Rowing, or the Greatest Decision You Will Ever Make | The Huffington Post Rowing, or the Greatest Decision You Will Ever Make 09/12/2012 02:22 pm ET | Updated Nov 12, 2012 1.7k Amy Yao Student, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai "Winning a rowing race is not like winning anything else. Here's my theory: you're facing backwards, so you're looking at the people you're beating--and there's something exquisite about that." - Hugh Laurie I'm not sure when I realized it. It could have been during a brutally cold winter morning at 6am as I groggily made my way from my dorm to the basement of the athletic center. It also could have been during the first twenty strokes of the final race of the season, in the form of one of those sly epiphanies that always seem to occur at the most inconvenient times. Or maybe it was the accumulated reasoning of an entire year of practice, races, and beautiful St. Lawrence River sunrises. My realization was this: joining rowing, quite simply, was the greatest decision I have ever made.

In the past few years, the media have brought rowing into the national spotlight, particularly after the US women's eight took gold in Beijing in 2008, and then again in London this summer. (Interestingly enough, our coach, Nick Hughes, taught one of the eight Olympians how to row during her freshman year at St. Lawrence.) The 2010 blockbuster The Social Network's crowning cinematographic achievement was the 90-second clip of the Winklevoss twins rowing for Harvard at the Henley Royal Regatta. With this newfound national attention to the sport, I have thankfully received significantly fewer blank stares when I tell people that I am on a collegiate rowing team. No, it isn't like kayaking or canoeing. Yes, you do get a lot of blisters. No, you don't only use your arms. Am I going to the Olympics? Well, a girl can dream, right? Rowers are unique in the athletic world.

Perhaps the most significant difference between rowing and other sports is the coxswain, or the "little person who sits in the boat and yells at the rowers." While they are not required to be athletic, coxswains are, in the words of US rowing coach Tom Terhaar, "as integral to the boat as the rowers are... they can't do it without [him or her]." I am a coxswain for the St. Lawrence women's rowing team, and it is this unique role that led me to the staggering, aforementioned conclusion. Rowers do not see where they are going. They are supposed to "keep their heads in the boat", therefore placing their trust in the coxswain to steer them, encourage them, and to pinpoint errors in their technique. As the coxswain, you alone see everything that is going on both within and around the boat, and yours is the only voice that the rowers will hear. Leadership-wise, it is possibly one of the most difficult skills to learn--how to guide and communicate with people who cannot see where they are going, who are undergoing what is essentially physical hell.

It is brutal to watch, and even more painful to ask more of them when they are nearing utter exhaustion. Yet I have been told time and time again by the rowers to demand more from them when they are fatigued. They want perfection, and they will not allow themselves to become complacent until they have achieved their goals. Rowing is a sport that takes time. When one sets a goal to lose a few pounds and work out more, results are easy to see, often in the span of a few weeks. As for rowing, while teaching someone to row doesn't take very long, teaching someone to row effectively may very well take a few years. True rowers are not daunted by this incredibly long gap between training and results. During the long days of winter training, they are able to focus on the medal or the race that is months in the future, able to summon the image of winning at moments when being together on the water seems as distant as the moon. In life, that ability to stay fixated on a long-term goal is often the difference between failure and success.

No wonder rowers make an average income of more than 60% above the national average, according to a 2008 study by Boathouse Finder. Being a part of the rowing team has shown me the sheer magnitude of human potential. Put a person in a boat, hand them an oar, give them a taste of what winning feels like--and soon enough, they will be practicing for five hours a day, will be getting up three hours before the rest of their campus to row in subzero temperatures, and will have the unstoppable willpower of a champion. Rowers can do it all, and they can do it well. Joining the rowing team will be the greatest decision you will ever make, if you choose to accept the harsh realities of the sport. By doing so, you will understand the incalculable value of an indomitable spirit--and you will learn, above all, that your achievements in life are limited only by the magnitude of your drive to achieve them.

Follow Amy Yao on Twitter: More: The coxswain’s goal: get it gently down the stream - The Yale Herald The coxswain’s goal: get it gently down the stream By Sam Lee / February 26, 2010 / 3 Sam Lee details the trials and tribulations of the crew teams’ smallest members. You are six foot five, 200 pounds. You are in peak physical condition, training nearly every day for practically the entire year—no stranger to pain, you are used to pushing yourself harder than seems physically possible. You have been doing this for years. You are an oarsman on the heavyweight crew team. Sitting just in front of you, at the front of your boat, is a petite girl. She is a foot shorter than you and weighs in at just 125 pounds. She is a coxswain, and she is telling you what to do. THE ROSTER FOR YALE’S HEAVYWEIGHT MEN’S Crew Team lists 40 people. 36 of them are taller than six feet—a few are closer to seven. They’re massive, leave it at that. These are the rowers.

