Drift Boat Rowing 101 - Part VI - The Crawl Stroke

The Crawl Stroke

A very good rowing or oar manipulation skill is the crawl stroke. The crawl stroke is a combination of backrowing and sweeping. Sweeping is accomplished by turning the oar around facing upstream and pushing or pulling on the oar handle sideways rather that front to back as in standard backrowing. The reason learning the crawl stroke is so beneficial is that you can eliminate a high percentage of standard pivot turns, which make it much easier for the angler in the stern angler. The stern angler is the most affected by uisng pivot turns because the stern has to move laterally to execute the pivot.

The crawl stroke is a smooth oar stroke and minimizes the lateral movement for the stern angler, which enables the angler to keep fishing as normal while executing a turn.

How it works.

As you backrow with one hand, lefts say the left oar in this example, you turn the right oat around and face the oar blade downstream or towards the bow to get it in a position to sweep. Sweeping pushes water sideways under the boat rather than parallel to the boat like a normal backrowing stroke. The left oar stroke needs to pivot the boat to a slight ferrying angle of about 15 degrees, to the right in this case. The pivot must be made before starting the crawl stroke with the right oar. The right oar, facing downstream, is dipped into the water a few feet to the side of the boat, and then the oar handle is pushed sideways, away from the boat. This will feel unnatural at first, sort of like patting you head and rubbing your tummy.

While doing the crawl stroke the oarsman leans sideways rhythmically with each oar stroke, twisting the body somewhat rather than leaning back. This is due to the pushing out on the crawling oar that is pushing water sideways under the boat. You pull on one oar (in this case the left oar) while pushing on the other oar ( the right oar in this case).

The crawl stroke is not a rowing style or method for heavy water maneuvering or when you encounter strong cross winds. It is ideal for subtle maneuvering around rocks or making turns at river bends to avoid as many pivot turns that give the stern angler casting and line control problems.

The crawl stroke is good for grabbing eddies around boulders when you want to pull in behind it. The downstream crawl oar is pointed to grab the back swirling eddy water which helps pull the boat in behind the rock.

Another good time to use the crawl stroke is on the inside bend of a river and when you are on smaller rivers and don't want to get swept out into the outside bend or into a cut bank. This works when the flow into a bend or turn is moderate. When making a turn in heavy currents you need to use a pivot, and use your standard backrowing stroke.

When encountering a corner that is a gradual turn you can use the crawl stroke to ease your way around it. The crawl stroke helps draw the boat into the eddy water and turn the corner. Because a boat coming down the main current is going faster than the currents is going faster than the currents in the eddy the sweeping oar has a pronounced front ruddering effect. The boat tends to go in the direction the submerged front facing sweeping oar is pointed. Continued backstrokes are necessary when pulling off this move are needed to keep the boat from spinning in a circle. As mentioned earlier in powerful rivers revert to normal pivoting and backrowing. Otherwise the crawl stroke helps steer you into eddies and around corners.

Hugging a Bank With the Crawl Stroke

The crawl stroke allows you to hug a bank closer than you can using conventional rowing strokes, This is good for side channels when you don't have time to stop and wade fish. You can still fish the middle and far bank with stealth. The sweep oar can push water either under the boat or away from the boat as you move along. The sweep oar often scrapes bottom as it is close to the bank. make sure you don't stick the sweeping oar in the streambed or root wads along the bank.

Drift Boat Rowing 101 - Part V - Rowing Situations

Situation #1

Entering the main current from an eddy or side channel

A situation that a rower must look out for, and then plan for, is when you have to enter a swift flowing current from a slower current, such as an eddy or other soft water.

When you encounter a situation similar to this, here are a few things you should take into consideration.

First, communicate with the anglers what you're planning on doing and what you want them to do, which is to sit down, hold on, and in some case put on their PFDs.

