Why do you go slowly up the slide when you are rowing?

Question

Dnt mean to be patronising but please answer only if you actually do the sport

Answer 1

Physics says that an accelerated slide will accelerate the boat forward.  My crew experimented with it in the 70's.  We had a LW 4 that could do it right, but no on else.   It gave a very cool bounce to the boat, and we were very fast when we could do it right.

But its too hard to time correctly, along with a quick catch and power application, so it is highly undesirable to do anything but go slow up the slide.

I asked the Dreissigacker's at Concept2 about it years ago, and they said the same thing.  Theoretically good, but too difficult to do in practice.  I may be one of the few people on the planet who has rowed an accelerated slide and been coached at it. We were a small crew, and the coach was looking for something to give us an advantage in spite of our size.

Answer 2

Rushing your slide during the recovery is a big no-no. The recovery of a stroke consists first of a quick “hands away” motion, pushing the oar handle forward to the full length of the arms, followed by the rower swinging the upper body back to a slightly forward body angle position.  The rower then moves slowly back up the slide towards the catch.  If the rower slides forward too fast, he/she will check the forward motion of the boat and slow it down.  The timing of the slide must be consistent with the forward motion of the boat or else your coxie will go ballistic and throw his/her cox box at you face. :)

Laurence: That is sick! :D