An eight is a

rowing boat Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically atta ...

used in the sport of competitive rowing (crew). It is designed for eight rowers, who propel the boat with

sweep Sweep or swept may refer to: Cleaning * Sweep, the action of using a brush to clean * Chimney sweep, a worker who clears ash and soot from chimneys * Street sweeper, a person's occupation, or a machine that cleans streets * Swept quartz, a clean ...

oars, and is steered by a coxswain, or "cox". Each of the eight rowers has one

oar An oar is an implement used for water-borne propulsion. Oars have a flat blade at one end. Rowers grasp the oar at the other end. The difference between oars and paddles is that oars are used exclusively for rowing. In rowing the oar is connecte ...

. The rowers, who sit in a line in the centre of the boat and facing the stern, are usually placed alternately, with four on the port side (rower's right hand side - also traditionally known as "stroke side") and four on the starboard side (rower's lefthand side - known as "bow side"). The cox steers the boat using a

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...

and is normally seated at the stern of the boat. Because of the speed of the boat, it is generally considered unsafe to row coxless or to have a bowloader cox. Racing boats (often called "shells") are long, narrow, and broadly semi-circular in cross-section in order to reduce drag to a minimum. Originally made from

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...

, shells are now almost always made from a

composite material A composite material (also called a composition material or shortened to composite, which is the common name) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or ...

(usually

carbon-fibre reinforced plastic Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

) for strength and weight advantages. Eights have a fin towards the rear, to help prevent roll and yaw and to help the rudder. The riggers are staggered alternately along the boat so that the forces apply asymmetrically to each side of the boat. If the boat is sculled by rowers each with two oars the combination is referred to as an

octuple scull An octuple scull (abbreviated 8X) is a racing shell or a rowing boat used in the rowing (sport), sport of rowing. The octuple is directed by a coxswain (rowing), coxswain and propelled by eight rowers who move the boat by sculling with two Oar (sp ...

. In a scull boat, the riggers apply forces symmetrically. A sweep oared boat has to be stiffer to handle the unmatched forces, and so requires more bracing, which means it has to be heavier and slower than an equivalent sculling boat. However octuple sculls are not used in main competitions. "Eight" is one of the classes recognized by the

International Rowing Federation World Rowing, also known as the World Rowing Federation (former abbreviation FISA; french: Fédération internationale des sociétés d'aviron), is the international governing body for rowing. Its current president is Jean-Christophe Rolland who ...

and one of the events in the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

.FISA World Rowing - Olympic Games
The first Olympic eights race was held in 1900 and won by the United States.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eight (Rowing) Rowing racing boats Articles containing video clips

See also

References