Their job is simple and understandable—intuitive, in almost a primitive sense. Each rower has an oar (there are, typically, either four or eight in a boat, distributed evenly on each side), and they pull in unison, propelling the boat forward—or, in a sense, backward—since the rowers sit with their backs facing the direction in which the boat travels. When it’s done well (as it is at Yale), the whole process can be quite beautiful, elegant in its perfect synchronization. The remaining four on the roster are the coxswains, and their role is less obvious and nearly always misunderstood by those not familiar with crew. The coxswain generally sits at the back—the stern, in nautical terms—of the boat (although, in the four-seated boats, the coxswain lies down in the front, or bow, of the boat). Coxswains wear a microphone headset that they use to communicate with the crew. They are also responsible for steering the boat, with hand controllers below the gunwale that adjust the rudder.

The process of driving a shell—another name for the carbon-fiber reinforced plastic boats used in crew—shares nothing with the process of driving a modern automobile. A shell turns gradually and slowly, and controlling the direction, particularly on complex courses like that of the Head of the Charles, is a matter of finesse and subtlety. In a certain sense, steering is simple: The straighter a shell’s course, the faster its time. Yassmin Parsaei, TD ’13, a coxswain on the Women’s Crew Team, puts it plainly: “If you don’t have a coxswain who can steer well, you’re screwed.” “IF YOU HAVE A GREAT LEADER IN A COXSWAIN, they can be like the quarterback of a football team,” says John Pescatore, a bronze medal winner at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, and the coach of the Men’s Heavyweight Team. “They steer and command the shell at all times,” says Andrew Card, coach of the Men’s Lightweight Team. “It’s their job to be the leader of the shell.

The coxswain gives instructions about what to do and when to do it—they are the number one decision maker in the shell.” The coxswains are responsible for everything from motivating their crew to researching the course before race day, making sure to identify the fastest route to the finish. They help the stroke seat (the oarsmen who sits closest to the stern of the boat) set the rhythm for the race, keep their crew updated as to where they are in relation to the other boats, and decide when to employ calculated sprints that often become decisive moments in a race. “You can’t devalue a coxswain,” says Mary Jo Toothman, BK’12, a rower on the women’s team. “A good coxswain can get you to do things you couldn’t normally do. They know what’s going to make their crew go even faster than they’ve ever gone before.” “The moment when the rowers are so tired they don’t want to row any more—that’s when the coxswain’s voice is most important,” says Parsaei. “A good coxswain can help bring a boat together,” says Ben Bowles, ES ’12, a rower with the heavyweight team.

“It’s something that’s easy to overlook.” “MY GUYS”—THAT’S HOW EVERY COXSWAIN, MALE or female, refers to the men in their boat. It is an emphatic possessiveness; it reflects a heartwarming sense of mutual respect and trust, the sort of camaraderie that can be startling and unexpected. “There are no line changes, there are no substitutions,” says Pescatore. “Once you get into the water, those are your guys.” The intense team loyalty has a noble, almost fanatic, feeling to it, and you see it most, perhaps, in one of the sport’s least glamorous aspects: making weight. In collegiate men’s crew, the minimum weight for a coxswain is 125 pounds, regardless of whether the coxswain is male or female (this is, it appears, the main reason why so many coxswains are female—it is simply far easier to find a girl around 125 pounds a guy). Some coxswains have no trouble making weight; some even have to work to reach the weight minimum.

A full Nalgene of water weighs two pounds, one coxswain tells me, and that is precisely what she would drink to bring her 123-pound frame up to the minimum. Then, after weighing in, she would head to the bathroom, emerging, a few minutes later, slightly lighter. The two pounds saved by techniques like these might not make a difference in the race, but psychologically, the effort is appreciated. “The fact that they’re dedicated enough to want to drop that weight, it’s good,” says Bowles. For Emma McBurney, BK ‘12, another heavyweight coxswain, it’s not complicated. “It matters to me that it matters to them,” she says bluntly. For the coxswains who are above the weight minimum, making every effort to stay as light as possible is just another way they contribute to their boat’s success. “You feel a responsibility to the guys,” says Ian Forsyth, SM ’13, a coxswain on the heavyweight team. “The least I can do is make sure to be on weight by race day. I feel like it’s my responsibility to get down, to give my boat every advantage I can to win.

