Oars V Power......

[peterb]

Quicker than you might think, if the cox is on the ball, the speed at practise levels and the crew responsive. The crew are ordered to brace their oars in the water with the blade vertical. But it would be a dodgy manoeuvre at racing speed, and at that speed it would indeed be practically impossible to stop quickly; you'd have to wind the speed down to a level where the "hard stop" command would stand a chance of working without hurting someone!

Eights and fours are indeed slow to turn; the rules of the river in Cambridge take that into account where the "correct" side of the river changes for one short stretch where there is a large bend. They can rotate on the spot, but only if stopped; otherwise, the turning radius is many boat lengths. The rudder is really only for course trimming; major turns are affected using commands to the oarsmen. The rule for the cox is that if you're using the rudder, you've got it wrong.

I'd have to agree with T_L; racing on the tideway (Mortlake-Putney) steering is all done with the rudder. I doubt whether the crew would recognise any steering order!

There is a condition where the crew have to stop from racing speed, that's if one of the oars 'catches a crab'. With a good cox and crew the sequence "Hold her hard" - "Come forward" - "Ready" - "Row!" can be done so quickly that the crew loses little more than a length against the crew alongside.

 

[snowleopard]

On the Cam, in Bumps races, the rudder is only used for fine control when about to bump the boat in front. Otherwise, you get bow or two to pull hard (er)! It was permissible for two or bow to slacken slightly. In the early 70s (prehistory, I know), I was strongly enjoined that using the rudder slowed the boat heavily. This was on a winding river course, so using the rudder to steer could involve quite large rudder movements. I'm also recalling mainly wooden clinker eights with a large spade rudder at the extreme stern, not a modern shell with the rudder beneath the hull.

I rowed in quite a few bumps races and was never told to adjust my stroke to help with the steering. Probably an individual coach's style. When we were going for a bump there was never any question of anyone pulling less than a full power stroke.

A crash stop could be achieved in about a boat's length (60 ft). I can't recall ever doing it from racing pace (38-42pm) but regularly from paddle firm (30-32pm) when some prat in a scull came round the corner not looking where he was going.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

I rowed in quite a few bumps races and was never told to adjust my stroke to help with the steering. Probably an individual coach's style. When we were going for a bump there was never any question of anyone pulling less than a full power stroke.

A crash stop could be achieved in about a boat's length (60 ft). I can't recall ever doing it from racing pace (38-42pm) but regularly from paddle firm (30-32pm) when some prat in a scull came round the corner not looking where he was going.

As you say, possibly a different coaching style - and it may depend on the era as well; the technology of the eights has changed quite a lot since I was rowing (1971-1974)! I was rowing in the days when LMBC was still using toothpick oars (even though everyone else was using spades), and where there was still debate over whether to row the blade in or drop it in at the start of the stroke.

Stopping from "paddle firm" is a different matter from stopping from "row"!

I won both my oar AND my rudder in Bumps races!