Similarly here, Frank Cunningham would cut down the oar length and change the shape of the hatchet blades to suit shorter women, since oar blades are honestly not tuned to body types outside of, well, as big as possible. Like with boats, the idea of custom tailoring rowing equipment to the rower has never really caught on as a matter of course. One would think that a 5'5" rower might experience a bit more fatigue pulling a 288cm smoothie when compared to a 6' rower. It worked well for them, and he was an advocate for a bit more customization to suit body type up until he passed away.KiwiCanuck wrote:Wow. I've SEEN blades with leather sleeves but never used them. Heat-shrink plastic, yes, but not leather.petermech wrote:I remember hearing the row long into the head wind long time ago. What I thought of after reading KiwiCanuck's post was that with leather sleeves and the collars being nail on to the wood oar changing it would not be easy. I guess you could use a saw to make the handle shorter....
I hear that in the early days people put lanolin on their backsides and slid on a sheepskin seat cover... However...
I recall a coach from my early days who used to rig his women's crews individually based on a formula derived from their erg test (Gjessing wattage) and measured stroke arc length - each seat in the boat had a different span and each Karlisch wooden racing oar was cut or occasionally lengthened to provide individual rigging. It took quite a skilled woodworker to extend a handle that had been cut in such a way that the extension wouldn't break off during use. I don't remember if he rerigged to account for wind direction, but he probably did.
Regarding headwind and/or tailwind, I think that adjusting technique vastly would be too much time taken away from just pulling and getting the effective length in the water, unless you're in a gale condition. my personal experience has shown me, at least, that it's easier to set a boat up in a headwind, and what little motions I make to adjust for a headwind I can't conciously identify. I certainly don't feel like I'm longer or shorter, or have a greater or lesser layback, depending on the wind conditions.
Now, if the WATER is rough, a shorter stroke can be more beneficial, since it does reduce time during the recovery where the oars are out of the water and boat set is more difficult. Carrying the blades a bit higher in rougher water is a good idea, and digging a little bit more during the drive (so that the oar will not wash out prematurely) would be a good idea.