Catching a Crab While Rowing and How to Recover

Catching a crab happens when your blade gets stuck in the water at the wrong moment, usually during the recovery or as you release at the finish. It can stop the boat, unbalance the crew and, in a bad case, drive the handle into your body or pull you off your seat. Nearly every rower catches one eventually. Knowing why it happens and what to do makes it far less alarming.

What a crab looks like

The blade is meant to be clear of the water on the recovery and entering it cleanly at the catch. In a crab, the blade is held by the water while the boat keeps moving. The handle is then pushed towards you, or pulled up, as the hull travels past the blade. In a single scull the boat may lurch and slow. In an eight, one rower’s crab can check the whole boat, and the rest of the crew feel it through the hull.

There are two broad types:

• Catch crab: The blade goes in too deep, or at a bad angle, at the catch and is dragged under.
• Release or recovery crab: The blade stays in at the finish, or drops into the water during the recovery, and acts as a brake.

What causes a crab

• Blade too deep or too square on the recovery. If the blade drags or digs in as you come forward, the water grabs it.
• A poor release at the finish. Releasing late or feathering badly can leave the blade in the water.
• An unset boat. A hull tilting to one side makes a blade drop into the water. Balance matters more than power.
• Hands too high or too low. Letting the handle rise on the recovery drops the blade, and the water catches it.
• Rough water. Waves and wash can pull a blade in even when your technique is good.
• Fatigue. Control slips late in a piece or session, so crabs often come at the end.
• Rushing the slide. Coming into the catch too fast makes accurate blade work harder.

How to recover

1. Let go if you need to. If the handle is being driven towards you, releasing it is safer than fighting it. Your priority is not to be hit or knocked out of the boat.
2. Stop and say so. Tell your crew or cox what has happened.
3. Steady the boat. Stay seated, and ask the rest of the crew to hold their blades flat on the water.
4. Free the blade. Once the boat is steady, ease the blade out of the water and back into position.
5. Check yourself. A blow to the chest or stomach can leave you winded or shaky. Take a minute, breathe, and have a drink before you carry on. If you feel unwell, dizzy, or have pain, tell your coach and get checked.
6. Restart gently. Take a few easy strokes before building back to pace.

If anyone ends up in the water, follow your club’s safety procedure and stay with the boat. A capsized boat floats, and it is far easier to be found beside it than swimming away. Make sure you have done a capsize drill with your club before rowing alone.

How to avoid crabs

• Keep your hands low on the recovery and the blades clear of the water.
• Square late and feather cleanly at the finish.
• Enter the water at the catch with the blade just covered, not buried.
• Work on balance with a coach, in a stable boat first.
• Stay relaxed and keep a steady rhythm in rough water.
• Slow the rate down when it is windy, so you have time to control the blade.

A drill to build blade control

Find a quiet stretch of water. Row pick drill: arms only, then arms and body, then half slide, then full slide, at a very low rate, for five minutes per stage. Focus on setting the blade a hand’s breadth clear of the water on the recovery and entering at the catch without effort. Doing this at the start of a session, when you are fresh, builds the feel of where the water is. Pause drills, where you stop at the finish and set the handle height before moving, help too. Our page on rowing without your feet strapped in looks at a more advanced drill and its risks.

Why a crab is not a disaster

Crabs are part of learning. Beginners catch them often in singles, and experienced rowers catch one when conditions are rough or they are tired. If it happens, check you are safe, reset and carry on. See common rowing technique faults and how to improve your sculling technique for related drills, and top rowing terms for other jargon. If “erg” is one of the words you keep hearing, why rowing machines are called ergs explains it. More safety and kit advice is in the boats and kit hub.