Concept2 Forum

Hey guys,

So I have a big rival of mine who is currently at a 6:50 erg weighing 84kgs making his watts/lbs ratio a 325/185 = 1.75watts/lbs.
Whereas: I pull a 7:20 erg weighing 59kgs making my watts/lbs ratio a 263/130 = 2.02watts/lbs.

Say for example - that in a time trial we have same conditions and same technique - would I beat him in a sculling race or is that not how watts/lbs power ratio works? Is there a more accurate way of working out who's power to weight ratio would be dominant on the water because we havnt started out scull selection yet and I need an idea of where I will be sitting.

Thanks!!!

It's not much relevance at all. Him weighing more will make a slight difference in the amount of the shell that is contacting the water, which will increase his drag ever so slightly, but nowhere near a 1:1 correlation. So in short, assuming (which is a huge assumption) that you could perfectly translate your erg strokes to OTW, he'd beat you by a wide margin.

-Steve

Sculling is so much about skill and technique that you really can't extrapolate anything from erg scores. As a first year sculler (coming up on 500k OTW this summer) I'm finding out just how much there is to making a boat go fast. There's guys that row at our boathouse that I can beat by 30s on the erg, and most of the women here are a minute behind me. Not OTW....they're all WAY faster than me OTW and it's gonna be a year or two before I can run with them (hopefully!). Stop worrying about your buddies and focus on yourself. It's the only thing you can control

Concept2 have a weight adjustment calculator
http://www.concept2.co.uk/indoor-rowers ... calculator

This apparently gives the potential speed (in an eight) if everyone was the same as the person whose details are being entered.
No idea if this is any good or not, but putting your and your friend's numbers in, shows that you are roughly comparable in terms of moving an eight on the water.
The big issue of course is as others have pointed out, this assumes equal rowing skill - and that is usually a much bigger diferential than erg score!

I stand corrected. Much more significance than I thought.

-Steve

I haven't taken the time to really break down the data, but looking at 1000m masters results the gap between the HWT's and LWT's is a lot closer than on the erg. There's very little penalty to be paid for being heavy on the erg for a 2k. On the long endurance events (HM and FM) moving that weight back and forth starts to be a factor. OTW, there's a big penalty to be paid. Now you have to move the weight and you need a bigger boat rated for a HWT. A fair comparison would be two cyclists (LWT and HWT) on indoor trainers, no penalty for weight. Put them outside, particularly in the hills, and it's all about watts/kg. I stand by what I mentioned earlier, technique is huge in a single. And the old "all other things being equal"; well all other things are never equal.Put your time in the single and become the best technical sculler possible.

That calculator is for "Eights"

Power to weight has a huge influence, but you have to look at the whole picture, not just your personal weight. Being ~150 lbs Id really like to see a power to weight ranking rather/as well as than simply HWT/LWT.

Your power to wt ratio on the water needs to include the boat (this is a very small portion of the time penalty/advantage, bigger deal in short distance, smaller in long distance). Water displacement due to increased weight is a bigger deal.

People make a big deal about power to weight. It is a big deal, right up until external factors become a big influence (air/water drag).

If you look at a 1/4 mile drag race and two cars: body style is the same and assume rolling components all present with the same drag. Car A is half the weight and half the power of car B (with driver). Power to weight is the same. If they are low power cars and top speed is low, the difference will be small. If they are high power cars and top speeds are high, the heavy car will always be faster because as speed increases the drag associated with air will increase and the effective power:external forces will change substantially in favor of the higher power car.

OTW the heavier rower will have to push more water therefor the drag is greater, combine that with your substantially better personal power to weight and you will close the gap, but there is only one way to know. Consider this: If you take a boat with eight rowers in it and they make a run, then remove a rower and make a run. The second run has less power but less drag due to the weight reduction. Which run will be faster?