Steve Walker, founder of www.scullingacademy.com/OptIn..., reveals a remarkable video of an incident he recorded unintentionally. Please share this with your friends.
Great to refresh my rowing skills after many years. I learnt to row in Zambia when I was 18 and now past retirement age living in Germany have joined my local rowing club on the Mosel river, a beautiful stretch of water. It is wonderful to have all the aids or rowing available on the Internet unlike all those years ago. Thank you so much Steven.
The peg visualisation was taught me years ago and it works really nicely in getting a fast catch and non splashy blade entry. You have a sculling technique that is a joy to watch. Thanks.
Great Video! I have recently started sculling in Liverpool City centre at Mersey rowing club after 12 months of sweep rowing. I notice that looks like Chesters water there! Fantastic stuff I will definately be having having a look at your website.
Nice bit of river that, at 6'4" 110kg I coxed new rowers in the 2021 final event of the Explore (non BR) NW&E series on the river Dee. On "Catch", I like to think of it as the water catching the blade at its neutral buoyancy point - then the only concern of the sculler is to keep that hand height and drive. This is a superior description in my opinion that the sculler actively catching the water - which I think encourages them to drive the blade in.
Yes, how you think about things determines their execution. I don't like the word "catch" (too hard a sound) and try not to use it in my coaching or in my scullingacademy.com. I prefer to talk about making a connection at the front end between the hands and feet through the body. That can be abbreviated once the crew has understood it.
Exactly. If his boat had been going a little slower the same thing would’ve happened to him. I still don’t get the point of this video or what he was supposed to be instructing us about.
So for the summer I am rowing a single, and I've been trying to improve my method of catching my oar by just turning the oar from the feather to square by really only using my fingers and top of my hand. Do you have any advice or ideas on a good way of rolling up with ease?
Stephen - thank you for this which I found very interesting... At the end of last year I lost my uncle Stuart Mackenzie whom you might recall from his Diamond Sculls history at Henley. I spent a week or so in November writing his obituary for the Australian press. Do you happen to have any footage of him when he was sculling?
very interesting, I row in a double scull sometimes and was lucky enough to make it to the finals of national schools regatta last year. Trying to pick up all the tips I can to help us gain the extra seconds for a victory this year.
Bravo Alex. Yes it's all about the little details. Notice what I said in this video. What you need to know isn't WHAT to do but HOW to do it! So my best tip is that, at the very least, you check out Sculling Academy scullingacademy.com and opt in to get some more tips even if you do not buy any courses.
I feel stalked. I think your right, we screwed up our semi-final race. To save a bit of dignity though we then beat the city of oxford crew that won nat schools in a sprint regatta. Sorry for the misinformation, don't want no smelly chat.
It depends what you want to do with the footage and what particular aspects of your sculling you want video of. I have tried placing it on the pin at the end of the rigger but the wide angle distorts things so much that it is not very informative. If you want the view from the side then get somebody with a long focus lens to video you from the shore or river bank. Video from a launch is good too but the launch driver needs to avoid the puddles you create for a smooth video. Best results with a GoPro are from the bow or stern deck. I usually place my camera about 3/4 way towards the end of the boat from the cockpit.
Hi Stephen, I'm interested that as someone who has an admirable rowing record, you have chosen a Wintech International. At our club committee meeting last week we had a strong petition from the Senior Ladies who want nothing less than the order of a new Filippi and certainly NOT a Wintech, as they wanted to have a more "pleasurable" time on outings and presumably, a better chance of winning races. They cited the Wintech as a mid-performance boat and were somewhat dismissive of the make. Do they have a valid point? I have for the record just purchased a Wintech International single for myself, not being a label queen. As someone who has to assist in the decision, how best is an answer addressed?
