Rowing Basics
Boat Styles - Sculling:
Single (1x)- One rower, two oars
Double (2x)- Two rowers, four oars
Quad (4x)- Four rowers, eight oars
Octuple (8x rare)- Eight rowers, sixteen oars
Boat Styles - Sweep:
Coxless Pair (2-)- Two rowers, two oars, no coxswain
Coxed Pair (2+ rare)- Two rowers, two oars, coxswain
Coxless Four (4-)- Four rowers, four oars, no coxswain
Coxed Four (4+)- Four rowers, four oars, coxswain
Eight (8+)- Eight rowers, eight oars, coxswain
How to Take a Stroke
One of the most difficult skills in rowing is the ability to take a proper stroke within the shell. If this is not achieved, it can cause the boat to do many wild and wacky things. There are basically four main components to a single stroke and they are described in more detail ...
The Catch
The catch is the point of the stroke where the blade enters the water. At this point the rower needs to reach 'up and out' for the catch. This means that the rower takes the blade and reaches 'up' which will bury the blade and 'out' which means get a longer stroke.
The Drive
Once the blade has been buried as a result of the catch the rower can start the next phase of the stroke which is the drive. In order to move the boat, a rower must drive with his/her legs against the foot stretchers to pull the blade through the water. The best way to teach younger rowers is to explain that the larger muscle of the body are the strongest and therefore we want to use the largest muscles first and the weakest muscles last. This means that your begin your drive with the legs, open at the hips, and finish with the arms.
The Finish
After the drive, you move straight into the finish. The rower should be leaning slightly back and the handle should come straight into the body slightly below the tit. Then the rower should push down on the handle as far as the navel, this downward motion allows the blade to come out of the
water. When going quickly, this motion completes a small semi-circle from the tit to the navel. In order to make this easier, the rower feathers the blade. When an oar blade is feathered, it is parallel to the surface of the water.
The Recovery
After the finish is complete the rower moves into the recovery. The rower should think of the recovery as exactly that a recovery ! The hard work has been done and you are taking a quick breather before the next drive. During the recovery, the rower sits up from the finish, and moves slowly back up the slide towards the catch. As the rower then approaches the catch, he/she feathers the oar blade back so that the blade is perpendicular to the surface of the water.
ERG
An erg is not really "a crude torture device" as most rower would tell you. It is a type of rowing machine (as seen in the above diagram) that best simulates the motions of a stroke without being in a boat and out on the water. During the winter months it is impractical to be on the water (considering the ice and all), therefore coaches use the erg as a training tool. It provides the rowers with an exceptional workout and simulates the stoke action very effectively.
The monitor is very much like a cox box, it provides the rower with valuable information including stroke rate, split time, power generated in watts, distance covered in meters, and time elapsed. The monitor can be set for various workouts.
The workout that rowers despise the most is an Erg Test. Coaches use two main types of erg tests. The first type is to test the rowers fitness level over a long period of time. This is usually a 5000m test in which the athlete goes as he/she can for 5k and the time is recorded. For men, this is usually about 15-17 minutes and for women about 19-22 minutes. In the US, all Fall Season rowing races are 5000m and all Spring Season rowing races are 2000m; hence the other type of erg test is the 2000 m test. The rower goes all out for about 7-8 minutes. This information is valuable to a coach to determine seating positions when the crew hits the water.