Improve - Hand  Position on the Sculling Recovery (+ Common Problems)

When sculling, the hands must be in the correct positions during the recovery; otherwise, in a crew boat, balance issues result. In addition, the oar contacts the water when it should not in certain places and conditions.

Please look at the examples below and review your positions or that of your crew. Anthony Edwards, five times Olympic athlete, demonstrates common issues.  
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Better performance, particularly in crew boats and a balanced boat, will result. All the crew must be doing this the same way.

Correct Position:

In Australia and many countries, the left gate is set higher than the right one. Often this difference is built into the rigger. The hand on the side with the higher gate must be on top; otherwise, balance and hitting the water will be an issue.

Also, the top hand (left) should lead a little. This enables the bottom hand (right) to tuck under the wrist and minimises the height gap.

It is essential in a crew boat that all the crew do it the same way.

It is crucial that the feathering of the oar is done correctly. Otherwise, the wrists will not be flat and poor balance will automatically result as the correct crossover hand position will be impossible to achieve.

For more info, please see:

• Hand position for sculling
• Hand position during the recovery
• How to handle a sculling oar
• Sculling grip - Practice at home
• Which grip is best
• Use a Grip to learn to Feather​

​Right-hand leading:

All crew members must lead with the same hand, and in Australia, we lead with the left.

This problem is easily fixed with a drill where the athletes exaggerate the leading with the left for a few strokes to emphasise the correct lead, then have them only lead enough to tuck the right hand under the left wrist as in the above photo.

Right over left:

This issue causes the most problems if the boat that's rigged left over right as the boat's balance will suffer. In addition, an uncomfortable row will result if some do it one way and others do the other.

Left leading by too much:

This forces the body and shoulders to be on an angle.

As explained above, this concept can be used as a drill to emphasise leading with the left hand on the recovery.

​Both hands at the same point:
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This is often seen with beginners and has the effect of unbalancing the boat because the offset between left and right is usually 1cm, and the oars are further apart if the hands are directly over each other.

Additionally, athletes who row like this usually get more cuts on their right knuckles from fingernails on their left hand.