As soon as you become a rower, you learn all kinds of weird terms, but even their technical definition isn't the same as how a rower see's the term.
Port, Starbord, Bow, Stern/Stroke
Directions and places you could be sitting. In the rowing world, you strongly identify as port or starboard as well as your seat number. Unless you’re 3 seat. Then you just don’t bring it up.
Bi-Sweptual
A fun way of saying you can row port and starboard. Aren't you just so special?
Weigh ‘nuff (Weigh Enough/Way Enough)
You survived the race/drill/practice. Time to finally catch a break. Grab water, stretch, and pray it’s time for a nap.
Power 10
Literally the worst 10 strokes you will ever take. Usually timed right in the middle of a race when you’re exhausted.
Recovery
The best few seconds of every stroke. You finally catch some relief, but it's just never enough time.
Washing Out
A really awkward, uncomfortable sensation when you miss a stroke. Not only do you feel weird, but that look on coaches face is a nice reminder that you f*cked up.
Back Splash
It's not similar to back wash, but I guess they're both pretty gross and uncomfortable. Coach keeps yelling at the girl ahead of you to fix her backsplash, but you pray she never will. Who really likes getting hit repeatedly with dirty river water?
Shooting the Slide
That moment where your seat slides back, but the rest of your body doesn't go with you. We'll just pretend like that didn't happen.
Lightweight
They're these tiny, angry people that you see running around before weigh-ins who are super cranky that they haven't eaten a satisfying meal in two days leading up to the race. They will also for sure be those people stuffing their face with Chipotle as soon as its all over.
Bucket Rig
The weirdest, most terrible way to rig a boat ever.
Cox
The first time you heard this freshman year, you giggled. Short for coxswain, you soon find out they're the smallest person in the boat and yet have the most power. You love them on land and hate them while you're carrying them in the boat.
Cox Box
One of the weirder terms you end up being exposed to, this becomes one of the most useful tools in the boat. As soon as you have one practice without a cox box you realize just how important they are.
Crabs
Definitely one of the weirdest terms you learn. While not what you think it is, this is an embarrassing and painful way of completely stopping the boat. No matter how much you say you're over it, you're still mad at that girl who got a crab at the beginning of a race freshman year and cost you the gold medal.
Ejector Crabs
Just when you thought crabs couldn't get any better. This version of a crab not only stops the boat, but throws the person who received it out of the boat entirely. While more embarrassing, it's some swift justice.
Seat Race
The one thing in this world that can turn you against even your best friend on the team. As soon as coach says you're seat racing all day, you die a little bit inside and look at your best friend like they're your worst enemy. You become super sweet and friendly if you win, but turn into a total jerk if you lose.
Ergometer
A medieval torture device that you hate just looking at.
2k
We don't talk about this. Ever. Will always be the most painful experience regardless if you're the best or worst rower on the team.
