Backing and Spinning techniques

Backing and spinning the boat are required at the start and the end of races. At the season opener regatta both were severely tested at the finish due to the strong (20mph) tailwind forcing boats onto the causeway.

This blog post is written to help crews understand the required techniques so that when we practice them they will be more effective.

In normal forward rowing, the oar collars and the oarlock are designed to make the blade move most efficiently through the water. Look at the diagram below.

I've drawn the boat with the bow to the left and tried to indicate the stern four rowing normally and the bow four balancing with their blades on the surface. The thing to understand is that no rower needs to look at their oars when the boat is moving forward. With a relaxed grip you will be able to feel the collars resting on their flat sections in the oar locks. If rowing the blade will be perfectly positioned to move through the water efficiently. If when rowing you "catch a crab" and have the blade dive deep or "miss water" and have the blade jump out you are too tense and do not have the collar on the flats. DO NOT look at the oar, but relax your grip and rotate the oar gently to feel the correct position.

In the diagram above you also see the bow four with their blades flat on the surface in a "balancing" position. When the collars are on the flat section in the feathered position, the blade is not actually parallel to the surface but rather angled very slightly so that the water will flow under the blade and the blade will be forced to ride on the surface. Again, YOU DO NOT NEED to look at the balanced position; the blade will naturally assume the correct attitude when you are relaxed and feel the flats on the collar.

Now, when backing, things are completely different! The boat is not designed to row backwards so the blades will not assume the correct angles with respect to the water. Both rowers and balancers will have to look at their blades to place them correctly. Look at the diagram below.

Now the boat is backing and the stern four will be looking at their blades making sure the blades are upside down and are pushing water to the bow. Note that when backing, rowers cannot push with their legs -- the force comes from their arms and back only. Now, since the water is flowing toward the bow, the bow four will have to twist their blades slightly to allow the water to flow under the blade and not on top. This requires conscious effort. The natural flat position of a balance blade has the forward edge higher (see below) and when backing the water would flow above the blade and pull it down seriously hampering the backing effort.

To see what I'm talking about, watch the following piece of video of our WN8 backing into the start platform on Saturday.

With the stern pair backing you want to see the other six blades on the surface of the water. If the blade is under water it creates drag and makes the boat slow and/or turn. During this 60 second clip, various seats have their blades above and under water at various times. All not rowing need to consciously twist their oar so the blade rises above the surface.

Now, in benign conditions (in the lee of the shore with plenty of water downwind) there's lots of room for stops/starts/mistakes/corrections. With Coach O'Brien at hand helping, the crew made it to the start platform without incident.

But consider what happened at the finish. The boat is going full speed with a tailwind and a causeway is directly ahead. No room for error here! Luckily (or unfortunately) we have video of the same WN8 at their finish:

Jess correctly stops the boat with hard checks and then starts to back down. Look carefully at the bow six's blades. Any blade not on the surface is seriously hampering the backing effort. In these conditions, it would probably be best to use the stern four to back out and get well away from the jetty before trying to spin the boat. When spinning, as soon as the boat turns with the wind on the side it will immediately start to drift towards the causeway. With the James River crew nearby, complications arose quickly. Jess had to stop spinning and start backing again but the wind was now on the side and things degraded quickly.

So what was the solution?  Probably using the stern four to back and get well away from the causeway before starting to spin. Then to spin quickly, without moving forward, seats 6 and 8 should have backed and seats 1 and 3 should have rowed normally. There is one important consideration, though. Seats 1 and 3 cannot use their legs, only their arms and backs!!! When using legs there will be much more power and the boat will start to move forward towards the hazard instead of spinning in place. Of course, the rudder needs to be hard over to assist with the turn.

This is a skill that we will practice this week: spinning counterclockwise quickly with seats 1 and 3 rowing arms and legs only and seats 6 and 8 backing. We we also practice spinning clockwise with seats 1 and 3 backing and seats 6 and 8 rowing arms and legs only.