Rowing Equipment

There are two basic types of equipment required for rowing: boats and oars.  A good website for descriptions of equipment and other rowing terms is the Idiots Guide to Rowing.  The site is British so some of the terms are just a bit different (e.g. we say "Let it run" and they say "Easy there" to mean stop rowing) but it gives a good overview.  Another good site for terminology, this time Canadian, is the Ottawa Rowing Club.

Oars

Oars, also known as blades, are used for moving the boat through the water and for balancing it.  There are two types of oars:  long sweeping oars and smaller sculling oars.  In sweep rowing each rower uses one oar and in sculling each rower uses two oars.  There are various types of oars but the most commonly used type is known as a hatchet blade.

Boats

Rowers use boats called shells.  In shells each rower uses either one long oar (sweep rowing) or two smaller oars (sculling).  The shells are of various sizes, holding from one to eight rowers.

Click here to see examples of sweep boats.

Click here to see examples of sculling boats.