Remember the days of having drinking straws gummed to the side of the boat to mark your catch angle? Well it's impossible to buy plastic drinking straws now - so we are using cable ties instead.
What I found from having a marked catch angle was that despite being an experienced rower, I am actually very variable in my forward angle. I found that when I get the body set correctly off the finish, I achieve the catch angle - when I do not, I am 2-4 cm short of touching the wand.
Boat catch/finish angles
The perpendicular is the reference line — it runs at exactly 90° to the boat's centreline through the pin. Everything is measured from here.
Catch angle is how far the blade enters forward of the perpendicular. A larger catch angle means the athlete is reaching further toward the bow at the catch — more arc, but harder to accelerate through.
Finish angle is how far the blade extracts behind the perpendicular. Finish angles are almost always smaller than catch angles.
Total arc (catch + finish) is the key number, typically 75–90° for most sweep and sculling setups.
The values (47° catch / 33° finish) are close to typical Masters sweep targets. These are dependent on athlete height, flexibility and technique level.
This [not to scale] diagram show a sculling boat and the angles. Click it to see an animation of the oars moving through the arcs.
Easy catch/finish angle measure
The U-Row team has designed a neat tool to help you measure the catch and finish angles on sweep rowing shells - it sits on top of the oarlock pin (there's a tube to keep it centered). Then using a string line, you measure 90 degrees square off to get the tool aligned, and then take the string to the catch, where the angles are already marked on the circle. This makes it easy to define the catch angle.
Once you have the string in place at your preferred angle, put the U-Sweep wand mount onto the sax board (it wedges on easily); move the vertical black wand to gently touch the orange string line. Mark the position so it can easily be removed and repositioned.
The wand mounts press over the sax board of most modern boats - and can be removed after each practice. The black wand is flexible and your goal is to touch it with the leading edge of your sweep oar handle each catch. Oh, and the wand stores inside the long arm - saving space and less risk of damage.
It took us about 30 minutes to set the angles on an eight. Then each practice, the athletes can align their wand with the marks after it's on the water.
Buy a kit for a pair, four or eight - comes with one circular sweep tool and one wand per seat.
