New to Rowing? These terms have been included as a reference for beginners to help you get off to a good start.
| Bow: | Front of the boat (from coxie seat). |
| Stern: | Back of the boat (from coxie seat). |
| Portside: | Right hand side of boat when seated. |
| Starboard: | Left hand side of boat when seated. |
| Catch: | When the blade of the oar enters the water. |
| Drive: | Part of the stroke where the oar pulls the blade through the water to propel the boat. |
| Finish: | When the blade is approaching and at the end of the stroke. |
| Release: | When the blade leaves the water. |
| Feathering the blade: | When the blade leaves the water and is turned from perpendicular to horizontal from the water’s surface. |
| Recovery: | Part of the stroke where the rower comes back up the slide slowly towards the catch. |
| Let it run: | A command by the coxie or coach to stop rowing. |
| Back it: | Reverse rowing to turn or back the boat. |
| Stroke rate: | Number of strokes per minute. |
| Squaring the blade: | Turning the blade from horizontal perpendicular to the water. |
| Hard on port: Ease on port: Hard on starboard: Ease on starboard: |
change of pulling forces to alter the direction of the boat. |
| Sculling: | Sculling is where each rower in the boat uses two oars. Can be done in a boat that holds one, two or four rowers. |
| Sweep: | Each rower rows with one oar on either the port or starboard side of the boat. There will always be an even number of rowers in the boat. |
| Crab: | Bad technique when the rower doesn’t get their oar out of the water in time. |
| Coxswain: | A smaller athlete (but don’t let their size fool you) that gets to yell orders at the other athletes. Usually seated in the stern of the boat, however some new boats they lay in the bow of the boat. |
| Cox Box: | A small electronic device which aids the coswain by amplifying their voice, and giving them a readout of various information such as Time, Stroke Rate and Stroke Count. |
| Foot Stretcher: | Part of the boat where the shoes are attached which the rower pushes their legs against on the drive. |
| Seat Racing: | Seat racing puts two crews against each other for a number of pieces. After the first piece, a rower from each crew will move into the opposing boat to race the second piece. Thus a rower’s individual contribution can be measured. A coach will stage a seat racing practice that runs through consecutive pairs of races — the second race of one pair acting as the control or first race of a new pair. |
| Split Time: | Projected amount of time it would take to row 500 meters at this specific power at this specific pace. Calculated by erg monitors and Cox boxes. |