In a crew boat if a sculler is digging deep on stroke side will this tilt the boat to stroke side or bow side?

If the digging is caused by raising the hands, it will cause the boat to go down on the opposite site – Bowside in your case.  Look at this photo by the Calm Waters Rowing team (from Row2k.com).  The athlete has her left hand above and slightly in front of her right, arms nearly straight.

Sculling hand positions Photo credit : row2k.com

You can test this using this Exercise: Testing and Proving that the Oars Balance the Boat

1. First make the boat level while stationary, have your hands close together left over right and left hand slightly in front.  if the boat is not level here, then your rig is not correct.  Many coaches set the rig with 10 – 15mm height difference between left (higher) oarlock and right.
2. Sit at the finish with arms straight – everyone lift the right hand up 5 cms – which side does the boat tip?  Then return to boat level and hands close together to sit level.
3. Now lift your left hand up 5 cms.  Which side does the boat lift up?

Understanding the opposite side effect of hand height differences is important to resolving the problem.

Tomorrow we’ll show you a drill to help to teach a fix for this.