Talk:Racing shell

History
Something on the history & development of the shell would be welcome... Such as, the first sliding seat was added in 1857. Trekphiler 12:25, 16 December 2005 (UTC)

Wow - didn't realise that it was that early - I always thought it was Steve Fairbairn in the 20s who introduced sliders.


 * Ah, but did you know that before the sliding seat, they used lether pants coated in grease, on a longitudinal seat? http://www.fomitc.org/history_chapter8.htm  scot 21:38, 1 September 2006 (UTC)


 * More history, with dates, to be found at http://www.boathouserow.org/pac/pachist1.html scot 21:54, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

Is Janousek enough of a 'Notable' maker of shells? Pjc51 21:56, 1 September 2006

I agree with Pjc51 when he says about Janouseck, also what about Empacher, Sims, Stampfli, Lola-Aylings, ERB..? there are plenty of Non-American makes! Fredeaz 21:47 28th Jun 07 (GMT)

Number of rowers
Twice, I have come across a triple (three rowers); once on the Potomac River in Washington DC, and once on Lake Monroe in Sanford, FL.

I recall one of them was a 3-person scull. The other one was an interesting sweep/scull hybrid in which the center rower holds two oars but the fore and aft rowers each hold a single oar on opposite sides. When I saw this hybrid, I thought this was the most practical kind of practice shell imaginable. It could be operated by one rower as a scull, two rowers as a sweep, or three rowers as a hybrid, and always remain balanced.

I've never heard of such a thing in competition. I don't know of any company that makes triples, either. Probably they were custom-built, or made from modified coxed pairs.

Anyway, I'm not sure it's notable enough to mention triples in this article, but the article does mention other rare configurations, so I thought I'd bring it up here. -Amatulic 21:26, 24 October 2007 (UTC)


 * The hard part would be finding a reference to back it up; the 24-person hull mentioned was a one-off (or so I gather), but it was a notable one-off, made for a record attempt. The 6, 10 and 12s need a reference, a quick search doesn't turn up any references.  scot 22:07, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Racing Shell and Olympic Class Boats
Hi David,

You recent made this edit to the Racing shell article because you disagree that "Racing Shells" are sometimes referred to as "Olympic Class Racing Shells." I ask that you reconsider your edit.

Even if your assertion that "boats such as 2+ and 4+ are not Olympic classes" were true (which it is not as I explain below), I would argue that the term "Olympic Class Shell" is still a relevant synonym for "Racing Shell" because the 1X, 2X, 2-, 4X, 4- (men only), and 8+ were all raced at the 2008 Olympics. We appear to agree that these configurations are olympic class boats, and my edit to the article stating that "a racing shell is also referred to as the Olympic class boat" is accurate and informative even if (as you assert) Olympic class is a subset of racing shell/fine boats.

Furthermore, as I mentioned before, your assertion that "boats such as 2+ and 4+ are not Olympic classes" is misleading or inaccurate for two reasons. First, the 2+ and 4+ were raced in the Olympics for a century and as recently as the 1992 Olympics, so it is not accurate to state that these configurations are not Olympic with nothing furhter.

Second, your edit inaccurately conflates "Olympic Rowing Events" with "Olympic Class Racing Shell." These concepts are distinct and independent. The term "Olympic class boat" refers generally to those types of boats with a long slender design in the same way that fine boat or racing shell does. Referring to such a boat as an "Olympic class boat" is accurate independent of whether its configuration is currently raced in the Olympics or even whether it was ever raced in the Olympics. For example, an 8+ is an olympic class boat even if a particular manufacturer has never built a boat that has raced in the Olympics. Moreover, when Empacher makes and 8+ for a 155 pound crew, it is still an Olympic class boat even though there has never been a lightweight 8 Olympic event. And of course, if a crew puts sculling rigors on an Olympic class 8, the boat does not cease to be and Olympic class boat simply because there has never been an Octuple Olympic event.

Below are references (cached to highlight terms) that demonstrate "Olympic Class" being used in a way that is synonymous with fine boat and racing shell, and independent of the concept of actual olympic events:


 * 1) britishrowing.org describing the fine boat as follows: "The fine boat, also known as the Olympic class boat, is the familiar racing shell that you will see rowed or sculled at inland competitions"
 * 2) Hudson Boat Works describing all of the boats it manufactures as "Olympic Class Shells"
 * 3) article making distinction between olympic class boats and non-olympic class boats including "boats with wider hulls" and used for "ocean rowing"
 * 4) patent application for a "rowing machines with internal environments that duplicate actual Olympic-class rowing shells" used as a synonym for racing shell

Note: cross-posted on both Talk:Racing shell, User talk:David Biddulph

Thanks,

Ciricula (talk) 17:13, 23 June 2010 (UTC)