Watercraft rowing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
With regard to watercraft, rowing is propulsion, usually of a small boat, by forcing one or more oars mounted on the craft via rowlocks to push against the water. The purpose can be transport, recreation or sport.
The most common instances, called sculling, are those where one rower pulls on two oars, each a single straight piece mounted to an oarlock on the gunwhale of the boat, thereby moving the boat in the direction opposite that which the rower faces. A single oar per rower, called sweeping, multiple rowers (usually coordinated by a coxswain), articulated oars that facilitate efficient rowing in the direction the rower faces, maneuvers aimed at turning or at rowing in the opposite direction, and some combinations of these, are also well established aspects of rowing.
For the principal case described above, keeping equal forces on the two oars, efficiently coordinating the application of vertical and horizontal force according to the point in the cycle of rowing, and muscular strength and endurance, are major aspects of effective rowing.
Sport rowing is an important specialized case of rowing.
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[edit] Ancient rowing
In ancient times, rowing boats (known as galleys) were extensively used during war. The Persians and the Athenians fought many sea battles in rowing boats. The Athenians rammed their enemy's ships at great speed - sometimes using up to 170 oarsmen. They also used moving seats which allowed the oarsmen to use their legs and propel the ship faster.
Galleys were an advantage over sailing ships due to being easier to manoevure and quicker. The Vikings took it one step further and added sails to their rowing boats, called longships, allowing them to move very quickly with a tailwind. Their usage continued until the advent of steam propulsion.
[edit] Venetian rowing
In Venice, gondolas are popular forms of transport propelled by oars - although more modern versions have an outboard motor. The technique [1] of rowing is considerably different from the style used in sport, due to the oarsman facing forward. This allows the boat to manoeuover very quickly - useful in the narrow and busy canals of Venice.
There are three different styles of Venetian rowing:
- Single oarsman with one oar (the oar also acts as a rudder)
- Single oarsman with two crossed oars (known as a la valesàna)
- Two or more oarsmen, on alternate sides of the boat
[edit] Whitehall Row boats
The origins of this distinctively elegant and extremely practical craft are unclear. In earlier times, however, builders were often sailors or seafaring men. Taught by the sea to be conservative, they stuck with the tried and true. Successful designs for large and small craft alike evolved slowly and as certain desirable qualities were attained and perfected they rarely changed.
Some hold that the Whitehall rowing boat design was introduced from England. However the famed nautical historian Howard I. Chappelle, cites the opinion of the late W. P. Stephens that in New York City there is a Whitehall Street and this was where the Whitehall was first built. Chapelle, Stephens and others agree that the design came into existence some time in the 1820’s in New York City, having first been built by navy yard apprentices who had derived their model to some extent from the old naval gig.
In Wooden Boats to Build and Use (1996), John Gardner of Mystic Seaport describes a 25-foot racing Whitehall, named American Star, which triumphed in an 1824 race in New York Harbor that according to newspapers of the time drew 50,000 spectators, more than any American sporting event ever until then. The following year the boat was gifted to an aging General Lafayette, hero of the American Revolution, during his tour of the U.S. The American Star returned to Lafayette's estate in France where it was displayed in a specially constructed gazebo. During the mid 20th century the boat was rediscovered in storage there, and its lines have be preserved at Mystic Seaport where an exact replica was built in 1974-75, and still rows at Seaport events.
for more information, see Whitehall Rowboat.
