Oarsome Discovery
Illawarra Mercury
Saturday July 18, 1998
If the Australian rowing team used rigid oars at the Sydney Olympics they could blitz the field and win a swag of gold medals, researchers claim.
Professors Maurice Brearley and Neville de Mestre told a conference, on Mathematics and Computers in Sport at Bond University on the Gold Coast, that if a coxless pair crew used rigid oars over 2000m it would improve its performance by up to three boat lengths.
However the bad news is that technology is lagging behind and a lightweight, completely rigid oar is nowhere in sight.
© 1998 Illawarra Mercury