These three were some of the foundational drills in the Kiwi men's eight that went on to win the Tokyo Olympics. We did them almost every training. None of them are fancy. They're the basics, done properly.
Why these three drills?
An eight is a fast-moving boat with eight people trying to do the same thing at the same time. Each of these drills works on one part of that: gunnel taps on the finish and your clearance, catch slaps on the catch, and the quarter-slide pause on the run up to the catch.
1. Gunnel taps
Gunnel taps are a finish drill. The gunnel (or gunwale) is the top edge of the side of the boat.
"So we would actually tap our gunnels with our blades to really exaggerate the clearance off the water to make sure our blades weren't hitting our own puddles, to make sure we're tapping out to the same point."
You get two things out of it. Your blades get proper clearance off the water, and the whole crew taps out to the same point. If your blades are clipping the water on the recovery, or the crew is tapping out at different points, this is the one.
2. Catch slaps
Catch slaps are especially good for an eight.
"That helps so much with that decisiveness that you need to get on the catch on such a fast moving boat."
Roll up to the front with a feathered blade and slap it in as hard as you can. Literally as hard as you can, with the whole crew doing it together. It's counterintuitive. You'd think slapping it that hard would make you go super upstairs. Yeah, that's the point.
Do it for 10 or 15 strokes and you realise how tired your shoulders get. Then go back to normal rowing. The catch feels light and fast, and you realise how relaxed you can be while still being decisive at the catch. A set of catch slaps right before some race pace is bloody good.
3. Quarter-slide pause
A good old-fashioned quarter-slide pause. On the recovery, the whole crew stops at quarter slide, a quarter of the way up the slide, then rolls on up to the catch.
"Just getting everyone to that same point together at the same time so that we could roll up to the catch with a bit of confidence."
When the whole crew gets to the same point at the same time, rolling into the catch together is a lot more simple.
How we used them in the Kiwi eight
We did these almost every training, and there was one more we did every single day: the first 4 to 6km of every row feet out, with our feet sitting on top of the shoes. It makes you control your body weight, turns your core on and makes your rowing smoother. It applies to every crew, not just school or uni crews. We did it as an Olympic crew.
I reckon the fastest technique is whichever one the crew aligns on, and drills like these are how a crew gets aligned. More on that in what makes the boat fast. Ian Wright's pause at the finish works the same way, bringing the whole crew together at one point. And if you're one of the big units in the boat, catch slaps are a good lesson in being decisive without going all upstairs. More on using your power in a crew boat.
Common mistakes
- Holding back on the catch slaps. Literally as hard as you can. That's how you find out how relaxed you can be in normal rowing.
- Not doing them together. These are crew drills. Everyone at the same point, at the same time.
- Thinking drills are for beginners. We did these as an Olympic crew, almost every training.
Which one does your crew need?
More from Shaun on this
Read the transcript
one of the most beneficial exercises you can do as a rower is the good old-fashioned catch slap where you roll up to the front of the catch with a feather blade and you slap that thing as hard as you fucking can like literally as hard as you can get the whole crew to be doing that together what this does super counterintuitive you think like oh i'd go super upstairs if i did that yeah that's the point you do that for like 10 or 15 strokes you realize how tired your shoulders get when you're trying to slap it as hard as you can then if you go to normal rowing after that exercise, fuck does the catch feel light and fast and you realize how relaxed you can be while still being decisive at the catch. So that is such a crucial exercise especially for a big boat is the catch slap and i think it gets a bit of height unjustified height so give it a try
