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Rowing is propelling a boat by means of oars. The purpose can be transportation, recreation or sport. In the United States as a high school or collegiate sport it is sometimes known as crew. There are two forms of rowing: sweep rowing, where each crew member has one oar, and sculling,where each crew member has two oars.
Rowing is a speed sport in narrow wooden or composite boats, where the athlete sits on a sliding seat above the water level and faces backwards, using oars to move the boat. This may be done on a river, a lake, or on the sea. Sweep rowing involves one oar per rower while sculling involves two oars per rower. Rowing boats can be coxed (steered and commanded by a coxswain) or coxless (also known as "straight").
Racing boats (usually called "shells") are long and narrow in order to reduce drag to a minimum. This makes them unstable and liable to tip. Being able to balance the boat while putting maximum effort into the oars is therefore an essential skill of rowing. Originally wooden, now carbon fiber, racing shells are now almost all composite at the top levels of competition.
Rowers may take part in the sport for their leisure or they may competitively row. There are different types of competition in the sport of rowing. Regattas that are held in the spring and summer are called "sprint races" in the US and are generally rowed six boats at a time on a multi-laned course. Regulation length races are 2000 m long, however occasionally the distance will be 1000 m, or some intermediate distance dictated by the local body of water. Dashes (sprints in the UK) are 500 m long. The boats start at the same time from a stationary position and the winner is the boat that crosses the finish line first.
A head race is another type of regatta rowers can compete in, which take place from fall season to early spring (depending on local conditions). Boats begin with a rolling start at intervals of 10-20 seconds, and race against the clock. Distances can vary from 2,000 m to over 12,000 m. Examples of Head races are the 3 mile (4,828 m) Head of the Charles in Boston MA in October and the 4 1/4 mile (6,840 m) Head of the River Race on the Thames in London in March.
A third type of race is the bumps race, as held in Oxford University and Cambridge University. In these races, crews start lined up along the river at set intervals, and all start at the same time. The aim is to catch up with the boat in front, and avoid being caught by the boat behind. If a crew catches up with the crew ahead of them, and a bump is awarded, both crews pull to the side of the bank and take no further part in that race. However, the next day, the bumping crew will start ahead of the crew that was bumped. Bumps races take place over several days, and the positions at the end of the last race are used to set the positions on the first day of the races the next year. Oxford and Cambridge hold bumps races for their respective colleges twice a year, and there are also Town Bumps races in both cities, open to all crews. Bump races are very rare in the United States.
Rowing is unusual in the demands it places on competitors. The standard race distance of 2,000 m is long enough to have a large endurance element, but short enough (typically 5.5 to 7.5 minutes) to feel like a sprint. This means that rowers have some of the highest power outputs of athletes in any sport. At the same time the motion involved in the sport compresses the rowers' lungs, limiting the amount of oxygen available to them. This requires rowers to tailor their breathing to the stroke, typically inhaling and exhaling twice per stroke, unlike most other sports such as cycling where competitors can breathe freely.
The relative obscurity of rowing has helped it develop an introspective atmosphere, where long hours, early mornings on the river, and the physical pain of the event are the price of being a part of the rowing community. The intense focus of top rowers on their sport is unusual even by the standard of similarly excellent competitors in other sports.
One piece of equipment commonly used when training for rowing, the 'indoor rower' or 'ergometer', has become popular as a sport in its own right.
Rowing boats (or similar vessels) have been around for centuries, but before the 18th century, there is little mention of boat races. In the 13th century, Venetian festivals called regata included boat races among others. Nowadays, rowing competitions are still called regattas (with a second 't' added).
The first modern rowing races, in the second half of the 18th century, were races between watermen on the River Thames in England. Subsequently, rowing became extremely popular both as an amateur and professional sport, often with thousands of spectators for events. From the first University Boat Race between Oxford University and Cambridge University, student rowing has become increasingly popular. In the Anglo-Saxon world, there is also a sizeable school rowing community. The Harvard-Yale race is the oldest intercollegiate sporting event in the United States.
Rowing today is governed by the FISA, which has organized World Championships since 1962. Rowing has also been conducted at the Olympic Games since 1900 (cancelled at the first modern Games in 1896).
Strong rowing nations include the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Canada, Germany, Australia and Romania. of recent years include Sir Steve Redgrave (UK), who won Olympic golds in five successive Olympics in the coxed four, coxless pair and the coxless four; Matthew Pinsent (UK), who won golds in four successive Olympics, two with Redgrave in the coxless pair and two more (once with Redgrave) in the coxless four; Rob Waddell (New Zealand) and Xeno Müller (Switzerland), opponents in the single sculls; Ekaterina Karsten (Belarus) in women's single sculls; and Kathrin Boron (Germany) in women's double sculls and quadruples.
At World Championship level, sculling races for both men and women are:
and sweep oar rowing races are:
There are also lightweight men's races in all of the aforementioned classes except the coxed pair and four, and lightweight women's races in the single scull, double scull, quadruple scull, and straight pair. A lightweight men's crew must average 70kg (154.32 lb), with no one rower over 72.5kg (159.84 lb), and a lightweight women's crew must average 57kg (125.67 lb), with no one rower over 59kg (130.07 lb). All races are held over 2000 metres.
At the Olympic Games, not all of these events are rowed. Olympic events for men are the quadruple scull, double scull, single scull, eight, straight four, and straight pair; for lightweight men, the straight four and double scull; for women, the quadruple scull, double scull, single scull, eight, and straight pair; and for lightweight women, the double scull. Rowers generally take less interest in rowing the non-Olympic events at World Championships, as the Olympic events are considered the "premier" events.
At national, regional and local levels, Masters rowers (those 27 and up who have not won major competitions in the last year) generally race over a 1000-meter distance.
In general, rowing competitions are organised in a series of rounds, with the fastest boats in each heat progressing to the next round. The losing boats from each heat may be given a second chance to qualify for the next round through a repechage.
The following short nomenclature is often used to indicate the type of boat:
Examples:
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