Hi, what most people don't realise is the pedigree of Klaus Filter. He started building boats as an apprentice in Berlin just after WWII. He has designed more gold medal winning racing boats than any other man alive. He was the FISA materials commissioner for 20 years. He designed Filippi's boats over 20 years ago. He designed the FISA lightweight single around 1986 and that is still the same shape today and used by lots of builders. He designed Redgrave and Pinsent's Aylings 2-. He designed the WEB boats, the BBG boats, the Sims boats, the Janousek boats, the Flying Eagle boats. Most boats in most boathouses have been designed by him. Everybody copies his designs and when they deviate from his design their boats go slower. And who has his latest designs? Wintech! The fact that they are moderately priced fools many people into thinking that they have moderate performance. I am extremely happy with my Wintech. I think I've said enough.
It would be better to teach the whole story and starting with the lever theory, then introduce the fact that the oar is a lever of the second type where the water/ blade is the fulcrum, the "thole in the gunwale" is the Load and the hand is the effort. Obviously the geometry of the arrangement would mean that the "thole" is moving as fast as the boat in a straight line with respect to the water, while the blade or fulcrum is stationary with respect to the front movement of the boat, but moving laterally with the boat and also with an angular rotation sector, while the hand is moving not only parallel and faster than the boat but also laterally to it with an angular rotation . If the idea of a "stationary peg" in the water is used then the blade will have to slide on the stationary peg. Note if the blade is treated in its reality, and rather than being stationary, that it too moves back a little due to fluid dynamics vortex involved, well the problem would be nice but a bit of a nightmare. The distance between the thole and the hand decides the mechanical advantage of the system and in rowing, there is not much amplification of the force one applies to the handle side. In the video the oars being used, the amplified force on the "thole" to drive the boat is increased by, force on thole =4/3 or 1.3333. The hand has to move much faster than the boat and since this is a reciprocating action , while the boat is moving at a fairly constant speed with small changes the rower is accelerating and decelerating his heavy body faster than the boat, in addition to pulling the boat. It is a bit of a paradox to think that the rower is overtaking the boat every time he gives energy to it! So here is a situation where a heavy tall rower could be using a lot of energy to accelerate and decelerate himself and the oars rather than pushing the boat against the friction and wave resistance of the water on the boat. It is a pity to think that the rower is getting tired not for giving energy to the boat, but by accelerating and decelerating himself and the oars in addition to raising his own weight that of his torso and his legs. So the method of winning races is not to spend a lot of time designing boats, as most boats are good and optimised and heavier and lighter would mean that if light one cannot store momentum in it and if it is heavy one cannot accelerate it quickly. Most boats are " equal" and so one needs to be mathematically oriented to select the right shape of rower as his inertia with respect to his strength is what counts. One needs to see through the needs to accelerate and decelerate the rower not only in an angular sector but also a linear movement due to the sliding seat. Muscles which are not only strong but fast moving are a must as the rower has to be faster than the boat and due to the fact that the rower uses a reciprocating action , then his inertia must be low. So ideally one needs to attract and breed a very strong fast rower with no weight, which is a rather difficult proposition for any mother to provide! I would suggest that one needs to forget about the boat as boats are boats and they have been optimised far enough and any improvements would be with the paint to reduce the viscous friction. To select the rower one needs to have more mathematical experience than a rowing experience to simulate the problem that a man with a given amount of energy, weight, muscles, height, and the fact that his body needs to continuously accelerate and decelerate with the addition of transferring energy to an external load, well that is indeed a nice problem for any mathematician to simulate knowing a little algebra, calculus and how to set conditions for maximum gains and minimum efforts. It is good rowers that understand all this that win races and not the design of a boat not oars, as their contribution to speed is minimal considering the state of modern boat design. One day while rowing at Newcastle on a lake, I hired the boat for an hour and glided to a corner of the lake , where I could fool around a little and so I did. My aim was to sprint along a small length of the lake and so one can imagine the combination I used, shifting my weight forward, backwards and sprinting like a mad man, with sweat pouring down and then simply doing the length with an easy going pace. One quickly realises that rowing is not a linear game and if one doubles the effort one does not gain double the speed. After about 55 minutes of playing about, I saw that a number of people had gathered around the lake looking at me, and they seem to be interested in my antics, be those of a clown or a mad man I shall never know, When I returned the boat to the the man who hired it to me, to my surprised he asked, " Are you an Olympic rower?" and I told him, that I come from a family of traditional boat builders in Malta and I built and rowed and experimented with boats all my life and I was at the University of Newcastle following engineering. You know, that man took my money but he said, " Look you can stay using that boat for as long as you can and anytime you are around you can row for free, as since people have seen you rowing like that, I hired more than half a dozen boats for people to do what you did. Newcastle and Durham and Cambridge were good places to row, but not always to the limit of my spinal muscles.
