Olympic rowing how do they keep straight?

[truebrit]

Does anybody know how they manage to keep on course, they just seem to row like hell to me, no sign of one rower putting a bit more effort in or the other bloke missing a stroke to steer, they are b****y good arent they, especially as they are going backwards !!! and dont those little 49ers go, must be planing at 10knots or so! are they 4.9 metres or what, Im sure they are nothing to do with Clementine or mining so how do they get their name? any answers appreciated.

<hr width=100% size=1>Mike....... V8s are sweet music

 

[Talbot]

Its simple really, they are all fine upstanding people who always manage to stay on the straight and narrow /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

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[boatone]

You can read all about the 49'ers <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.boatsontheweb.com/> Website, Photo Gallery, Chat Room, Burgees

 

[mdb]

Hi everyone first post here, but as an ex-rower I can answer this. Thre is a rudder on the boat attached by wires to a swivelling shoe for one of the rowers. On multilane course such as the Olympics you steer by looking at the start of the course it is dead straight and there are small bouys at frequent intervals. Still not easy and when I did it we routinely wandered all over the lane.One reason - along with my lack of ability - why I never competed at a serious level.

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[ArthurWood]

They don't appear to be rowing/forums/images/icons/smile.gif

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[truebrit]

Many thanks to you and Tony, my questions answered perfectly.

<hr width=100% size=1>Mike....... V8s are sweet music

 

[Metabarca]

Of course, if they're sculling, then there's no rudder, that's quite obvious!....
I would only add that one would try to touch the rudder as little as possible as it affects the balance of the boat, slows it down and can put one or other of the oarsmen off.

<hr width=100% size=1>Adriatic links here: <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.comoy.com/saillinks.html>http://www.comoy.com/saillinks.html</A>

 

[Romeo]

and there is usually a couple of posts for each lane to use as a trasit off the start

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