Boat design and technology in rowing has undergone tectonic shifts over the generations. As Peter A Derow points out that today timber does not cut it for competitive racing shells. Rather, boats are widely built out of advanced composites, mainly carbon fiber. For its weight, carbon fiber is among the strongest material available. Today engineers additionally use computational fluid dynamics for the purpose of fine-tuning the design of the racing shells, as well as the shape of the oars that are used to propel them.
Peter A Derow provides a general insight into advances in rowing boat design and technology
Boats and oars, the fundamental components of rowing, have undergone considerable technological improvements over the decades. Rowing shells were traditionally made of wood. However, due to advancements in material science, today they are constructed from carbon fiber composites. Such materials make boats stiffer, lighter and more durable, thereby ensuring better performance and reduced drag on the water.
A number of high-performance shells tend to use honeycomb core structures, where a lightweight honeycomb material is sandwiched between layers of carbon fiber. This design helps elevate the overall rigidity without adding weight. It results in a boat that is ultra-light and also incredibly strong, and therefore perfect for elite-level competition.
Oars have undergone considerable improvements as well. Oars today is often used with the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) that help optimize blade shape and efficiency. The introduction of the “hatchet blade” design particularly revolutionized rowing by increasing the surface area of the oar in the water, which ultimately helped improve propulsion. Today adjustable oarlocks and collars have become fairly common, and allow rowers to fine-tune their stroke mechanics to effectively match individual strengths and rowing styles.
Modern rigging systems facilitate precise adjustments to oar angles, heights, and spans. Such degree of customization goes a long way in making sure that rowers can optimize their stroke mechanics for maximum efficiency. Boats today is also built to be more adaptable to individual rowers. Ways have come up to modify the gearing per each athlete so that their load can be different from some of their teammates, so as to suit a different body type.
Racing shells today are often equipped with sensors that help track the performance of each rower. Traditionally, coaches had to gauge the performance of the crew simply by eyeballing the spaces between the splashes thrown up by the oars. But things have changed a lot over time. Now there are little computers on the boat that can tell the distance per stroke, 500-meter split as well as actual speed in miles or kilometers per hour. There are also gauges available that can be put on the oarlocks to show how much force each person exerts on their blade.
As per Peter A Derow, minimizing water resistance is an important factor in rowing efficiency. Hence, hydrodynamic testing is widely used by designers today to refine boat hull shapes to reduce drag and increase speed. Computational simulations help in predicting how different boat designs shall perform under varying conditions, facilitating continuous refinements in rowing shell aerodynamics.
