Alcalá 1986

Interest in the sport of crew has grown over the past several years. Crew, or rowing, has an interest – ing history. Boat racing originated in the 1700' in England. It was in part due to Thomas Doggett who offered a trophy, the Doggett Coat and Badge, to the winner of a race held on the River Thames. Later, the regatta, or racing meet, became an important sporting event at many universitites. The first race which took place in 1829 was be– tween Oxford and Cambridge Universities. In the United States, the oldest intercollegiate regatta, which started in 1852, is held by Harvard and Yale Universities.

CREW

In sweep-oar rowing, each man (or woman ) use one long oar. The boats can hold two, four, six, or eight people, and thus are called pairs, four , sixe , and eights. ome are designed to hold an additional crewman, the cox wain. The Coxswain teers the boat and give command to direct the timing of the oar strokes. Racing rowboats are lighter and more fra,;ile than ordinary rowboats and are called shells. There are various sizes and shapes of a shell. A single hell may weigh 30 pounds or le . An eight shell may be 60 feet long, 2 feet wide, and weigh about 285 pounds.