If I have to suck weight and not eat for a few days before a race, that’s what it takes.” Morgan Welch, TD ’12, another heavyweight coxswain, agrees. “There’s no reason that you should be above weight,” she said. “The rowers keep themselves in elite physical shape—staying at weight is easier than staying in such good shape. I feel like that’s what I owe my teammates.” THE LIFE OF A COXSWAIN IS NOT, BY ANY MEASURE, easy. There’s a common saying in rowing that goes like this: “Coxswains lose races, they don’t win them.” A coxswain’s mistake, the expression suggests, can cost the boat a victory, but it is rare that a coxswain’s skilled handling of a shell is singled out as what decides a close race. According to Card, “In the close races, where the teams are evenly matched, the coxswain can make the difference.” Nevertheless, it appears that, whether or not a coxswain can contribute to a win, the fault for a loss is often placed on their shoulders.

“It’s easier to blame the coxswain,” says Derek Johnson, JE ’11, a rower on the heavyweight team. “It’s not necessarily fair, but that’s the way it is. If a coxswain does what they’re supposed to do, the win will still go to the crew.” “WE EXPECT THEM TO GET IT RIGHT EVERY TIME,” says Ben Grant TD ’11, another heavyweight rower. Understandably, the process can be difficult. “I was shit on by everybody,” says McBurney, talking about her freshman year as a coxswain for the heavyweight team. “There are days when they’re going to be assholes,” she says. “Learning to let it roll off your back has been a painful process.” McBurney tells me about a race last year where she took a turn too late—her boat lost the race and she was blamed. (“People are still talking about that one,” one heavyweight rower told me.) However, if a rower “catches a crab” (the term describes when an oar hits the water wrong, a misstep that can bring a boat to a standstill), the criticism, for the most part, goes unspoken.

In some ways, the camaraderie felt between oarsmen protects them and exposes the coxswains. “When a rower screws up,” Bowles says, “the other guys know what that feeling is like—it’s harder to relate to the coxswains. It seems easier to blame them.” SURPRISINGLY, WHAT SEEMS TO OUTSIDERS LIKE the oddest part of being a coxswain—having three or four girls on a team with thirty-five guys—is rarely an issue. “I don’t deal with the female coxswains any differently than the male coxswains. It doesn’t matter—male or female, the things they do are the same,” says Pescatore. And for many coxswains, this is the way they want it. “I wouldn’t want them to treat me differently,” says Welch. “They know that we also want to win, just like them.” Johnson agrees: “It comes down to the personality of the coxswain—gender is not what’s important.

I’ve had great female coxswains, bad male coxswains, and vice-versa.” In one way, however, coxswains are always singled out after a win—when their crew, in keeping with tradition, tosses them into the water. I WAS INTERVIEWING ONE COXSWAIN AT THE Willoughby’s on York, when a man in a suit came up to us. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but are you talking about being a coxswain?” he asked. I told him I was writing an article about coxswains at Yale. His excitement was clearly visible, energy seemed to fill his entire being. He had been a coxswain at Princeton, he told me, speaking about it as the highlight of his bright college years. His exuberance was at first surprising, but not so distant from the attitudes of the other coxswains I spoke to.Some of them were talkative, clearly passionate about what they were doing; and some were quiet, with a sense of determined calm about them. But all of them loved what they do, despite how hard it can be.

“Here’s the one thing I’ll tell you,” Pescatore tells me at the end of our interview. “Being a coxswain can be a really hard job. You’re getting some of this frustration, all the complaints. The people who have the guts to hang in there and do it, they deserve a lot of credit. “My mother and my Dean thought that life without crew might be a good idea,” McBurney tells me. “I agreed to take a month off, as a compromise. I lasted one week.” Coxswain Mary Whipple Stands Tall for U.S. Rowers - The New York Times The New York Times Olympics |On Rowing Team, Smallest Body Has the Voice of Authority Search Continue reading the main story LONDON — Standing among the crew of her eight-oared boat, one member of the United States women’s rowing team is a sapling among redwoods. At 5 feet 3 inches, she is about 11 inches shorter than her teammates’ median height. At 106 pounds soaking wet, she is nearly 70 pounds lighter than her teammates’ average weight. During workouts, she cannot keep up with their strength or stamina.

During races, when rowers exhaust every muscle and struggle to breathe as their lungs cry out for oxygen, she is not called upon to lift a finger. That teammate, Mary Whipple , sits at the stern and, as the only person that faces forward in the shell, appears to be along for the ride as her team ferries her to the finish line. She is the coxswain, a role virtually unique in sports because that person does not contribute physically to the competition. Frankly, she does not have to be athletic at all. Advertisement Continue reading the main story “I’ve always joked that I’m just a sandbag, and I’m dead weight,” Whipple said with a laugh. “But really, I’m much more than that.” The word coxswain (pronounced COX-en) means boat servant. That person is like a coach in the boat, steering, executing race strategy, keeping a crew synchronized and motivating rowers to pull harder on their oars. Photo The coxswain Mary Whipple and the United States women’s eight will defend their Olympic championship in Thursday’s final. Credit Natacha Pisarenko/Associated Press A great one, like Whipple, is invaluable.

