A coxed four, also known as a 4+, 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. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars and is steered by a

coxswain The coxswain ( , or ) is the person in charge of a boat, particularly its navigation and steering. The etymology of the word gives a literal meaning of "boat servant" since it comes from ''cock'', referring to the cockboat, a type of ship's boat ...

. The crew consists of four rowers, each having 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 ...

, and a

cox Cox may refer to: * Cox (surname), including people with the name Companies * Cox Enterprises, a media and communications company ** Cox Communications, cable provider ** Cox Media Group, a company that owns television and radio stations ** ...

. There are two rowers on the stroke side (rower's right hand side) and two on the bow side (rower's lefthand 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 may be seated at the stern of the boat where there is a view of the crew or in the bow (known as a

bowloader A bowloader or bow-coxed shell is a racing shell (a type of boat used in rowing) in which the coxswain lies semi-supine in the bow, as opposed to the normal seated position at the stern. Bowloaders are often seen as coxed fours and also cox ...

). With a bowloader, amplification is needed to communicate with the crew which is sitting behind, but the cox has a better view of the course and the

weight distribution Weight distribution is the apportioning of weight within a vehicle, especially cars, airplanes An airplane or aeroplane (informally plane) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocke ...

may help the boat go faster. When there is no cox, the boat is referred to as a "

coxless four A coxless four is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars, without a coxswain. The crew consists of four rowers, each having one oar. There are two rowers on th ...

Racing boat Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wat ...

s (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) for strength and weight advantages. Fours 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 a

quad scull A quadruple sculling boat, often simply called a quad and abbreviated 4x, is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four people who propel the boat by sculling with two oars, or "sculls", one in each hand. Rac ...

. In a quad scull 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 than an equivalent sculling boat. However most rowing clubs cannot afford to have a dedicated large hull with four seats which might be rarely used and instead generally opt for versatility in their fleet by using stronger shells which can be rigged for either as fours or quads. "Coxed four" 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 ...

. It was one of the original 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 ...

but was dropped in 1992.FISA World Rowing - Olympic Games
The world fastest time in the coxed four has been set by the crew from Germany in the final of the World Championships in Vienna, Austria in 1991. The crew of

Matthias Ungemach Matthias Ungemach (born 21 May 1968 in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia) is a German rower (6'6"; 100 kg), double World Champion and Olympian. Ungemach, Armin Weyrauch, Armin Eichholz, Bahne Rabe and Jorg Dederding won the 1991 ...

Armin Weyrauch Armin Weyrauch (born 22 January 1964 in Friedberg, Hesse) is a German rower. He finished 4th in the men's coxless four event at the 1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpi ...

Armin Eichholz Armin Eichholz (born 21 May 1964) is a retired competition rower from West Germany. He won two Olympic medals in the coxed eight event: a gold in 1988 and a bronze in 1992, and in 1991 he won a world title in the coxed fours. References Exte ...

Bahne Rabe Bahne Rabe (7 August 1963 – 5 August 2001) was a competition rower from West Germany. He won two Olympic medals in the coxed eight event: a gold in 1988 and a bronze in 1992, and in 1991 he won a world title in the coxed fours. After retirin ...

and coxswain

Jörg Dedering Jörg or Joerg () is a German name, equivalent to George in English. * Jörg Bergmeister, German race car driver * Jörg Frischmann, German Paralympian athlete * Jörg Haider, Austrian politician * Jörg Andrees Elten (also Swami Satyananda), Germ ...

finished in a time of 5:58.96 min.

References

{{fineboats Rowing racing boats

See also

References