How tall are you compared to your rowing partner?
Height matters – but you also have to compare your arm length. Think of this as the distance from your finger tip to fingertip when you hold your arms out to the sides.
I’m exactly the same height as wingspan (think Archimedes’ picture of the man in a circle). And I used to row with Jenny whose wing span was 15 cm longer than her height – you can see why we had alignment issues in our pair and had to make compromises in our stroke.
You can check if your “wing span” i.e. fingertip to fingertip distance is the same (or more/or less) than your height.
Stand next to a wall put one finger tip on the floor and reach the other arm up to full extent to touch the wall above you. Leave the high finger touching the wall as you stand up… then put your back to the wall and see if the finger is level with the top of your head (or higher or lower).
The Archimedes image adjusted for oarsmen is courtesy of Tonia Williams who does artwork for oars folk.