So after the team found her a dozen years ago, it kept her. Whipple, a 32-year-old blonde pixie from Orangevale, Calif., has coxed the United States eight for 11 of the past 12 years and has made the crew the one to beat in Thursday’s final. She has led the team to five world championships and two Olympic medals, including the gold at the 2008 Beijing Games. Under her direction, the boat has not lost since 2006. “She’s as integral to the boat as the rowers are; they can’t do it without her,” said Coach Tom Terhaar. “Every one of the rowers, when they haven’t had Mary as a coxswain, has said, ‘Ooh, we miss Mary.’ She just sets herself apart, not in practice, but it’s usually in a race. When the pressure is on, she’s right on. That’s what makes her so great.” Upon first impression, Whipple does not look or sound like an intimidating competitor. She is dainty and quick to smile, with a voice that sounds more like a mouse than a lion. But she has studied ways to sound fiercer.

Her voice, she admits, can be “kind of pitchy” and “kind of annoying,” so she listens to audiotapes of her performances and works on making her voice more commanding. She tries to take it down an octave. Whatever she has done must have worked. Caryn Davies, who is rowing in her third Olympics, said Whipple goes from bubbly to downright daunting when she climbs into the boat. Advertisement Continue reading the main story “Her whole demeanor changes,” Davies said. “It’s like she’s a different person and you wouldn’t want to meet her in a dark alley.” Whipple wears a headset with a microphone and her words are piped through speakers affixed throughout the boat. Photo Under the direction of the 5-foot-3 Whipple, the boat has not lost since 2006. Credit Natacha Pisarenko/Associated Press She also monitors the rate at which the rowers take strokes. A small computer at her feet receives that information from a magnet affixed under the moving seat of the rower who sets the pace, the stroke, for the seven others behind her. Whipple also must steer by grasping and moving a string attached to the boat’s rudder.

Maneuvering a 60-foot shell is harder than it sounds, and Terhaar said a boat can lose three seconds over a 2,000-meter course if a coxswain deviates just once from a straight line. Other evidence shows that steering a long, fragile boat worth thousands of dollars should be left to the experts: It is not uncommon for rookie coxswains to steer boats into things like other boats, docks or bridges. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Privacy Policy “I’ve had some bad coxswains,” said Caroline Lind, the seven seat. “I once had a coxswain that fell asleep. I was like, maybe she’s closing her eyes to feel the boat? But then she ran us into a tree branch. A good coxswain would never do that.” A good coxswain must also know how to relate to her rowers, and that is Whipple’s specialty.

Even though her team often trains in two-person boats without a coxswain, she still watches from the motorboat, rain or shine, cold or sweltering, suffering right along with the rowers. She also works out with the team, lifting weights or running. One thing she is particularly careful about is talking to her rowers as a teammate, not as an authoritarian who is demanding them to do something. “I feel like being a coxswain attracts a certain personality and that tends to be, for a lot of people, this little person with a Napoleon complex,” said Esther Lofgren, who sits in the third seat. “You can say whatever you want and the rowers will do it. But not Mary. She’s never like that.” While many coxswains have never rowed, Whipple is not one of them. She and her twin sister, Sarah, learned how to scull — which is rowing with an oar in each hand — when they were 14. A coach said they might try coxing because they were so petite. Outgoing and charismatic, they were naturals.

Advertisement Continue reading the main story Mary Whipple coxed at the University of Washington, winning back-to-back national championships in 2001 and 2002. There, she fine-tuned her skills as the brain, eyes and ears of the boat. Like a symphony conductor, she made sure her rowers matched one another as they took each stroke. Under race conditions, she turned on her magic. Nearly every boat she coxed in practice races won, no matter the lineup. Video Rowing for Gold The U.S. women’s eight Olympic rowing team won gold in Beijing in 2008. They trained for London with an eye to doing it again. By Matthew Orr and Bedel Saget on Publish Date August 1, 2012. . Watch in Times Video » embed “She had the ability to get eight strong women all working together,” said Anna Cummins, who rowed with Whipple in college and on the national team. “When you lock into that, the power is something you can’t even quantify.” Whipple also is a master at calling a race, telling her rowers where their boat is relative to the racecourse and to other boats.

