Physics of rowing oars

Abstract

In each rowing sport (rowing, kayaking, canoeing), the oars have their very own characteristics most of the time selected through a long time experience. Here we focus on rowing and address experimentally and theoretically the problem of rowing efficiency as function of oar lengths and blades sizes. In contrast with previous studies which consider imposed kinematics, we set an imposed force framework which is closer to human constraints. We find that optimal oar lengths and blades sizes depend on sports and athletes strength, and we provide an optimization scheme.

Keywords

• sports physics
• rowing
• optimization
• oars