• Aligner - An official who is responsible for aligning boats evenly for a fair start. • Back it Down - Rowing backwards. Usually used when landing, pulling into a stakeboat, or turning around. • Backsplash - The splash produced by the blade entering the water at the catch while the blade is moving toward the bow. • Blades - The wide flat section of the oar at the head of the shaft, also known as the spoon. This term is often used when referring to the entire oar. • Bow - The forward section of the boat; the end that crosses the finish line first. Also refers to the first seat rower, who occupies the seat farthest forward. • Bow ball - A round rubber protrusion attached to the boat's bow for protection. • Bow coxed boat - A shell in which the coxswain is near the bow instead of the stern. It’s hard to see the coxswain in this type of boat, because only his head is visible. Having the coxswain virtually lying down in the bow reduces wind resistance, and the weight distribution is better. • Bow four - Seats one through four in the bow end of the boat. • Bow pair - Seats one and two in the bow end of the boat. • Bucket rig - A rigging arrangement of an eight or four, where riggers two and three are on the same side of the boat. • Button - A wide collar on the oar that prevents the oar from slipping through the oarlock. • Cadence - The rowing stroke tempo. In a coxed boat, the coxswain often calls the cadence to keep the rowers synchronized. • Catch - Stroke phase at the instant the oar blade enters the water. The rower is at full compression up the slide, and tries to reach as far as possible to obtain a long stroke. The boat is at its greatest moment of instability during the catch, placing a premium on balance. • Check - An abrupt deceleration of the boat caused by uncontrolled motion within the shell; usually a result of poor rowing technique. • Check it down and Hold water - A coxswain's call that commands all rowers to drag their blades through the water perpendicularly, braking the boat. • Cockpit - The area is a shell that holds the rowers and houses the seat, the tracks, and the footstretcher. • Collar - A ring around the oar sleeve, designed to position the oar and prevent slippage. • Cox box - A battery-operated electronic device that combines a digital stroke rate monitor and elapsed time readout with a voice amplifier; the coxswain uses the cox box to manage the race and to make his or her commands more audible to the crew. The coxswain typically wears a headband-mounted microphone, which is attached by a wire to the cox box. • Coxswain, cox - Pronounced "cox-en," The coxswain is the person that steers the boat. He/she is a coxswain or cox'n or cox and he/she is coxing a boat. A cox'n usually uses an electronic amplifier system called a CoxBox™. It not only amplifies the cox'n's voice through a speaker system, but it has a built in stroke rate meter and a timer. Some boats, usually fours, may have a lie-down coxswain's position in the bow end instead of the sit- up position in the stern. • Coxswain: Person who steers the shell and is the on-the-water coach for the crew. • Crab - A crab is an event when a rower or sculler is unable to extract the oar blade from the water at the finish of the drive (pulling phase of the stroke) and a sloppy stroke occurs. This can happen when a rower loses grip of the handle, makes an error in judging when to extract or release the blade from the water, or if the boat tips to the side and there's nowhere for the rower to lower his/her hands to extract the blade. • Crew - American term for the sport of competitive rowing. Also used to refer to a particular rowing team. The term crew is used in American schools and colleges to designate the sport of rowing, such as Osprey Oars' Crew. When outside of the academic sphere, the sport is known as rowing, as in the United States Rowing Association. The British and European universities and schools have rowing clubs and not crew clubs or varsity crew. When you use the term crew you shouldn't use the term team. Traditionally, crew means a team of rowers. To say crew team is redundant. You may say rowing team. • Deck - The closed-over portion of the hull at the bow and stern. The deck sheds water and strengthens the hull. • Dig deep - To thrust an oar too deeply into the water, resulting in loss of power. Synonymous with knife-in. • Double - Seats two oarsmen, each individual with one oar. View more information on boat types and sizes. • Drive - Stroke phase during which the rower presses with his or her legs against the foot stretchers and pulls on the oar(s) to force the blade through the water and propel the boat. The drive phase is a coordinated full-body movement using the legs, back and arms. The rower remains upright during the first half of the drive. Midway through, after the knees come down, the rower leans back and pulls the oar(s) in with his or her arms. Ideal technique keeps the blade(s) just below the surface of the water and accelerates smoothly from start to the finish. • Eight, eight-man shell - Boat that seats eight rowers and a coxswain. View more information on boat types and sizes. • Engine Room - The middle seats in a shell that are usually occupied by the biggest and strongest rowers. • Erg test - An equivalent distance race simulation performed by an individual rower on an erg machine for a recorded time. Erg tests measure strength and conditioning progress, and aid coaches in selecting rowers for specific boats and seat positions. • Ergometer: Rowers call it an “erg.” It’s a rowing machine that closely approximates the actual rowing motion. The rowers’ choice is the Concept II, which utilizes a flywheel and a digital readout so that the rower can measure his “strokes per minute” and the distance covered. • Feather, feathering - Rotating the oar in the oarlock so the blade is parallel to the water surface. Feathering the blade while it is out of the water minimizes air resistance. • Fin (or Skeg) - The small piece of metal or plastic attached to the bottom of the boat to help it keep a straight course through the water. • Finish - The last phase of the drive, just before the before the release. Power is coming mainly coming from the back and arms at the finish. • FISA: Short for Federation Internationale des Societes d’Aviron. The international governing body for the sport of rowing in the world, established in 1892. • Foot Stretcher - Also stretcher; an adjustable platform with two inclined footrests that hold the rower's shoes. The shoes are bolted into the footrests. The rower pushes his legs against the foot stretcher during the drive phase of the stroke. • Four, four-man shell - Boat that seats four rowers, with or without a coxswain. View more information on boat types and sizes. • Frontstops - The stops at the stern end of the tracks. • Gate: The bar across the oarlock that keeps the oar in place. • German rigging - A variation in the arrangement of oars in a sweep boat. Instead of alternating from side to side, two consecutive rowers have oars on the same side in a German-rigged boat. Also, see bucket rig. • Grip - The rubber or wood part of the oar handle you hold while sculling. • Gunwales - Pronounced "guh-nells," these are the top edges of the sides of the boat, where the riggers attach. • Half Pressure - The application of power in a shell such that the rowers are pulling half as hard as possible. • Hang - Pause at the catch before dropping the blades into the water. Also the suspension of one's body weight from the oar handles and the footstretchers. • Head Race - In the fall season there are head races. The name comes from a traditional English race called the Head of the River. The first head race in the US was the Head of the Charles Regatta in Cambridge/Boston begun in 1965. • Heats - The initial races to determine who advances to the finals. • Henley Races - Henley races are named after a style of racing conducted at the famous Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames in England. The river is narrow at Henley so only two boats race at a time and the loser is eliminated and the winner goes on to the next round. This format is popular for narrow and/or short race courses in the U.S. • Hull - The outer skin of a racing boat, usually constructed of fiberglass, wood or—more commonly today—carbon fiber. • Inboard: This is primarily used to refer to the length of the oar from the button to the end of the handle. • Keel - Centerline of the boat. Also refers to the lateral steadiness of the boat. An unbalanced boat is said to be off keel. • Layback - Degree of backward lean of the rower's body at the end of the finish. • Let it run - Coxswain’s call for all rowers to stop rowing, permitting the boat to glide through the water. Used after the boat crosses the finish line, and during drills to improve lateral balance. • Lightweight: Refers to the rowers, not the boats; there is a maximum weight for each rower in a lightweight event as well as a boat average.