Can You Help Make This Rowing Resource Better?

I usually get several questions about rowing terms, what means what, and the like. So I thought that I would put up a rowing terminology page. It has 87 terms so far.

I wanted to post it first to give anyone a chance to add words (especially non-US terms), change definitions, or suggest improvements. If you have any please leave a comment. I hope to have the page up in a week.

1. Adjustment: moving the dimensions on rowing equipment to best suit the needs of the rower(s)
2. Aft: towards the stern or the back of a boat
3. Back stop: small blocks on the fore part of the slide that prevent seat as-sembly from rolling off the slide
4. Beam: width at the widest part of a boat, usually measured from inside of gunwales
5. Blade: end of an oar that is placed in the water
6. Bow: front end of a boat
7. Button: a ring around the shaft of an oar; when the oar is in the oarlock, the button sits flush against the oarlock and keeps the oar from sliding outward
8. Carbon fiber: whiz-bang space-age material used in shells, a lot like fi-berglass except it’s made with carbon pieces
9. Catch: part of the rowing stroke where blade is placed into water
10. Catch angle: angle between oar handle and oarlock perpendicular when the oar is at the catch
11. Catch length: distance along centerline between the oarlock perpendicular and farthest extent of oar handle when the oar is at the catch
12. Centerline: a very important yet imaginary line that bisects a shell from the bow to stern
13. Check: (a) ding or dent in the hull of a boat; (b) backwards motion of shell caused by rowers transferring their body mass aft to fore
14. Collar: see button
15. Degree: an angular measurement used to determine the pitch
16. Designed water line: depth of the hull to which the builder designed the boat to sit in the water when the proper weight is in the boat
17. Dimension: (a) number used for rigging adjustments; (b) a label for your level of knowledge
18. Drive: part of rowing stroke from catch to release when oar is in water
19. Eight: shell with eight rowers and one coxswain
20. Fastener: nuts, bolts, and all the other little goodies that hold the rowing equipment together
21. Fin: piece that extends from hull, below water line, used for longitudinal stability, usually located near rudder
22. Foot stretcher: part of shell that accommodates rower’s feet
23. Fore: towards the bow or front of a boat
24. Four: shell with four rowers and a coxswain (called four with) or shell with four rowers and no coxswain (called four without or straight four)
25. Front stops: small blocks on aft part of slide, keep seat from derailing and protect rowers’ legs from sharp end of slide
26. Gunwale: top part of hull (when boat is seats-up) where the riggers at-tach; may or may not be made of same material as rest of hull
27. Height: distance from the oarlock sill (horizontal flat) to the water’s sur-face, usually measured from sill to top of seat
28. Horizontal flat: one of the flat parts of the oarlock that supports the oar, important for oarlock height
29. Hull: part of the boat that keeps the inside in and the outside out
30. Inboard: distance from butt of oar handle to the blade side of the button
31. Inter-axle distance: see spread
32. Keel: one of the main parts of the shell structure, runs from bow to stern along inside of bottom of the boat following the centerline
33. Knee: bracing that runs vertically from the keel to the gunwale
34. Knuckle: joint of a rigger where pieces meet
35. Lateral pitch: see outward pitch
36. Leverage: the mechanical advantage of a lever—in our case, the oar and rigger
37. Loom: part of oar from the oar handle to the beginning of the blade
38. Metric System: measuring system based on quadrants of earth used by most of the world
39. Monocoque: type of bracing system inside a shell that uses a flat deck that runs the length of the shell
40. Oar handle: part of oar rower holds during stroke
41. Oar: long, skinny thing used to propel boats; different from a paddle be-cause oars are attached to the boat and paddles are not
42. Oops, mistake, error, goof-up, uh oh: part of the learning process
43. Outboard: distance from the blade side of button to tip of the blade
44. Outward pitch: slight slant on oarlock pin away from centerline of shell
45. Pair: shell with two rowers and a coxswain (called a pair with) or shell with two rowers and no coxswain (called a pair without or straight pair)
46. Perpendicular: another very important, and imaginary, line that extends 90 degrees from the centerline
47. Pin: part of rigger on which oarlock rotates
48. Port: left side of boat when looking towards the bow
49. Puddle: depression in the water left after blade is removed; the harder the oar is pulled, the bigger the puddle, assuming good rowing is happen-ing
50. Rack: support used to store boat in a seats-down position
51. Recovery: part of rowing stroke from the release to the catch, blade is out of water
52. Release: part of stroke where blade is removed from the water
53. Rib: see knee
54. Rig: the arrangements of riggers on the boat, a German-rigged eight has 2 rowers (at 4 and 5) on the same side, an Italian-rigged eight has all the rowers on the same side in pairs, except the bow and stroke
55. Rigger: (with capital r) person who adjusts the mechanics of the boats to suit the needs of the rowers
56. rigger: (with small r) funky metal thing hanging off of the shell, officially called an outrigger, but that has been shortened to rigger
57. Rigging: the science/art of adjusting rowing equipment in such a manner that an oarsman will be in a comfortable and effective position to ap-ply power
58. Rudder: part of hull extending below water line and used to steer boat
59. Seat assembly: all the seat parts
60. Seat: part of seat assembly rower sits on
61. Shaft: see loom
62. Shell category: the size of shell determined by number of people it holds
63. Shell weight classification: average of crew’s weight the shell is designed to hold, usually divided into three categories: heavyweight, mid-weight and lightweight; now classifications for women-specific sizes are being made
64. Shell: name used for racing boats powered by rowers, came about be-cause early shells were made with thin hulls and were literally as frag-ile as an egg shell
65. Silicon: waterproof lubricant
66. Sill: platform that gives support
67. Skeg: see fin
68. Sleeve flat: the flat part of the sleeve, critical to the pitch
69. Sleeve: tube of material that surrounds oar, under the button, that protects the loom from damage
70. Slide: piece of shell on which seat assembly rolls
71. Sling: support used to store boat in a seats-up position
72. Slippage: amount of motion of blade in the water from a “locked” posi-tion
73. Span: distance from the center of one sculling oarlock pin to the center of another at the same position
74. Spread: shortest distance from the centerline of the shell to the center of the oarlock pin
75. Starboard: the right side of a boat when facing the bow
76. Stateroom: distance inside of hull from one foot stretcher to another
77. Stay: part of rigger used for support and strength
78. Stern pitch: aft slant on blade when oar is square in the water
79. Stringer: a horizontal brace
80. Stroke: one complete cycle of the oar from the catch to the release and back to the catch again
81. Thwartship distance: see spread
82. Track: see slide
83. U.S. Customary System: measurement system based on parts of human body, used by only a few countries in the world
84. Undercarriage: the lower part of a seat that allows it to move, includes the wheels, axles, etc.
85. Vertical flat: vertical part of the oarlock that is flat and about parallel to the oarlock pin, critical to the pitch
86. Washout: problem with rowing stroke where the blade slips too much through water and causes an inefficient stroke
87. Work-thru: distance from perpendicular through the oarlock pin to a per-pendicular across the front-stops of the slide

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