I'm an engineer too Carmel and I know about all this stuff but I'm pretty sure that most people are not going to read past the first line of what you've written. Choosing and paying for a boat for most people is more of an emotional experience than a logical one.
Wow everybody, thanks for sharing. That is a lot of views in a short time. Remember, if you want to scull well and scull fast then enrol in scullingacademy.com and I'll teach you on-line.
Hello Stephen, If you are using a GoPro 2 can you please tell me what parameters you are using to get such excellent quality and width? I am always impressed with the beautifully videography that you are able to obtain in your videos. Thanks.
Great to refresh my rowing skills after many years. I learnt to row in Zambia when I was 18 and now past retirement age living in Germany have joined my local rowing club on the Mosel river, a beautiful stretch of water. It is wonderful to have all the aids or rowing available on the Internet unlike all those years ago. Thank you so much Steven.
The peg visualisation was taught me years ago and it works really nicely in getting a fast catch and non splashy blade entry. You have a sculling technique that is a joy to watch. Thanks.
Thank you.
Really beautiful rowing. Your catch is so good you don’t slow down at all at the catch.
Thank you very much!
Great Video! I have recently started sculling in Liverpool City centre at Mersey rowing club after 12 months of sweep rowing. I notice that looks like Chesters water there! Fantastic stuff I will definately be having having a look at your website.
Thanks
Nice bit of river that, at 6'4" 110kg I coxed new rowers in the 2021 final event of the Explore (non BR) NW&E series on the river Dee. On "Catch", I like to think of it as the water catching the blade at its neutral buoyancy point - then the only concern of the sculler is to keep that hand height and drive. This is a superior description in my opinion that the sculler actively catching the water - which I think encourages them to drive the blade in.
Yes, how you think about things determines their execution. I don't like the word "catch" (too hard a sound) and try not to use it in my coaching or in my scullingacademy.com. I prefer to talk about making a connection at the front end between the hands and feet through the body. That can be abbreviated once the crew has understood it.
Something very similar happened to me at my most recent regatta except my blade hit the ball😂
Exactly. If his boat had been going a little slower the same thing would’ve happened to him. I still don’t get the point of this video or what he was supposed to be instructing us about.
Wonderful catch
Thanks. I thought so too, as you can imagine.
So for the summer I am rowing a single, and I've been trying to improve my method of catching my oar by just turning the oar from the feather to square by really only using my fingers and top of my hand. Do you have any advice or ideas on a good way of rolling up with ease?
Sculling academy .comq
Row locked arms, elbows locked, forces the oars to be squared using the fingers not the wrists
Stephen - thank you for this which I found very interesting... At the end of last year I lost my uncle Stuart Mackenzie whom you might recall from his Diamond Sculls history at Henley. I spent a week or so in November writing his obituary for the Australian press. Do you happen to have any footage of him when he was sculling?
Ah Stuart Mackenzie. Sorry. I don't have anything of him. It would have been good if I had. My condolences.
may he rest in peace. hope you and yours are doing well!
very interesting, I row in a double scull sometimes and was lucky enough to make it to the finals of national schools regatta last year. Trying to pick up all the tips I can to help us gain the extra seconds for a victory this year.