When putting into strong currents, try to drop downstream a bit, if possible, away from the eddy zones where there are great contrasts of current speed. Keep a sharper ferry angle of 15 to 30 degrees when first entering the current so the swifter water slides under your stern. If you pull out into a powerful current from an eddy with your boat sideways, at an angle of 45 degrees or more, water will tend to heave up and possibly over the upstream side. In extreme cases this can shove your upstream side of your boat under water, flipping it. You need to be especially careful in a low sided boat, like the low-profile drift boats that are so popular these days.

I'll tell you another rowing story. I just had purchased my Hyde low side drift boat and I was taking it out for the first time on the Lower Yuba River with my son Zack. Zack was 10 at the time. The put-in is just upstream of the Parks Bar Bridge. The put-in is a sheltered bay which is perfect for getting geared up and ready to go. The only problem is that it faces upstream and to get into the main flow of the river you have to enter the flow directly above the old bridge abutments which is a big pile of bouldered rip-rap. The river is channelized upstream of the abutments and wants to push you right into the rip-rap. The rip rap has a small to sometimes large standing wave. You have to enter the main flow and immediately ferry across the slot to get away from the rocks. If you don't, you're going to be into the rocks immediately. In the whole float below Parks Bar Bridge, the worst part of the whole float is in the first 40 feet. I pivoted and backrowed into the current at about a 30 degree angle and as soon as I hit the main flow the river pushed against my stern and some of the upstream side of the boat. This pushed the upstream side in down a little. This was no big deal but Zack for some reason moved to the upstream side of the boat at the same time and the boat keeled over more and shipped some water over the upstream side. I immediately pivoted the boat and got the stern pointed upstream and we were good to go. Nothing but a few shattered nerves by Zack. Zack is used to floating rivers in my large Fishcraft Raft, which is like a battleship, he can move around it and it has little to no effect on the raft. I made the mistake of not telling him to sit in the front seat, hold on and get ready. It was a good lesson for both of us. First I should have made sure Zack knew what to do and what to expect. And secondly, if a larger person would have done what Zack did we could have shipped a lot of water and in worst case flipped the boat. Lesson learned.

Situation #2 -Depth of Water When Ferrying

When rowing you need to be aware of the water depth and consider all contingencies, You need to consider things like (a) what is the best route downstream (b) What is the best position for the boat to be in for the anglers best success (c) What is the water depth.

When ferrying across the river the depth of the river can create problems with your downstream oar. Your downstream oar blade can be facing directly downstream. If the water is shallow it is possible to stick an oar in the streambed. You need to take shallow oar strokes with the downstream oar as you ferry across shallower water because when ferrying you are somewhat sideways to the current. The downstream oar could potentially jamb a blade in the streambed. If the oar jambs you could

(a) Break an oar blade
(b) Bust the oar out of the oar locks
(c) Bust the oar out of the oar locks and lose the oar
(d) Jamb the oar in the oar lock and flip the boat, because the jambed our can lift the downstream side of the boat upward.and shipping water on the upstream side.

It is not uncommon to lose an oar this way. Some people install oar straps to prevent losing an oar.

Situation #3 - Wrapping a Boulder

When a boat slams into a large river washed boulder mid stream, a predicable sequence of events can follow. The greater the speed and force of the water, the more likely the boat is to flip in the case of a drift boat or wrap in the case of a raft. The impact can be more jarring than you'd expect. Gear and people can fly overboard. Water instantly begins heaving up and possibly over the upstream side. This tends to shove the upstream side under water and in the case of a drift boat, flips it and sinks it, or in a raft pins in to the rock. In most cases like this the bottom of the hull or raft will be pinned to the rock. If you're in a drift boat and lucky, the boat will spin off the rock half full with water. As you may understand you don't want to be in this position.

How to avoid flipping on a rock. Once you find yourself approaching or engaged with a large mid stream boulder, the rower should continue rowing as hard as possible to attempt spinning the boat off the rock. If the passengers lean away from the rock in fear or attempting to brace themselves for the collision it only increases the likelihood of flipping the boat. The passengers should be consciously acting as human ballast in an effort to keep the boat from flipping. Whatever side is going down the passengers should move to the opposite side. This movement can keep a boat from flipping although it doesn't guarantee it. The boat may already be filling up with water and going down. If PFD's are not on they should be put on ASAP. By the way, good luck.

