Technical Drills - coaching videos

Racing Start

To get the boat moving at the beginning of the race, the first few strokes are partial strokes. Different boats and different coaches call for different sequences of these partial strokes.

In the video, Mike is starting with half-stroke, half-stroke, three-quarters stroke, then full strokes at a high rate with full power. After the starting three strokes, he rows at maximum rate, full stroke length for 12 strokes.

As the boat comes abeam of the camera, note the bend in the oar at mid-drive of the stroke. Pause the video so that you can note the constant pressure the sculler imposes on the face of the blade during the entire stroke, from the catch, during the leg drive, back swing and arm finish. The pressure during the stroke remains constant, but the velocity of the scull handles increases - which means that the velocity of the blade is increasing - therefore the boat's velocity is also increasing.