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Home > RowingChat > 3 Essential Rowing Reference Points
Podcast: RowingChat
Episode:

3 Essential Rowing Reference Points
Category: Sports & Recreation
Duration: 00:17:08
Publish Date: 2026-04-13 01:42:59
Description: The most experienced rowers aren't thinking about every movement: they are hitting three key checkpoints only. The finish, quarter slide and three quarter slide. Timestamps 01:30 The Finish The finish is the only point where the boat, the blades and your body are all travelling in the same direction (the direction the boat is moving in). This gives the finish a stillness where you can be relaxed and sit still - the work is done. You should feel balanced and symmetrical with a low centre of gravity. This is the most stable part of the stroke. Your posture contributes to the stillness - an open chest posture. As your hands move away the finish is over and your mass starts to move up the slide towards the stern (opposite direction to the hull movement). You feel incontrol of time - if you feel rushed in the recovery use this point at the finish to reset. Recommended drill - single strokes to the finish. Leave your handle(s) next to the body, feathered. 05:00 Quarter Slide Here you have the body set in the catch angle - this is so you can begin to feel the boat moving under you. Recover your body mass and start it moving towards the stern. Your handle continues past your knees at this point - as a consequence this draws your shoulders forward and your trunk rocks naturally. You are nearly in the catch position (except for your leg compression). If you don't get your handle past your knees you tend to row upright and don't get the trunk movement and you rock late in the recovery which disrupts the boat. If you lift your handle too early later on you have to push it down to give room to square - another disruption. In sweep at quarter slide your nose, chin and sternum line up with your inside knee. Recommended drill - row pausing at quarter slide checking you get into the right position at the pause. 10:30 Three Quarter Slide This is the 'danger zone' where hull speed gets lost. Your mass is 5-7 times the mass of the boat hull. If you are sliding faster than the hull your mass works against the boat. Going fast up the recovery slows your boat. Imagine doing a squat jump - if you descend too fast and drop your weight to the floor makes you feel heavier on the floor making it harder to jump up again. This is similar to rushing the slide. Things to check at 3/4 slide - is your handle height low enough for you to square if needed? Is your upper body relaxed with minimal pressure on the footstretcher? Feel the boat is free under your feet. Test this by rowing at 3/4 slide and then return to full slide. If your boat speed is the same at 3/4 and at full slide it's a sign you could be more effective at 3/4 slide. Your centre of mass needs to be low in the boat, your torso should not be braced - it's in the same posture as at quarter slide. Recommended drill - shadow rowing drill. Row the recovery without holding the oars. Try shutting your eyes. Call out each position as you go through it - finish, quarter slide, three quarter slide. Naming the point helps. Summary The finish resets you and gives you time, the quarter slide sets your body before the boat begins to move and three quarter slide is where you preserve or lose hull speed. When you get tired or under pressure that's the moment to focus back into these three points. Robin Williams' article https://plus.britishrowing.org/2022/02/07/the-recovery-2/
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