat holding a little parasol. It was very romantic to row and chat under the enchanting light of the setting sun, or the moon reflected in the ripples. Also popular in those days were “show boats” that could carry six to eight people and had a boatman, so that lovers of literature could thoroughly enjoy themselves as they sat on the boat drinking tea and reciting poems.
Shih says that as time goes by consumers have come to pay more attention to safety. As well as getting them to wear life vests, operators have continually updated their services with safer boats. From hand-rowed two-person wooden boats, they progressed to pedal-operated duck boats and pedal boats with spherical propellers, and further to the current two-seater or four-seater swan boats. In this way, the rowing scene at Bitan has quietly gone on for more than half a century.
(Liberty Times, translated by Julian Clegg)
Photo: Weng Yu-huang, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者翁聿
在風光明媚的碧潭與情人一起踏著天鵝船，是件浪漫優閒的事，但有些民眾踩踏天鵝船一會兒就很累，沒有力氣談情說愛，所以業者引進電動天鵝船，民眾只要用手操控搖桿，就能輕鬆轉向及前進，希望增加大家搭船遊潭的意願。
業者施東鐘說，早年使用兩支槳的小木船，由男生雙手划著槳，載著撐小陽傘的女朋友，一面划一面聊，在迷人的夕陽或月光下，沉醉在波光粼粼的潭面上，相當浪漫；當時還盛行六至八人搭乘、有船伕的「畫舫」，讓文人墨客在舫上喝茶、吟詩作賦，也是十分愜意。
他指出，隨著時代進步，消費者對安全更為重視，除了要穿上救生衣，業者也不斷更新更具安全性的船隻，從用手划的雙人小木船，進步到腳踩的鴛鴦船、球形槳的腳踏船，再到現行的兩人座及四人座天鵝船，碧潭的划船風景已悄悄跨越半世紀。
（自由時報記者翁聿煌）
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