Racing Start
© 2005 Atkinsopht (03/17/09)
The ROWING model is not specifically set up to model starts but it looks as
though 90% of race speed is achieved in about fourteen strokes for a single
and twenty strokes for an eight, assuming the same rower peak oarhandle pull
at each stroke. This is a more or less theoretical result. "Race speed" is
less than the speed that would be attained if the starting stroke effort were
maintained continuously. Thus, in reality, "race speed" would be attained in
fewer than fourteen (or twenty) strokes.
About fifty percent of race speed is achieved by the end of the first stroke
and sixty percent by the end of the second stroke regardless of crew size.
This could be easily verified in the field using the modern speed measuring
devices; I would be happy to have some feed-back. In fact, V. Kleshnev has
recently analysed the
racing start with conclusions largely confirming the ROWING result
for full sweep strokes. He shows that there is gain to be realised in varying
the the sweep range for the first few strokes.