Oars

Today, we will talk specifically of one of the elements of equipment of rowing. It seems obvious, but the oars from our point of view are some of the most important materials in this sport. Without them, we could not could propel, which would be impossible to practice this sport. Why, then, we offer a detailed description of these:

Oars are used to propel the boat. They are long (sculling: 250–300 cm; rowing 340–360 cm) poles with one flat end about 50 cm long and 25 cm wide, called the blade. Classic oars were made out of wood, but modern oars are made from more expensive and durable synthetic material, the most common being carbon fiber.

An oar is often referred to as a blade in the case of sweep oar rowing and as a scull in the case of sculling. A sculling oar is shorter and has a smaller blade area than the equivalent sweep oar. The combined blade area of a pair of sculls is however greater than that of a single sweep oar, so the oarsman when sculling is working against more water than when rowing sweep-oared. He is able to do this because the body action in sculling is more anatomically efficient (due to the symmetry).

The spoon of oars is normally painted with the colours of the club to which they belong. This greatly simplifies identification of boats at a distance. As many sports teams have logos printed on their jerseys, rowing clubs have specifically painted blades that each team is associated with.