"Catching a crab is one of the worst, and most embarrassing, things that can happen while rowing. The term "catching crabs" refers to sticking an oar in the water and not being able to release it. When the oar fails to come out of the water, all of the forward momentum of the boat is focused on the offending oar, rigger, and oarsman behind it. If someone catches a crab, it looks as if the oar had hit a crab swimming in the water, stopping the oar dead in the water. Crabs are almost always devastating to the boat's speed and may even cause a small boat to flip. "
I caught my first big crab while rowing on the Hudson yesterday.
Hah, prepare to catch many more!! Seriously though, it'll get easier to avoid as you gain experience. Are you sculling or rowing?
I remember when I first started I went out one morning on my own and it was a little windy but being a kayaker I didn't think anything of it. Once I got out there it felt like I was rowing in a full force gale and my oars were catching the top of every wave. I was never so exhausted as when I finally got back to the dock.
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Soulless Blackberry-using weasel with coffee breath
Hah, prepare to catch many more!! Seriously though, it'll get easier to avoid as you gain experience. Are you sculling or rowing?
I remember when I first started I went out one morning on my own and it was a little windy but being a kayaker I didn't think anything of it. Once I got out there it felt like I was rowing in a full force gale and my oars were catching the top of every wave. I was never so exhausted as when I finally got back to the dock.
Sculling is two oars, right? I am now rowing on an eight-person sweep. The club I am in has some quad sculls that the more experienced members take out. I am hoping I will have a shot at one in a month or so.
We don't row in whitecaps and sometimes -- as beginners -- we get the "weigh enough" order even when we are rocked with a motor boat wake.
Claude, do you have a single scull? If so, I have a dumb question for you -- why don't scullers (that don't have a coxswain) have mirrors, so they can see behind them?
Last edited by rollhead; June-18th-2009 at 02:28 PM.
I just use the local club's recreational single scull shells. I basically just do it for exercise and I'm self taught, so I'm sure my technique is for shit. But I can keep the boat moving and it's amazing exercise with the added benefit of being on the water.
Good point about the mirrors, I remember one busy morning on the water where I almost had a collision with another single. I remember years ago when one of the Canadian singles rowers had a major injury to her leg during training from getting t-boned by another shell, then I found this in a quick google search:
A 55-Year-Old Man Impaled in a Rowing Accident
A 55-year-old man was sculling when his boat collided with an eight-person shell; the prow of the larger boat entered his lower back and exited through his abdomen, throwing him into the water. He was taken to this hospital, where the trauma surgery team took over his care. Members of the team discuss the problems of traumatic abdominal and orthopedic injuries and the role of trauma systems.
Ouch!
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Soulless Blackberry-using weasel with coffee breath
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