Drift Boat Rowing 101 - Part IV - Putting In and Shoving Off

Lets put some of our techniques into use and talk about the first maneuver you'll have to learn which is how to put in and shove off into the current.

Whether you're putting your boat in a river at a busy launch ramp, a primitive launch or in a portion of the river during your day, you need to know how to launch the boat properly. Most put-ins or launch sites won't present many problems, but there are instances where immediate control needs to be executed. An example of this is where the boat stops to scout a log jamb, a big rapid or large boulder garden prior to running it. This is by the way, always a good idea. There may be only one good route and rapids and obstacles show no mercy.

Sometimes pushing off can be tricky, You may find yourself with the current trying to push you into a rock garden, stump or log jamb, This is no time to panic. If you're floating down the river in a raft or drift boat, (although this first maneuver is much harder in a drift boat for the bow angler) with 2 fisherman and yourself rowing, the main focus of this method is to point the stern at a 30 to 45 degree angle to the current from the very start.

Here's the way to do it.

Getting Ready

(1) Start with the raft parallel parked on the shore. We are presuming there are two anglers and the rower.
(2) The front and rear angler will hold the boat in place and make sure it is floating and not hung up on the shore or submerged boulders.
(3) The rower will get in the rowers seat with hands on the oars and ready to back row.

Shoving Off

The next steps require good timing by as members of the boat or the boat could potentially spin immediately out of control.

(1) The stern angler pushes the rear of the boat off the shore to about a 30 to 45 degree angle across the current. This puts the boat at the correct ferrying angle so the rowers oar on the bank side can dig into the water.
(2) The stern angler quickly jumps into the rear position and sits down.
(3) Just after the stern angler pushes the boat to the ferrying angle and jumps in, the bow angler pushes the boat straight back and jumps in. The idea is to push straight back to maintain the 30 to 45 degree ferrying angle. If the bow angler waits too long to push off the stern will swing downstream. With a high sided drift boat with an uplifted bow, the bow angler must be agile enough to climb in the higher front sides.

Putting in When There Are Immediate Hazards

There are serious situations where not only does the boat need to get to the right place, but needs immediate inertia with speed built up by backrowing to miss a quickly upcoming obstacle or reach a necessary route. Establishing the correct (1) entry position (2) the correct set-up (3) the right ferrying angle (4) with enough momentum can be absolutely necessary. In these such serious situations such entries and maneuvers must be orchestrated with care and everyone needs to know their role and carry them out without error. As stated the putting in with the assistance of the two anglers is much easier when performing the angler assisted put-in with a raft. The anglers must be agile and quick to pull this off in critical situations when in a drift boat.

Option #2 - Putting In and Shoving Off by the Oarsman

In a drift boat it's may be better for the two anglers to get in the boat and to be seated. This is especially true with older and less agile anglers. It will be the rowers responsibility to handle the put in un-assisted.

Getting Ready
(1) The anchor should be raised up by the rear angler prior to moving to the rear seat. The oarsman will be holding the boat stationary.
(2) The two anglers should be in their positions and seated.
(3) The oars should either be in the water facing downstream towards the bow, or facing forward in the boat on the gunwales.

Shoving Off

(1) The rower pushes the boat off at the proper ferrying angle, about 30 degrees
(2) the rower immediately jumps into the boat.
(3) The rower takes his seat, grabs the oars and immediately starts ferrying the boat into the current.

The hardest part of this move is for the rower to jump in and maneuver around the oars and getting to the rowers seat. This is a move that should be practiced.

Putting In at a Crowded Launch or Primitive Put-In.

One suggestion for putting your boat in at a crowded launch ramp or put-in is to walk your boat downstream or in necessary upstream and get away from the crowd. This will allow you to get off in open water and not have to immediately maneuver around a crowd of boats. No one wants to have their boat rammed into at a put-in.