Bravo Alex. Yes it's all about the little details. Notice what I said in this video. What you need to know isn't WHAT to do but HOW to do it! So my best tip is that, at the very least, you check out Sculling Academy scullingacademy.com and opt in to get some more tips even if you do not buy any courses.
sure thing, Thanks!
Alex, correct me if I am wrong but I am sure that you came fifth in your semi and failed to qualify for the final.
I feel stalked. I think your right, we screwed up our semi-final race. To save a bit of dignity though we then beat the city of oxford crew that won nat schools in a sprint regatta. Sorry for the misinformation, don't want no smelly chat.
can you please share with me best ideas to mount my action Cam to get good footage.
It depends what you want to do with the footage and what particular aspects of your sculling you want video of. I have tried placing it on the pin at the end of the rigger but the wide angle distorts things so much that it is not very informative. If you want the view from the side then get somebody with a long focus lens to video you from the shore or river bank. Video from a launch is good too but the launch driver needs to avoid the puddles you create for a smooth video. Best results with a GoPro are from the bow or stern deck. I usually place my camera about 3/4 way towards the end of the boat from the cockpit.
I recommend using the sucker facility and attaching it to as flat a part as you can find as near to the stern or bow as possible.
wow
Hi Stephen, I'm interested that as someone who has an admirable rowing record, you have chosen a Wintech International. At our club committee meeting last week we had a strong petition from the Senior Ladies who want nothing less than the order of a new Filippi and certainly NOT a Wintech, as they wanted to have a more "pleasurable" time on outings and presumably, a better chance of winning races. They cited the Wintech as a mid-performance boat and were somewhat dismissive of the make. Do they have a valid point? I have for the record just purchased a Wintech International single for myself, not being a label queen. As someone who has to assist in the decision, how best is an answer addressed?
Hi, what most people don't realise is the pedigree of Klaus Filter. He started building boats as an apprentice in Berlin just after WWII. He has designed more gold medal winning racing boats than any other man alive. He was the FISA materials commissioner for 20 years. He designed Filippi's boats over 20 years ago. He designed the FISA lightweight single around 1986 and that is still the same shape today and used by lots of builders. He designed Redgrave and Pinsent's Aylings 2-. He designed the WEB boats, the BBG boats, the Sims boats, the Janousek boats, the Flying Eagle boats. Most boats in most boathouses have been designed by him. Everybody copies his designs and when they deviate from his design their boats go slower. And who has his latest designs? Wintech! The fact that they are moderately priced fools many people into thinking that they have moderate performance. I am extremely happy with my Wintech. I think I've said enough.
@@StephenWalkerAhoy-Boats Brilliant, thank you. Very useful to know. I will find a way of crafting that into my response!
👍👍👍
Poggers for God
Traducir al español
Watch the premiere of our video at 1900 this evening. You will be able to choose Spanish subtitles.
It would be better to teach the whole story and starting with the lever theory, then introduce the fact that the oar is a lever of the second type where the water/ blade is the fulcrum, the "thole in the gunwale" is the Load and the hand is the effort. Obviously the geometry of the arrangement would mean that the "thole" is moving as fast as the boat in a straight line with respect to the water, while the blade or fulcrum is stationary with respect to the front movement of the boat, but moving laterally with the boat and also with an angular rotation sector, while the hand is moving not only parallel and faster than the boat but also laterally to it with an angular rotation . If the idea of a "stationary peg" in the water is used then the blade will have to slide on the stationary peg. Note if the blade is treated in its reality, and rather than being stationary, that it too moves back a little due to fluid dynamics vortex involved, well the problem would be nice but a bit of a nightmare.
