THE BASICS - ROWING 101

Rowing is the ultimate team sport. Rowing demands the complete focus and dedication of a team to move the boat uniformly down the racecourse. Every rower in the boat plays a crucial role in allowing the boat to reach its full potential. Athletes learn teamwork, communication, leadership, and responsibility while staying focused on the team’s goal.

Did You Know?

Modern rowing competitions are older than Columbus discovering America. Lord Mayor’s Water Procession began in renaissance England in 1454.
The sport of rowing made it to the Americas in the 1700s, where the first recorded race was held in New York in 1756.
The first rowing club in the U.S. was the Detroit Boat Club, founded in 1839.
Rowing was the first intercollegiate sport in the United States. The first rowing race was between Harvard and Yale in 1852.
Grand Rapids has a long history with the sport. The Grand Rapids Boat and Canoe Club (originally called the Owashtanong Club), organized in 1886 by John Homiller, a furniture manufacturer.
From 1920 until 1956, the USA won the gold medal in the men's eight at every Olympic Games.
Physiologically, rowers are superb examples of physical conditioning. Cross-country skiers and long-distance speed skaters are comparable in terms of the physical demands the sport places on the athletes.

Types of Rowing

There are two types of rowing: Sweep and Sculling.

Sweep: The traditional high school rowing style and the method that permeates college rowing, each rower holds one oar, which alternates from their seats out each side of the boat. Rowers are often referred to by their side: Port or Starboard. Many rowers begin in a sweep boat.

Sculling: Performed when one, two, or four rowers each have two smaller oars. There is rarely a coxswain in these boats so the bow seat also steers. Sculling is encouraged for all rowers during development periods like summer to increase balance and boat awareness, often sculling boats are raced by more experienced rowers.

The Rowing Athlete

FHC Rowing classifications for both Men and Women’s teams are as follows:

Novice
Varsity
Lightweight*
Open Class

*In US Scholastic rowing, Lightweight Women are under 130 lbs. and Lightweight Men are under 150 lbs. In Canadian Scholastic rowing, the maximum weight for lightweights is 72.5 Kg (159 lbs) for Men and 63 Kg (138 lbs.) for Women.

Rowing looks graceful, elegant and sometimes effortless when it’s done well. Don’t be fooled. Rowers haven’t been called the world’s most physically fit athletes for nothing. Physiologists claim that rowing a 2,000-meter race – equivalent to 1.25 miles – is equal to playing back-to-back basketball games. A rowing race demands virtually everything a human being can physically bring to an athletic competition – aerobic ability, technical talent, exceptional mental discipline, ability to utilize oxygen efficiently and in huge amounts, balance, pain tolerance, and the ability to continue to work when the body is demanding that you stop.

The Rowing Coxwain (coxie)

The non-rower who controls the boat direction. May be either in the stern or the bow depending on the boat. A coxswain can be male or female regardless of boat class. In sweep rowing, eight (8+) person boats always have a coxswain, fours (4+) often do and pairs (2-) often do not. The plus on the boat description indicates the boat has a coxen.

The two primary requirements for a coxswain are:

1) must be small

2) must be loud.