FAQs

What is crew?

Crew is the sport of rowing. We use propel special racing boats, called shells, with specialized oars. The boats are long, narrow, and made of advanced materials to be as light and stiff as possible. Fixed to the shells are riggers, which hold the oarlocks through which the oars rotate. Inside the boat, the shoes are fixed to the boat and the seat slides back and forth, so that your whole body is engaged in moving the boat. To top it off, you face backward and carry around a coxswain, the person responsible for steering and commanding the boat.

Where and when do you practice?

We row primarily on the Allegheny River, but sometimes we will row out to the Ohio or Monongahela Rivers. Our boats are stored in our bay at Three Rivers Rowing Association on Washington's Landing. Practices are divided between novices (those in their first year of rowing) in the afternoons, and the more experience rowers in the mornings before classes. When the weather or river conditions do not allow us to row, we work out in our erg and weight room in Bellefield Hall.