The distance between the thole and the hand decides the mechanical advantage of the system and in rowing, there is not much amplification of the force one applies to the handle side. In the video the oars being used, the amplified force on the "thole" to drive the boat is increased by, force on thole =4/3 or 1.3333. The hand has to move much faster than the boat and since this is a reciprocating action , while the boat is moving at a fairly constant speed with small changes the rower is accelerating and decelerating his heavy body faster than the boat, in addition to pulling the boat. It is a bit of a paradox to think that the rower is overtaking the boat every time he gives energy to it!
So here is a situation where a heavy tall rower could be using a lot of energy to accelerate and decelerate himself and the oars rather than pushing the boat against the friction and wave resistance of the water on the boat. It is a pity to think that the rower is getting tired not for giving energy to the boat, but by accelerating and decelerating himself and the oars in addition to raising his own weight that of his torso and his legs.
So the method of winning races is not to spend a lot of time designing boats, as most boats are good and optimised and heavier and lighter would mean that if light one cannot store momentum in it and if it is heavy one cannot accelerate it quickly. Most boats are " equal" and so one needs to be mathematically oriented to select the right shape of rower as his inertia with respect to his strength is what counts. One needs to see through the needs to accelerate and decelerate the rower not only in an angular sector but also a linear movement due to the sliding seat.
Muscles which are not only strong but fast moving are a must as the rower has to be faster than the boat and due to the fact that the rower uses a reciprocating action , then his inertia must be low. So ideally one needs to attract and breed a very strong fast rower with no weight, which is a rather difficult proposition for any mother to provide!
I would suggest that one needs to forget about the boat as boats are boats and they have been optimised far enough and any improvements would be with the paint to reduce the viscous friction.
To select the rower one needs to have more mathematical experience than a rowing experience to simulate the problem that a man with a given amount of energy, weight, muscles, height, and the fact that his body needs to continuously accelerate and decelerate with the addition of transferring energy to an external load, well that is indeed a nice problem for any mathematician to simulate knowing a little algebra, calculus and how to set conditions for maximum gains and minimum efforts.
It is good rowers that understand all this that win races and not the design of a boat not oars, as their contribution to speed is minimal considering the state of modern boat design.
One day while rowing at Newcastle on a lake, I hired the boat for an hour and glided to a corner of the lake , where I could fool around a little and so I did. My aim was to sprint along a small length of the lake and so one can imagine the combination I used, shifting my weight forward, backwards and sprinting like a mad man, with sweat pouring down and then simply doing the length with an easy going pace. One quickly realises that rowing is not a linear game and if one doubles the effort one does not gain double the speed. After about 55 minutes of playing about, I saw that a number of people had gathered around the lake looking at me, and they seem to be interested in my antics, be those of a clown or a mad man I shall never know, When I returned the boat to the the man who hired it to me, to my surprised he asked, " Are you an Olympic rower?" and I told him, that I come from a family of traditional boat builders in Malta and I built and rowed and experimented with boats all my life and I was at the University of Newcastle following engineering. You know, that man took my money but he said, " Look you can stay using that boat for as long as you can and anytime you are around you can row for free, as since people have seen you rowing like that, I hired more than half a dozen boats for people to do what you did.
Newcastle and Durham and Cambridge were good places to row, but not always to the limit of my spinal muscles.
I'm an engineer too Carmel and I know about all this stuff but I'm pretty sure that most people are not going to read past the first line of what you've written. Choosing and paying for a boat for most people is more of an emotional experience than a logical one.
Wow everybody, thanks for sharing. That is a lot of views in a short time. Remember, if you want to scull well and scull fast then enrol in scullingacademy.com and I'll teach you on-line.
Hello Stephen, If you are using a GoPro 2 can you please tell me what parameters you are using to get such excellent quality and width? I am always impressed with the beautifully videography that you are able to obtain in your videos. Thanks.
Chrys Hansen
Video Res 720. 30FPS. FoV WIDE. NTSC.
I'm a cox and I also scull 😃
Poggers for God
Poggers?