If they are behind, she finds the precise words that make them go faster. Not all coxswains can do that. Davies, the stroke of the Olympic eight, recalled a story in which a coxswain from Radcliffe started yelling, “You’re failing!” when her crew was getting passed. “Yeah, that’s the kind of thing you don’t want to hear,” Davies said. “There’s a way to say this is not enough without breaking someone’s spirit.” Whipple said she visualizes what she will say in a race, over and over, until she gets it just right. But those words are secrets, kept within her team. Before every competition, she gathers her rowers into a quiet, dark room and they all close their eyes. Then she talks them through a race. “We have people crying at the end of it, it’s so emotional, it’s so moving,” Lind said. “With her tone and her intensity of her voice, that’s part of what drives us during the race. She’ll be like: ‘Romania! Canada! We’re even! Let’s go. We’re going to make a move in two, let’s do this together.

Legs, on this one!’ It’s amazing.” Whipple said she is going to retire after the Olympics, but will stay connected to the sport and hopes to start a coxing camp someday. The thrill of leading a boat across the finish line — especially with a gold medal on the other side of it — is something she will miss, she said. Advertisement Continue reading the main story “I may be 5-3, but my team makes me feel like I’m 10 feet tall, and it’s a beautiful relationship,” she said. “My teammates rely on me to lead and unite them with my words, and I love that my words make the boat go fast.” A version of this article appears in print on August 2, 2012, on Page B17 of the New York edition with the headline: Smallest Body in the Boat Has the Voice of Authority. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe Rowing Equipment and History - Olympic Sport History Sports History Rowing is the propelling of a boat using a fixed oar as a lever. In modern sports, rowers race against each other either as individuals or in crews of two, four or eight.

The boat race Rowing was first used as a means of transport in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. As a sport, it probably began in England in the 17th and early 18th centuries, with the Oxford-Cambridge university boat race, which was inaugurated in 1828. By the 19th century, rowing was popular in Europe and had been exported to America. Sculling vs sweep The races are divided into sculling and sweep oar. Sculling events use two oars, whilst in sweep the rower holds one. The eight-person crews have a coxswain, who steers the boat and directs the crew, but in all other boats one rower steers by controlling a small rudder with a foot pedal. Athlete of the century Sir Steve Redgrave of Great Britain is widely hailed as the greatest rower ever. A six-time World Champion, he won gold medals at five Olympic Games and has been loosely crowned Athlete of the Century because of the extreme physical demands of rowing. His female counterpart on the gold medal count is Elisabeta Lipa of Romania, who also won five Olympic gold medals between 1984 and 2004.

Olympic history Rowing has been staged at all the editions of the Olympic Games, except in 1896 in Athens. It was, however, on the programme, but a stormy sea compelled the organisers to cancel the events. Women made their debut at the Games in 1976 in Montreal. They competed in a smaller programme. The Olympic Games in 1996 in Atlanta marked the introduction of the lightweight events. Up to the 1960s, the USA dominated Olympic rowing. Then it was the turn of the Soviet Union, which in turn gave up its place in the 1970s-80s to the all powerful GDR (East Germany). These days, the reunified German team is among the best in the world. Rowing 101 | Winter Park Crew Rowing 101 About the Boats In rowing, boats are divided into two categories, sculls and shells. In a scull, each rower has two oars that are approximately 9.5 feet long. Sculls can be singles, doubles or quads. In a shell, each rower has only one oar that is 12 feet long.

Shells come in “pairs” and “fours” with or without a coxswain and “eights” with a coxswain. Winter Park Crew primarily rows shells. In both kinds of racing boats, rowers are able to take long and powerful strokes with the oars because their feet are tied into shoes. They move back and forth on seats that roll on a track about 2.5 feet long and have swivel oarlocks. The racing shells themselves are light and streamlined, made out of special cedarwood skin or thin plastic less than 118 of an inch thick. For example, an 8-oared shell is 60 feet long, weighs less than 250 pounds and can carry a crew weighing as much as I ,800 pounds. Oars Oars not only move the boat through the water but act as balancers as well. Each oar is mounted in a swivel oarlock. The shaft section of the blade varies in length somewhat; sweep rowers’ oars are longer (12-13 ft.) than scullers’ oars (9.5-10 ft.).

