Cosmologist optimizes the rigging of rowing boats

New Scientist : Cosmologist John Barrow of the University of Cambridge has been studying the physics of rowing, in particular, the best way to arrange the port and starboard rowers in racing boats.

The conventional rig, in which the port and starboard rowers alternate, causes a slight but energy-wasting side-to-side wiggle as the rowers move up and down the hull on each stroke. In an analysis published in the American Journal of Physics, Barrow found all the rigs for four- and eight-person boats that eliminate the wiggle. Some of the rigs are already in use, but two of them were previously unknown. Earlier this week, the New Scientist tested Barrow’s rigs on London’s river Thames. Justin Mullins describes the results.