Oars

Oars are used to propel the boat. They are long sculling: 250300 cm; rowing 340360 cm poles with one flat end about 50 cm long and 25 cm wide, called the blade. Classic oars were made out of wood, but modern oars are made from more expensive and durable synthetic material, the most common being carbon fiber.An oar is often referred to as a blade in the case of sweep oar rowing and as a scull in the case of sculling. A sculling oar is shorter and has a smaller blade area than the equivalent sweep oar. The combined blade area of a pair of sculls is however greater than that of a single sweep oar, so the oarsman when sculling is working against more water than when rowing sweepoared. He is able to do this because the body action in sculling is more anatomically efficient due to the symmetry.The spoon of oars is normally painted with the colours of the club to which they belong. This greatly simplifies identification of boats at a distance.