In addition, sweep blades are larger than sculling blades, but the curved blade shape is the same. Boat Positions There are eight rowing positions in a racing shell. Seats 1 and 2 are referred to as the bow pair. This pair especially “sets the boat”. Rowers in these positions must have smooth and fluid technique. Seats 3, 4, 5 and 6 are referred to as the power or engine seats. Rowers in these positions must be large and strong. Seats 7 and 8 are referred to as the stern pair. They set the stroke rate for each side of the boat. The 8 seat is usually the hardest to row. Stern seats require fluid and consistent rowers. It is important to remember that all three sections are equally important. A winning boat consists of 8 people rowing together as a team under the direction of their coxswain. The coxswain is the eyes and ears of the boat. The coxswain is a team member who is often overlooked (other than being thrown into the water to celebrate a boat’s victory) but his/her role on the water is considerably more involved.

The coxswain must guide the boat to the starting line and get the boat lined up correctly. Once the race begins, he or she has to be a good motivator because the coxswain is the only one who can talk to the rowers. The coxswain is responsible for: 1. Steering the boat by giving directions to the rowers and keeping the boat in the proper lane to avoid penalties; 2. Watching the crew; spotting errors and making relevant observations. A coxswain must know rowing technique, so that if a correction is necessary, he or she will know what to do and who should do it; 3. Telling the crew where they are in relation to the other boats and how much farther they have to go to win; and 4. Actuating the coach’s game plan, as the coach can’t be with the boat during the race. The Rowing Motion The whole body is involved in moving a shell through the water. Basically the stroke is made up of four parts: catch, drive, finish and recovery. As the stroke begins, the rower is coiled forward on the sliding seat, with knees bent and arms outstretched.

At the catch, he drops the blade vertically into the water. At the beginning of the drive, the body position doesn’t change— the legs do all the work. Then, as the upper body begins to uncoil, the arms begin their work, drawing the blades through the water. Continuing the drive, the rower moves his hands quickly into his body, which by this time is in a “layback” position. During the finish, the oar handle is moved down drawing the blade out of the water. At the same time, the rower feathers the oar; turns the oar handle so that the blade changes from a vertical position to a horizontal one. This feathering cuts down wind resistance and avoids hitting the water. The oar remains out of the water as the rower begins recovery, moving his hands away from the body and past his knees. The body follows the hands and the sliding seat moves forward until, knees bent, the rower is ready for the next catch. Racing There are two racing distances for high school rowers.

In the fall, rowers participate in Head Races, where shells begin with a rolling start at intervals of 10 – 20 seconds, and are timed over a distance of 5000M. In the spring, high school rowers participate in 1500M Sprint Races where all the boats start at the same time from a stationary position and the winner is the boat that crosses the finish line first. Under good conditions, an 8-oar crew can row this distance in less than 5 minutes, at an average speed of 14 mph. How to Look Like a Rowing Expert If you hear somebody say “heads up”, people carrying a shell are trying to get someplace with it and you are in the way. A single sculler rows a scull. An eight rows a sweep, not a scull. Single rowers are scullers – they row a scull, not a skull. But eights are rowers not sweepers! If you hear a rower say “I caught a crab”, he/ she isn’t talking about marine life. If a blade enters the water at an improper angle it can get caught under the surface.

The oar handle drives into the stomach and has the potential to throw the rower out of the boat. Blade: spoon face of oar – captures water resistance. Bow: forward area of boat – common name of first oarsman. Catch: moment of blade entry in water – immediate application of power. Collar: ring around sleeve designed to position oar and prevent movement. Coxswain: steersman and proper authority in a boat in motion. Crab: sometimes punishing error in execution of rowing stroke. Double: seats two oarsmen, each individual with one oar. Drive: physical pull on oars using legs, back and arms. Foot Stretcher: adjustable platform against which leg drive is applied. Gunwale: essentially parallel wood edges of boat- rigger attachment point. Keel: center line of boat – point of balance. Oar: lever against which work is applied – not paddle. Oarlock: usually plastic clamp at outer pint of rigger in which oar pivots. Pair: seats two oarsmen with or without a coxswain. Port: coxswain’s left – oarsman at coxswain’s left.

Recovery: preferably controlled outreach of another stroke. Release: finish of stroke when blade exits water. Scull: smaller scale oar designed for one hand management. Sculling: rowing with two oars. Sleeve: protective material along pivot point of oar shaft. Slides: tracks guiding seat motion. Sliding Seat: rolling platform for sitting. Starboard: coxswain’s right -oarsmen on coxswain’s right. Stern: rear of boat – common name for coxswain and stem pair. Stroke Rate: cadence of rowing – number count of cycles per minute. Stroke: final oarsman in seating sequence -sets cadence of motion. Sweep: full-scale oar designed for both hands on one oar. Rowing Definitions & Terminology - Rowing Terms of Art - River City Crew Rowing Definitions & Terminology Rowing Terms of Art Rowing, an ancient form of travel turned into competitive sport, debuted at the 1900 Games in Paris, the second Summer Olympiad.

