Why feather?

[powerTwenty]

Why do rowers feather the blade, other than decreased wind resistance during the recovery? I often hear "early roll-ups" when rowing with a tailwind, but would an elite crew in a strong tailwind actually go faster if they rowed entirely on the square?

[Byron Drachman]

The effects of wind and feathering are discussed here:

http://www.biorow.com/RBN_en_2009_files ... News12.pdf

There is probably some additional stability that comes from having the blades feathered during part of the recovery. You would need a very strong tailwind, more than the sum of the boat speed and speed of the blades relative to the boat as they travel during the recovery, to get an extra assist by rowing with square blades. The coaches I know want to see the blade squared before the entry, I imagine to try to avoid rowing in and also to try to avoid the dreaded crab. So my understanding is that you need to be squared early enough that you avoid rowing in or doing a flip catch but not so early that you are getting more wind resistance than necessary.

[ArmandoChavezUNC]

Not to mention the extra movement required on the oar handle to bring it down enough so that the blade clears the water. In anything other than clear conditions this would make the row very difficult and would definitely impact the smoothness of the movement of the boat as a whole.