|
|
There is quite a lot of gobbledegook peculiar to rowing. This page is a basic guide to some of the terms and sayings:
Shell - The boat.
Blades - The part of the oar that is dipped in the water to drive the boat along. There are different types, including 'spoon' and 'hatchet'. However, the whole oar can be called a 'blade' as well.
Bow ball - A rubber ball at the end of the bows of a boat to act as a safety measure
Sweep rowing - Rowing with one oar.
Sculling - rowing with two oars. Sculling boats with four crew members are known as quadruples, or quads, crews with two members are known as doubles, as opposed to rowing fours and pairs.
The rowing stroke consists of:
The Catch - Oar are lowered into the water.
The Drive, or Pull through - Legs are extended and oar is moved through the water.
The Finish - Oar are lifted out of the water.
The Recovery - The rower slides forwards to prepare for the next stroke, whilst moving the oar back.
Feather - To rotate the oar with your outside hand so the blade is parallel to the water during the recovery.
Draw - A stroke used at the beginning of a race to give the boat quick acceleration. A stroke of between half and three quarters of the normal stroke length.
Wind - After the draw strokes, which are done slowly, the rating of the strokes increases to race pace over a certain number of strokes, known as 'the wind.'
Backing up - turning the blade upside down and doing the rowing stroke in reverse, done for steering purposes.
Tap - small strokes taken to steer the boat from a stationary position, usually done by bow or 7
Drawing up, Tapping down - the blade handle should be at sternum height whilst doing the drive part of the stroke(drawing up) and lowered for the recovery (tapping down)
Numbering off - each rower takes it in turn to shout their seat number to the cox, starting of from bow, to indicate to the cox that they are ready to row.
Frontstops - The position when the blade enters the water and the legs are bent.
Backstops - The position when the the blade leaves the water and the legs are straight.
Piece - A part of training rowed at a race stroke rating and at full pressure.
Puddles - The ripples left from the blade of the oar.
Crab - If the recovery is started before the oars are lifted out of the water. The oar becomes out of control and in worst cases the rower can be pushed out of the boat by the oar!
Jumping the slide - When the seat becomes derailed from the track during the rowing stroke.
Missing water - Also known as 'rowing into the catch.' The rower starts the drive before the catch has finished.
Rushing the Slide - Starting the catch before fully completing the recovery.
Pressure - The amount of effort put into each stroke ranging from light, half, three quarters or firm/full.
Rigger - metal partof the boat, sticking out from the main body to hold the blade in place.
In order to stop phrases like 'Women's Quadruple Sculls' being used repeatedly, there
are codes used as a shorthand. M for a mens crew, W for womens, then the number of members
of the crew, then + or - for with or without a cox,then x if it's sculling, For example, a mens
coxless pair would be described as an M2-, a womens quad scull would be W4x.
Weight Classifications: There are two weight categories for rowers and scullers lightweight (LWT) and heavyweight (HWT).
For team LWT boats, there is a 72.5 kg individual maximum weight, and the average weight of the crew cannot exceed 70 kg . For women, the individual weight max is 59kg, the crew average max weight is 57kg.
Bow - The forward end of the boat, the bit that crosses the finishing line first. It is also used as the name for the person that sits nearest the bow in the crew. James Cracknell is the bow for the GB M4-.
Stern - The back end of the boat, but Matt Pinsent isn't called a 'stern' (just to be confusing!) He's known as the stroke.
Stroke side - The left side of the boat when facing the bow
Bow side - The right side of the boat when facing the bow
Head races - These take place late on in the rowing season, from September onwards. The take place on rivers with twists and bridges etc, and boats are started at 10 second intervals. The boat in each class that completes the course in the fastest time is pronounced the 'head of the river.'
Standard racing - This is where six boats at a time race together separated by bouyed lanes, usually over 2000 metres.
Repechage - If a crew do not qualify for a final in their first heat at a regatta they have a second chance race called a repechage.
Bumps - Races that are held at Cambridge University and take place in the Lent and May terms. There are a series of races held over a week and boats from each college are started with at one and a half length intervals. The object of the bumps is to literally 'bump' the boat in front, and that boat is eliminated for the day, and the boat that bumped them moves up in the rankings. The winners are the ones at the top at the end of the week.
Henley regatta - Boats are raced two at a time, so if one boat obtains a big lead the other boat have the option of giving up.
Coxwain, or Cox - A shorter, lighter person who steers the boat and encourages the crew. Well known for being ducked in the river after the Oxford v Cambridge boat race. They are always used in Eights boats, and can be used in fours, quads, pairs or doubles.
Vote for my site! (top 100.rowing.org.uk)