With the United States standing as the all-time medal leader in Olympic rowing and popularity on the rise for rowing as a collegiate sport, high school involvement and participation around the country is increasing.

SHELLS: Sculls (each rower has two oars) and sweep boats or shells (each rower has one oar) There are two basic types of boats Single - one rower with two oars (scull) Double - two rowers, each with two oars (scull) Quad - four rowers, each with two oars (scull) Pair - two rowers, each with one oar (sweep) Straight Four - four rowers, each with one oar (sweep) Four With - four rowers, each with one oar and a coxswain (sweep) Eight - eight rowers, each with one oar and a coxswain (sweep) DIRECTIONS IN A BOAT: Stern - the back end of the boat Bow - the front end of the boat where the bow ball is located Port - the left side of the boat from the coxswain's view; the right side from the rower's perspective as the rower is facing the stern Starboard - the right side of the boat from the coxswain's view, the left side from the rower's perspective The coxswain always faces the direction the shell is

 going while the rowers face the rear ROWER POSITIONS (SEATS): Each seat in the boat is numbered according to its position going from bow to stern.

In an eight the seats would be 1 to 8 & cox. Two seats, however, are more commonly given a different name. The #1 seat, that closest to the bow, is called "bow seat". The rowing seat closest to the stern is called "stroke". Rowers are often called by their seat number, both by the coach and coxswain, so always be aware of your seat. The coach or coxswain also will often call for groups to row according to their place in the boat; ie: bow pair or stern four. Additionally, rowers need to be aware of which side they are rowing, whether port or starboard as rowing commands are often given by side, such as "check it on port". THE BOAT: Hull - the actual boat. The hull is very thin and fragile. It scratches and can be punctured easily. Be especially careful when moving the boat, always listening to the commands of the coach and the coxswain. NEVER step over the hull; always walk around. Decks - there are both stern and bow decks on the shell. These decks form compartments to trap air for flotation in the event of swamping or flipping.

Vents - There are vent hatches in both the bow and stern decks. When closed they trap air; when open they allow air flow to dry out any moisture in the fore and aft compartments. It is the responsibility of the coxswain and bow seat to close the deck vents. There are often vent hatch covers under the seats also. These allow access for adjustments to the seat tracks. Gunwales - these are the top outer edges of the boat. A lifting point Keel - runs the length of the hull, down the center, for structural support. Ribs - run perpendicular to the keel, against the hull, for structural support. A lifting point. Seat - on wheels that allow forward and back movement. Also a rower's place and # in the boat. Tracks - guides in which the seat wheels roll (also called slides). Foot Stretcher - adjustable plate to which the shoes are attached, allowing adjustment for length. Foot Pad - space between the front of the tracks that is the only place you step when entering the boat. Rigger - metal or composite "arm" attached to the exterior of the boat that holds the oar. Oarlock - "U" shaped plastic part in which the oar is placed.

Gate - screw-down rod that keeps the oar from coming out of the oarlock. OARS: Shaft - the long straight main section of the oar; usually composite. Blade - the flat part of the oar that enters the water. Either hatchet shaped or, in older oars, tulip (Macon blades). Handle - the oar part you hold on to; may be wood or composite with rubber grips. Sleeve - plastic plate about 2/3 up the shaft that goes in the oarlock. Collar - plastic piece attached around the sleeve that is pressed against the oarlock keeping the oar in the proper place. Clam - a clip-on plastic piece that fits against the collar adjusting the load on the oar. ROWING TERMS: Catch - The beginning of the rowing stroke where the oar blade is set in the water. Drive - The part of the stroke where the blade is pulled through the water. Finish - The final part of the stroke where the blade comes out of the water. Release - Pushing down on the handle to raise the blade out of the water at the end of the stroke to begin the recovery.

Recovery - The part of the stroke where the rower comes slowly up the slide to return to the catch. Feathering - Rotating the oar in the oarlock with the inside hand so that the blade is parallel to the water. Leg Drive - Pushing with the legs against the foot stretchers on the drive. Rushing The Slide - Coming up the slide to the catch too fast causing one's weight to be thrown toward the stern causing the boat to check (slow down). Missing Water - Not getting the blade into the water soon enough causing one to miss part of the beginning of the stroke (sometimes called rowing into the water). Washing Out - Raising the blade out of the water before the finish of the stroke. Skying - Coming to the catch with the blade too high above the surface of the water. Run - The distance the boat moves after the release while the rower is on the recovery. Puddles - Made when the blade is released from the water. Run can be judged by the distance between puddles. Crab - When the oar is not released cleanly from the water. A rower "catches a crab" when the oar gets stuck in the water at the finish.

