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My first morning at the boathouse, nine years ago, a coach told me to "get hands on, roll it,
weigh enough, and watch your blade at the catch," and I nodded as if I knew what any of it meant.
That night I started a list on a legal pad. This is that list, cleaned up. You don't need to
memorize it before Learn to Row. By the third Saturday you'll be using half these words without
thinking, and by the sixth you'll be correcting your family's pronunciation of "coxswain."
(Say it COX-un.) -- Rosalie
The Boat
| Shell | A racing boat. Long, narrow and lighter than you'd believe. An eight is about 60 feet long. |
| Bow and stern | The front and the back. Rowers sit facing the stern, so you go through life backward. |
| Port and starboard | The boat's left and right. Since you face backward, port is on your right hand and starboard on your left. Everybody gets this wrong the first week. |
| Seats | Numbered from the bow. In an eight, the person nearest the bow is bow (or 1 seat) and the person nearest the stern is stroke (8 seat). |
| Stroke seat | Sets the rhythm. Everyone behind follows the stroke. |
| Coxswain (cox) | Steers, gives the commands, watches the course and keeps the crew honest. Never call the coxswain "baggage." They hear everything. |
| Slide | The tracks your seat rolls on. Your legs do most of the work, and the slide is what lets them. |
| Foot stretcher | The footplate with the shoes bolted to it. |
| Rigger | The metal arm sticking out from the side of the boat that holds the oarlock. |
| Oarlock (or gate) | Where the oar sits. It has a gate that screws shut over the oar. Check your gate. Every time. |
| Blade | The flat end of the oar that goes in the water. Also what people call the whole oar. |
| Collar (or button) | The ring on the oar that rests against the oarlock and keeps it from sliding out. |
| Sweep oar and scull | A sweep oar is long and held in both hands. A scull is shorter, and you hold one in each hand. |
| Launch | The coach's motorboat. Ours is named after nobody and runs when it feels like it. |
| Erg (ergometer) | The rowing machine. It has a flywheel, a chain, a handle and a little screen that tells you the truth about yourself. |
The Stroke
| Catch | The moment the blade goes into the water, with you all the way forward on the slide. |
| Drive | The work: legs push, then the back swings, then the arms pull in. In that order. |
| Finish and release | The end of the drive, when the handle comes in to your body and the blade comes out of the water. |
| Recovery | Coming back up the slide for the next stroke: arms out, body over, then the legs. Slow and easy. The boat is running underneath you. |
| Feather and square | Feathering is turning the blade flat to the water on the recovery. Squaring is turning it back up and down before the catch. |
| Set | The balance of the boat. A boat that's "off set" leans to one side and everyone's hands hit their knees. |
| Run | How far the boat glides between strokes. Good crews have a lot of it. |
| Puddles | The little whirlpools your blade leaves behind. Far apart is good. |
| Catching a crab | When your blade gets stuck in the water at the release and the oar handle tries to take you with it. Happens to everyone. Hold on, lie back and laugh. |
| Rate | Strokes per minute. A steady row is about 18 to 22. A race start is much higher. |
| Split | Your time for 500 meters, as the erg shows it. Lower is better. Spoken of with reverence and dread. |
Calls & Commands
| "Hands on" | Everybody take hold of the boat on the rack. |
| "Up to waists, ready, up" | Lift the boat together, on the word "up." Not before. An eight weighs less than you'd think, but not that little. |
| "Weigh enough" | Stop what you're doing, whether that's rowing or walking with the boat. Some clubs spell it "way enough." We argue about this. |
| "Let it run" | Stop rowing with the blades off the water and let the boat glide. |
| "Hold water" or "check it down" | Square your blades in the water to stop the boat. This is the brake. Learn it on day one. |
| "Sit ready" | Get to the starting position, blades buried, eyes in the boat. |
| "Power ten" | Ten of your hardest strokes, starting now. The coxswain counts them, and sometimes counts eleven. |
| "Bow pair only" / "by sixes" | Only some of the crew rows while the rest sit with their blades flat on the water to keep the boat steady. This is how beginners start. |
Racing
| Head race | A fall race against the clock. Boats start one at a time and the fastest time wins. Passing is allowed, and so is yelling "Yield!" |
| Sprint | A spring and summer race, side by side in lanes. Masters sprint 1,000 meters. |
| Masters | Rowers 27 and older. Crews race in age groups, and in many races the older crews get a time handicap. |
| Novice | Someone in their first year of rowing. You, soon. |
| Piece | One stretch of hard rowing in practice, as in "three 1,000-meter pieces." |
| Steady state | Long, even rowing at a pace you could keep up all morning. Most of what we do. |
| Rigging | Adjusting the riggers, the oarlocks and the foot stretchers to fit the crew. Ask Frankie. Bring doughnuts. |
Missing a word? Heard something on the dock you didn't understand? E-mail
[email protected] and I'll add it.
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