A skiff is any of a variety of essentially unrelated styles of small boats. Traditionally, these are coastal craft or river craft used for leisure, as a utility craft, and for fishing, and have a one-person or small crew. Sailing skiffs have developed into high performance competitive classes. Many of today's skiff classes are based in Australia and New Zealand in the form of , , and skiffs. The 29er, 49er, SKUD and Musto Skiff are all considered to have developed from the skiff concept, all of which are sailed internationally. The term skiff is also used for a racing shell called single scull for competitive rowing. Etymology The word is related to ship and has a complicated etymology: "skiff" comes from the Middle English skif, which derives from the Old French esquif, which in turn derives from the Old Italian schifo, which is itself of Germanic origin (German Schiff). "Ship" comes from the Old English "scip", which has the same Germanic predecessor. Traditional boats—United Kingdom The term has been used for a number of styles of craft round the United Kingdom, often small river and sea going craft. They varied from double ended rowing boats to small sailing boats. The poet John Milton refers to a 'night foundered skiff' in Paradise Lost as early as 1670. There are references to skiffs on the River Thames (as a result of accidents) as early as 1812 and 1824 at Oxford. In August 1815, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley was taken on an expedition by skiff from Old Windsor to Lechlade by Charles Clairmont and Thomas Love Peacock. He subsequently settled at Marlow where he regularly rowed his skiff through the locks. Shelley later drowned sailing in a skiff off the coast of Italy. It was also used in the Lady of the Lake by Sir Walter Scott. The Thames skiff became formalised as a specific design in the early part of the 19th century. It is a round-bottom clinker-built rowing boat that is still very common on the River Thames and other rivers in England. Rowing skiffs became very popular in Victorian Britain and a skiff journey up the River Thames features in Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome, These skiffs could carry a sail and could be used for camping. Although general usage has declined, skiffs are still used for leisure and racing. During the year, skiffing