COXSWAIN CALLS Coxswain - The person sitting in the stern of the shell who steers, gives commands to the crew and passes on the coach's directions to the crew. A good coxswain is just as important as the rowers and through good steering, calling a good race plan and motivating the crew can make the difference between winning and losing. When the coach or the coxswain is talking no one else should be saying a word. Check It Down - A call for all rowers to square their blades and drag them through the water in order to slow down or stop the boat. The call can also be made for certain rowers only, such as, "check it on port" or "stern pair check it down". "Check it down hard" usually means there is an emergency and the boat needs to be stopped immediately. Hold Water - A call for the rowers to square their blades in the water while the boat is sitting still. This keeps the boat in a set place. Let It Run - A call for all rowers to sit with blades off the water at the finish, allowing the shell to glide through the water.

Done correctly, the boat will be set (balanced) and no blades will be touching the water. A good drill for correcting set problems, especially those related to lean and handle heights. Power 10 - A call for the rowers to take "power" strokes, giving it everything they can for a certain number of strokes. This is used in races to make a move on another crew and, in practice, to build stamina and let rowers realize both how hard they can pull and how that affects the boat's speed. Can also be a "Power 20" or more. Do you sometimes feel like rowing guinea pigs? Glossary of Rowing Terms | USRowing - USRowing Getting Started Glossary of Rowing Terms Power 10, coxswain, repecage, what? Following you’ll find a collection of terms specific to the sport of rowing. Learn these terms, and you’ll be well on your way to becoming well-versed in the “language of rowing.” Bow: The forward section of the boat. The first part of the boat to cross the finish line. The person in the seat closest to the bow, who crosses the finish line first.

Bow coxed boat: A shell in which the coxswain is near the bow instead of the stern. It’s hard to see the coxswain in this type of boat, because only his head is visible. Having the coxswain virtually lying down in the bow reduces wind resistance, and the weight distribution is better. Button: A wide collar on the oar that keeps it from slipping through the oarlock. Coxswain: Person who steers the shell and is the on-the-water coach for the crew. Deck: The part of the shell at the bow and stern that is covered with fiberglass cloth or a thin plastic. Ergometer: Rowers call it an “erg.” It’s a rowing machine that closely approximates the actual rowing motion. The rowers’ choice is the Concept II, which utilizes a flywheel and a digital readout so that the rower can measure his “strokes per minute” and the distance covered. FISA: Short for Federation Internationale des Societes d’Aviron. The international governing body for the sport of rowing in the world, established in 1892. Gate: The bar across the oarlock that keeps the oar in place.

German rigging: A different way of setting up which side of the boat the oars are on in a sweep boat. Instead of alternating from side to side all the way down, in a German rigged boat, two consecutive rowers have oars on the same side. Lightweight: Refers to the rowers, not the boats; there is a maximum weight for each rower in a lightweight event as well as a boat average. Oar: Used to drive the boat forward: rowers do not use paddles. Port: Left side of the boat, while facing forward, in the direction of the movement. Power 10: A call for rowers to do 10 of their best, most powerful strokes. It’s a strategy used to pull ahead of a competitor. Repechage: The second-chance race which ensures that everyone has two chances to advance from preliminary races since there is no seeding in the heats. Rigger: The triangular shaped metal device that is bolted onto the side of the boat and holds the oars. Run: The run is the distance the shell moves during one stroke. You can figure it by looking for the distance between the puddles made by the same oar.

Sculls: One of the two disciplines of rowing – the one where scullers use two oars or sculls. Shell: Can be used interchangeably with boat. Slide: The set of runners for the wheels of each seat in the boat. Starboard: Right side of the boat, while facing forward, in the direction of movement. Stern: The rear of the boat; the direction the rowers are facing. Straight: Refers to a shell without a coxswain i.e. a straight four or straight pair. Stretcher or Foot-stretcher: Where the rower’s feet go. The stretcher consists of two inclined footrests that hold the rower’s shoes. The rower’s shoes are bolted into the footrests. Stroke: The rower who sits closest to the stern. The stroke sets the rhythm for the boat; others behind him must follow his cadence. StrokeCoach: A small electronic display that rowers attach in the boat to show the important race information like stroke rate and elapsed time. Sweep: One of the two disciplines of rowing – the one where rowers use only one oar.

Pairs (for two people), fours (for four people) and the eight are sweep boats. Pairs and fours may or may not have a coxswain. Eights always have a coxswain. Swing: The hard-to-define feeling when near-perfect synchronization of motion occurs in the shell, enhancing the performance and speed. Related Content

Question: What sport does a coxswain participate in?
Answer: Rowing