Having a good finish is another critical component to a good stroke, and the height of your oarlocks can make or break it. Thankfully, making adjustments are quick and easy.
To inform your adjustments, it’s important to make the proper measurements. To do this, you will need a tape measure with centimeters and a long level to place across the gunwales of your boat.
First, place the long level across the gunwales and make sure the boat is level.
Next, move the seat beneath the bottom of the level and measure the distance between the bottom of the level and the top of the seat. This will give you your depth measurement. In the video example, the gunwales of the boat and the top of the seat are at the same height, so the depth measurement is not required.
Keeping the level where it is, measure from the bottom of the level to the bottom left or right corner of the oarlock (depending on which side you’re adjusting). This will give you your height measurement, which is 16cm on the example boat in the video.
Add your height and depth measurement and you will receive your overall oarlock height. As mentioned previously, the seat top and gunwales are already level on the example boat in the video, so the overall height equals the initial height measurement from step 4.