Pioneer Valley Riverfront Club For More Information: rowing@pvrowing.com
Blade - the end of the oar/scull that is in the water (wide and flat). Most blades are painted with a team or country pattern in the organization's designated colors.
Bow - the front of the shell – OR - the person who sits nearest the bow of the shell.
Bow ball – the blunt rubber item secured to the bow of the shell making it less likely to be damaged or inflict damage/injury.
Bow coxed boat - a shell in which the coxswain lies in the bow instead sitting in the stern. Usually only his/her head is visible. Having the coxswain virtually lying down in the bow improves wind resistance and weight distribution.
Bucket 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, a “bucket” is created where two consecutive rowers have oars on the same side. This is often done to improve steering or synchronization of the rowers.
Button – a wide collar to keep the oar/scull from slipping through the oarlock.
Catch - the oar blade entering the water as the stroke begins – OR – the “front end” of the rowing stroke where one’s body is fully compressed and ready to pull.
Coxswain - the person who directs the boat. Coxswains are typically small and light but must meet a minimum weight. They act as the on-the-water coach and steer person (has no oar, but often has electronic speaker system or bullhorn to communicate).
Crab - a disaster in which the rower fails to extract the oar from the water at the finish, causing the handle to smash him/her in the body or pull him/her overboard (aka. ejector crab).
Deck - the areas of a shell at the bow and stern that are covered with varnished fiberglass cloth or with a thin plastic material. The sealed compartments below the decks add buoyancy and safety to the boat structure.
Drive or Pull Through - when the legs go down as the body opens up, levering the boat forward.
Ergometer - called an "erg" by rowers, the ergometer is a rowing machine that is designed to imitate the actual rowing motion for indoor or off-season exercise often with displays to monitor “strokes per minute” and distances covered.
Feathering - turning the oar blade parallel to the water during the recovery, lessening wind resistance.
Finish – the “back end” of each drive where the oar is extracted from the water and the recovery begins.
FISA - short for Federation Internationale des Societes d’Aviron. The international governing body for the sport of rowing established in 1892. Gate - the bar across the top of the oarlock that keeps the oar in place.
Gunnels – the side edges of the boat which help keep water from entering the cockpit.
Length – refers to the overall measurement of the rowing shell. This distance is often used to describe margins of victory or defeat (eg. “Boat A beat Boat B by 2 lengths in the race”) as overall time is more difficult to calculate and based on variable weather conditions often less meaningful.
Lightweight - refers to rowers, not boats; a maximum weight for each rower and a boat average is established for a lightweight event.
Oar - used to propel the boat forward. Sweep oars are approximately twelve feet long and sculls are about eight feet each. Rowers do not use paddles.
Oarlock - the piece that holds the oar in place at the end of the rigger
Pitch – the degrees of leaning that an oarlock or oar is adjusted to in order to maximize the efficiency of each rowing stroke through ease of placement and extraction.
Port - left side of the shell - if facing forward in the boat. Note that rowers face backward, coxswains face forward.
Power 10 - a call for rowers to do 10 of their most powerful strokes, a strategy used to make a move and pull ahead of, or hold off, a competitor in a race.
Puddles - swirls of water created by the movement of the oars.
Rating (or beating) - the number of strokes taken in a minute (spm).
Recovery – when a rower moves toward the stern in preparation for the next stroke.
Repechage - a second chance race. Boats that fail to advance to the next round can qualify for repechage. Typically, winners advance to the next round.
Rig - the arrangement of the oars or sculls in the boat, which can vary from crew to crew.
Rigger - the triangular-shaped hardware bolted onto the side of the boat, holding the oars in place and away from the hull giving additional leverage to propel the shell – OR – a professional position in charge of fine tuning the mechanics of team shells.
Run: the distance the shell moves during one full stroke. The run is measured by noting the distance between the puddles made by oars on the same side of the boat.
Sculls - one of two rowing disciplines – the one where participants (“scullers”) use two oars (“sculls”). Sculling boats are generally singles (for one person), doubles (for two people), and quads (for four scullers).
Shaft or Loom - the mid-section of the oar/scull (thin and round).
Shell – term used to refer to rowing boat.
Slide - the set of runners/tracks mounted in the boat for the seat wheels allowing the rower to use his/her legs to propel the boat.
Sling - a support for the boat when it is on land being rigged or prepared for rowing. Slings often look like a modified camp stool, with a metal or wood frame and a canvas cradle.
Split - time for each of the four 500-meter segments of the race.
Squaring – the turning of the oar from feathered to vertical in preparation for placement into the water.
Starboard - right side of the shell - if facing forward.
Stern - back of the boat. The direction rowers are facing.
Straight - refers to a shell without a coxswain (i.e. a straight four or straight pair). Generally, sculling boats do not have coxswains and are not referred to as “straight.”
Stretcher or Footstretcher - where the rower’s feet are secured to the hull of the boat. The stretcher consists of two inclined footplates with straps or shoes attached.
Stroke - a part of the rowing action - OR - the person sitting at the stern who sets the pace for the rest of a multi-person crew.
StrokeCoach - a small electronic device that rowers attach in the boat displaying important race information such as stroke rate, elapsed time and possibly speed through the water.
Swamped - a boat is swamped when it is full of water and can't be effectively rowed.
Sweep - one of two rowing disciplines – the one where each participant uses only one oar each. Pairs (two people), fours (four people) and the eight are sweep boats. Pairs and fours may or may not have a coxswain. Eights always have a coxswain as the steering of these long shells and coordination among the number of rowers is challenging.
Swing - the hard-to-define feeling of near-perfect rowing synchronization enhancing the shell’s performance and speed while lessening the necessary effort of each rower.
Understroke - to row at a lower stroke rate, but with greater efficiency, than a rival boat.
Washing - giving another boat a wash with churned-up water by being ahead and in the path of the following shell.
