What is the difference between double sculls and pairs

Bow-coxed boat: A shell configuration that places the coxswain near the bow instead of the stern. The coxswain lays nearly flat in this type of boat so that only his or her head is visible. The bow-coxed configuration reduces wind resistance and provides improved weight distribution. Bucket rig : A rigging arrangement of an eight or four, where riggers two and three are on the same side of the boat. Button: A wide collar on the oar that prevents the oar from slipping through the oarlock.

Cadence: The rowing stroke tempo. In a coxed boat, the coxswain often calls the cadence to keep the rowers synchronized. Catch Stroke: phase at the instant the oar blade enters the water. The rower is at full compression up the slide and tries to reach as far as possible to obtain a long stroke. The boat is at its greatest moment of instability during the catch, placing a premium on balance. Check: An abrupt deceleration of the boat caused by uncontrolled motion within the shell; usually a result of poor rowing technique.

Check it down and Hold water: A coxswain's call that commands all rowers to drag their blades through the water perpendicularly, braking the boat. Collar: A ring around the oar sleeve, designed to position the oar and prevent slippage. Course: A straight area of a body of water, typically four to eight lanes wide, marked with buoys for rowing competitions.

High school races are usually 1, meters. An exception is the head race, which can be much longer three miles or more and follow a winding river course. Cox box: A battery-operated electronic device that combines a digital stroke rate monitor and elapsed time readout with a voice amplifier; the coxswain uses the cox box to manage the race and to make his or her commands more audible to the crew.

The coxswain typically wears a headband-mounted microphone, which is attached by a wire to the cox box. Coxswain, cox: Pronounced "cox-en," The coxswain is the person that steers the boat. It not only amplifies the cox'n's voice through a speaker system, but it has a built in stroke rate meter and a timer. Some boats, usually fours, may have a lie-down coxswain's position in the bow end instead of the sit-up position in the stern.

Most school and collegiate leagues, as well as international rowing events, have a minimum weight for coxswains. Also, minimum weights may differ from schools to colleges, from league to league, and at international events. Your school or college coach will know the coxswain's minimum weights. A cox'n below minimum weight can still cox but must carry a bag of sand or other deadweight to compensate for the weight deficiency. Crab: A crab is an event when a rower or sculler is unable to extract the oar blade from the water at the finish of the drive pulling phase of the stroke and a sloppy stroke occurs.

The result is usually a falter and some timing problems for a few strokes. However, an over-the-head crab is more serious. This usually causes a great deal of disruption in the boat and in most cases the crew must stop rowing, recover the oar, and then proceed.

Still worse, but very rare, thus there is no term for it, is an ejection. This may happen when racing and the boat is moving very fast. The rower catches a crab and the oar handle gets caught in the stomach causing the rower to be catapulted out of the boat. The crew must stop to collect the swimmer and then go on. Crew: American term for the sport of competitive rowing.

Also used to refer to a particular rowing team. The term crew is used in American schools and colleges to designate the sport of rowing, such as Osprey Oars' Crew. When outside of the academic sphere, the sport is known as rowing, as in the United States Rowing Association. The British and European universities and schools have rowing clubs and not crew clubs or varsity crew.

When you use the term crew you shouldn't use the term team. Traditionally, crew means a team of rowers. To say crew team is redundant. You may say rowing team. Deck: The closed-over portion of the hull at the bow and stern. The deck sheds water and strengthens the hull. Sometimes still called the canvas, a reference to the material that shell decks used to be constructed of.

Dig deep : To thrust an oar too deeply into the water, resulting in loss of power. Synonymous with knife-in. Double: Seats two oarsmen, each individual with one oar. View more information on boat types and sizes. Drive: Stroke phase during which the rower presses with his or her legs against the foot stretchers and pulls on the oar s to force the blade through the water and propel the boat.

The drive phase is a coordinated full-body movement using the legs, back, and arms. Midway through, after the knees come down, the rower leans back and pulls the oar s in with his or her arms. Ideal technique keeps the blade s just below the surface of the water and accelerates smoothly from start to the finish.

Eight, eight-man shell : Boat that seats eight rowers and a coxswain. Erg, erg machine: Short for ergometer, a piece of exercise equipment that provides an excellent land-based simulation of the motion and physical stresses of rowing. Rowers workout on erg machines to build their stamina and endurance.

Modern erg machines usually have a digital readout that provides stroke rate, equivalent distance covered, split times and elapsed times. Erg test: An equivalent distance race simulation performed by an individual rower on an erg machine for a recorded time.

Erg tests measure strength and conditioning progress, and aid coaches in selecting rowers for specific boats and seat positions. Erging: Exercising or simulating a race piece for a time on the erg machine. Feather, feathering : Rotating the oar in the oarlock so the blade is parallel to the water surface. Feathering the blade while it is out of the water minimizes air resistance. Finish: The last phase of the drive, just before the before the release. Power is coming mainly coming from the back and arms at the finish.

Freshman: A rower who is in the ninth grade in high school; though rowers in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades may compete in the freshman rowing class. The definition excludes students who have been retained in ninth grade for academic reasons. Coxswains of freshmen boats must meet this definition.

Foot Stretcher: Also stretcher; an adjustable platform with two inclined footrests that hold the rower's shoes. The shoes are bolted into the footrests. The rower pushes his legs against the foot stretcher during the drive phase of the stroke. Four, four-man shell : Boat that seats four rowers, with or without a coxswain.

German rigging: A variation in the arrangement of oars in a sweep boat. Instead of alternating from side to side, two consecutive rowers have oars on the same side in a German-rigged boat. Also, see bucket rig. Gunwales Pronounced "guh-tells," these are the top edges of the sides of the boat, where the riggers attach.

Heat: A qualifying race within a specific race category e. Head race: In the fall season there are head races. The name comes from a traditional English race called the Head of the River. All sculls are shells, but not vice versa. The normal configuration of a sweep boat has oars alternating between right and left, or starboard and port sides of the boat. Sweep rowers come in pairs 2 , fours 4 , and Eights 8 as displayed in the diagram below.

Pairs and fours also come without coxswains 2- and The boats or shells in the diagram reflect the two forms of rowing which are sweep rowing and sculling. In sweep rowing each rower handles a single oar about That's the person who crosses the finish line first which makes it easy to remember -- first across the line is No.

The person in front of the bow is No. The stroke of the boat must be a strong rower with excellent technique, since the stroke sets the rhythm and number of strokes per minute the rest of the crew must follow. The use of software that blocks ads hinders our ability to serve you the content you came here to enjoy. We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here.

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