Geezus, let it go man!!!! Let it GO!!!!!!!

[lt.wolf]

“ The funny thing was, when I removed them, I started to row better, then when before I purchased them.”

I always felt they were a great training tool.

[fullmetal]

If they WERE to be interpreted as illegal, then what is to stop FISA declaring certain blade shapes or sizes, or shaft diameters and profiles also to be illegal? Clearly THOSE elements result in a change in the water/oar interface.

No, the very fact that you used the terms shapes, sizes, and diameters separately from the term interface means that changes in those aspects are not intrinsic changes to the water/oar surface interface. Randall Foil installation results in a change to the blade shape, which is allowable. Definitely not the same.

World Rowing may end up allow it (I don't think they should, inasmuch as they shouldn't allow sharkskin riblet tape on hulls, which is also accessible to all and exclusive to none). But it won't be because the committee can't tell the difference between the water/oar surface interface and a blade's shape/size or shaft diameter. You might as well put riblet tape on your oar shafts, which -- has World Rowing ruled on that?

[rowing]

They already allowed turbulator tape on shafts.

https://wingsandwheels.com/turbulator-dimple-tape.html

GBR, NED and others used it in mid-2010s. No proof it does anything beyond testing bias, and so cheap it doesn't rise to any level of concern.

It's over. It's been over for a decade. Let it go.

[KitD]

The only interface FISA are interested in is between water and hull. That's where the vast majority of drag occurs. Drag from oars, etc, is too small for them to worry about.

[Minetti]

So, Ian says in his video that we'd rather want a drop shaped oar shaft, then we'd not need the stickers.

Then we should look at Dreher's solution:
https://www.durhamboat.com/oars/scullin ... al-sculls/
(aerodynamic)

By coincidence, I picked up a set of Dreher Aerodynamic sculls after my club's squad decided they are too hard to row with. It is certainly "feelable" that in a head wind the feathered oar has less resistance than traditional round shafts. But indeed they are harder to row with, but I persisted using them and now feel as comfortable as with any other oar. In fact now that I know what to expect, they are my clear favourite. Took a year or so.

[Splashy]

Why is he putting them on the trailing side of the shaft? I thought that the normal place for the trip strips was on the leading half of the oar to induce turbulent flow and delay separation.