The following was posted to the Masters Rowing yahoo group by our own Kent McCleary

Re: Controlling the scull with your fingers

Thanks to Lloyd Martin for adding to the topic.

Here, though, we must give props to Master Sculler and Teacher Frank Cunningham of Lake Washington RC in Seattle. His book, The Sculler at Ease, is the bible of classic rowing technique. In it he describes extensively and clearly how to scull with flat, relaxed wrists, controlling the oars with your fingers.

The book has been reprinted in paperback with color photos. Most of the copies listed on Amazon.com I suspect are hardbound, from the first couple editions. I believe Lake Washington RC sells copies of it, and it’s listed on Prairie Rowing website among others. Get the book and read about it yourself. I’ve learned a lot from many rowing books, but Cunningham’s is what I row with.Here’s my rough summary – other coaches and rowers who’ve worked with Coach Cunningham should clarify and add to it.

The elements to the release are in the hands, arms — and shoulders.

• Forearms are always parallel to the water, and relaxed.
• Hold the handle a bit farther out than you would if feathering/catching with
  the wrists. I try to check that the knuckles of my fist are a bit
  behind the centerline of the loom.
• Wrist is flat and relaxed.
• Thumb is on the end of the handle.
• As you hook and drive through the stroke hang on the oar as you would hang
  on a chinup bar – your fingers are hooked around the bar. One wouldn’t
  do chinups with a hard fist, knuckles on top of the bar, at least past
  one or two.
• At the end of the drive, swing torso toward bow and
  squeeze shoulder blades together. Relax your fingers so the handle
  rotates, or rolls, a bit toward your fingertips, then push the blade
  forward, keeping it on the same plane as the drive.

The puddle will knock the blade flat, so all you have to do is push the handle forward, on the same plane as you pulled it to your rib cage. In sloppy water, you can push the handle down an inch or so as to clear the whitecaps, but it really doesn’t take much to lift the blade. (This is a difference in what I see in Mr.Martin’s post. Both Macon and hatchet blades will be knocked flat by the water. There is no need to push the hands down to release.)

Staying relaxed is the key. The concept is to expend the minimal amount of energy.

Shoulders - Squeeze shoulder blades (or pinch them) together at the release – shoulders back, parallel to the water, not up. This relaxed motion extends the stroke, helps rotate the oar for feathering and keeps your forearms and wrists in proper position, among other benefits.

At the catch, simply squeeze your fingers toward closing a fist, which rotates the blade back to vertical. In fact, here’s a link to a photo showing Cunningham using the catch he teaches, where the oar is not vertical but still angled when inserted into the water, the wrist is flat and the pull against the water squares the oar, again working with the water and conserving energy.

http://lakewashingtonrowing.com/?s=The+Sculler+at+Ease

Mr. Cunningham, if you should read this, Twenty years of sculling’s worth of thanks for the book and your teaching, and I hope my description here does some justice to you. However, I gotta admit I really struggle with your catch and I still haven’t figured out the sideways sculling you describe.

Respectfully submitted,

Kent McCleary
Renton Rowing
737sculler(at)seanet(dot)com

You can purchase The Sculler at Ease from Lake Washington Rowing Club through the following Amazon.com link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0967465109/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new