Rowing, a sport that combine power, finesse, and timing. In this page, we will give a brief overview into the types of shells, roles, and rowing styles. ​

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Shells:

​Shells are the "boats" which seats the rowers and, occasionally, coxswains. There are many shells that house a different number of rowers and have different rowing styles. The shell type, number of rowers, rowing style, and competitive category is put into a shorthand. We will look at an example below.

 

If a competition lists an "JW4x" event, this is the breakdown

J-Junior (refers to the age of the rowers, with Junior being anyone under 19 years old)

W-Women (refers to the gender of the competitors)

4x-Quad Scull (refers to a shell which houses four rowers in a sculling configuration)

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Roles:

In rowing, there's a rower and coxswain (pronounced kok-suhn). The rower's role, as the name suggests, is to row the boat in sync with each other. The coxswain's role is being the captain, responsible for steering the shell and maintaining cohesion. The coxswain is also responsible for announcing when to change the stroke rate, stroke pressure, and the recovery ratio. The examples listed​

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Rowing Styles:

In rowing, there are two styles of rowing: sweep row and scull row. Sweep rowing, like the picture shown above, is when one rower uses one oar to propel the boat. In an eight, there will be four rowers on the port (left) and starboard side (right) of the boat (looking from stern to bow). 

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Sculling is when one rower has an oar on each side. This means that there is no need for numerical symmetry. Sculling is common in smaller boats (Quads, Doubles, and Singles).